The rainfall totals in SE England for June and July have been double those of last year. So that is certainly one reason why many people in the south will perhaps be thinking this summer is not as good as last year, despite temperatures being warmer in those two months than 2020.
Rainfall, SE England
2021 June 98mm, July 83mm, Total 181mm
2020 June 54mm, July 39mm, Total 93mm
The situation in Central England is quite different. July rainfall was similar to last year but June was only just above half that of last year. So overall 2021 rainfall for June and July was 20% lower than last year, whereas for SE England it was double last year.
Rainfall, Central England
2021 June 42mm, July 70mm, Total 112mm
2020 June 77mm, July 63mm, Total 140mm
If we go further north to the Southern Scotland region we see that last year June and July were incredibly wet. This year rainfall is down 70% on the same period last year and is half the figure for southern England.
Rainfall Southern Scotland
2021 June 44mm, July 42mm, Total 86mm
2020 June 132mm, July 166mm, Total 298mm
So I think the rainfall figures are playing a much bigger factor this year than temperatures in people's perception of the summer so far.
Looking at the number of days above 25C at my location for June and July, the figures are as follows:
2021 June 8 (0 above 30C), July 10 (4 above 30C), Total 18 (4 above 30C)
2020 June 4 (2 above 30C), July 6 (1 above 30C), Total 10 (3 above 30C)
We can see that there have been many more days above 25C in June and July this year compared to last year.
Of course the first half of August was hot last year. I recorded 9 days above 25C with 6 consecutive days above 30C. In the second half of August the temperature did not exceed 23C. This year there have been no days above 25C so far in August.
So looking at the summer as a whole to date there have been 18 days above 25C this year and 19 last year, so very similar. The number of days above 30C is 4 this year and 9 last year. That run of 6 days greater than 30C is clearly very high in the memory of many people.
If we do get some warmer weather in the second half of August then there will be more 25C+ days this summer compared to last year.
Edited by user
15 August 2021 10:21:22
|
Reason: Not specified