back
graphs      CLIMATE-UK.COM'S  REVIEW  OF  THE  BRITISH  METEOROLOGICAL  SCENE
     MONTHLY  SUMMARY
     No. 594       For     JUNE    2005
                 COOL FIRST HALF, VERY WARM SECOND HALF.  THUNDERY FINAL WEEK.
Text Box: High pressure dominated the month’s weather although there were brief cyclonic episodes from 1st-5th, 12th-16th, and 29th-30th. The anticyclones which prevailed during the earlier part of the month were of Arctic origin, but after mid-month they were extensions of the sub-tropical high. Mean sea-level pressure was mostly 1 to 2mbar above the norm over the British Isles and the anomalous flow over the UK was weakly southeasterly. The first five days of June were cool, cloudy and very unsettled as a complex low pressure area, initially west of Scotland, transferred slowly eastwards to the Baltic. Rain was heavy and persistent in northwestern Britain, and Broadford (Skye) collected 51mm on the 1st-2nd; there were thunderstorms over much of England on the 3rd and further heavy rain in northeast England and southeast Scotland on the 4th. High pressure from Greenland lay over or to the northwest of the UK from the 6th to the 12th, reaching its most intense phase on the 8th when 1039.1mbar was recorded at Little Rissington (Glos), the highest anywhere in the UK in June since 1962. It was often sunny by day, although eastern and central districts were cloudy again from the 10th-12th; on the 9th a maximum of 23°C was reached locally but other days were very cool and on the 12th Boltshope Park (Durham) reported a maximum of just 8.0°C. Nights were very cold with widespread ground frost, and air minima included -1.4°C at Altnaharra (Sutherland) on the 6th and -1.1°C at both Aboyne (Aberdeenshire) and Shap (Cumbria) on the 7th. The anticyclone retreated northwards on the 12th, allowing depressions to cross the country, first from the northeast, and later from the southwest. From the 13th-16th the weather was cloudy with outbreaks of rain, but it did become progressively warmer. A southwesterly flow introduced tropical air on the 16th, and high pressure cells crossed southern Britain on the 17th-18th and 20th-23rd. The weather became hot and Text Box: sunny especially in southern, central and eastern districts,the temperature reaching 32.6°C at Heathrow on the 19th, the highest recorded under standard conditions in the UK in June since 1996, 31.3°C at Northolt (London) on the 23rd, and 31.7°C at Herne Bay (Kent) on the 24th. Minima of 19-21°C occurred widely on the mornings of the 19th, 20th and 24th establishing several new station records although the national record was not broken. Thunderstorms broke out widely on several days: in SW and central Scotland on the 18th; in Wales, the Midlands and northern England on the 19th; in the Home Counties and East Anglia on the 20th, and across many parts of England and Wales on the 24th. Serious flooding hit Ryedale and neighbouring valleys in North Yorkshire on the 19th; 69mm was logged at Hawnby of which 50mm fell in half an hour. On the 24th 52mm fell at Teignmouth (Devon) and the Glastonbury Festival was disrupted by flooding. After a cool, cloudy day on the 25th, high pressure returned briefly bringing a further spell of sunny and very warm weather, but severe thunderstorms soon developed, notably on the 28th and 29th across England and Wales. On the 29th, Crugmeer near Padstow (Cornwall) collected 51mm, most of which fell in 75 mins, and the nearby village of St Merryn suffered a serious but short-lived flood. Although the first half of the month was the coolest, alongside 2001, for ten years, the second half was easily the warmest since 1976, and overall June 2005 ranked seventh warmest in the last 100 years. In recent times only 1992 and 2003 have been warmer. It was a wet month over much of Scotland, while in parts of eastern England, the Midlands and the West Country the downpours of the last week lifted monthly totals slightly above normal. In southeast England, however, it was another dry month - the eighth in succession. Sunshine totals were below normal in Scotland and Northern Ireland, near to or slightly above normal elsewhere.
                                                                                                                                         
                       TEMPERATURE                                SUNSHINE                             RAINFALL