As we are now into a brand new month as well as a brand new season, it is now time for another new thread to cover this month.
During the summer, many locations especially down south went through quite a long period of time (well over a whole month) without even a single drop of rain. That long run for most was broken during August although in many places, the amounts of rain which have been recorded recently have still not been enough to make up that big deficit although the fact that these places have at least had a little bit of recent rainfall has at least been a start.
In many ways, September can often end up being an extension of the summer which has just passed although that is particularly true if we've just had a poor August. Here in Edinburgh, I can't say that we actually had a poor August here as it was a warmer than average month with the temperature reaching or exceeding 20°C on the vast majority of the time, even on days when it has not actually been forecast to do so (yesterday was yet another example of that).
August was duller than average here and it was also our wettest month since March here in Edinburgh as well as being our third wettest month of this year so far, but it was still yet another drier than average month overall. To date, we have not actually had a wetter than average month here since March with that run of drier than average months continuing through August as well.
The three aspects which make up a decent summer for anyone who is just looking for some decent weather for enjoying their summer holidays, are that is should be warmer than average, sunnier than average and drier than average. August 2026 passed two of those three tests and that is why it has hardly been a poor August in my books.
Nevertheless, August 2026 did start a trend towards wetter weather especially towards the end of the month and the latest model output is suggesting that this month is likely to start on a fairly wet and unsettled note with that trend towards wetter weather continuing through the first part of this month at least. With a very powerful El Niño taking shape in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean, this autumn is expected to become wetter over time with that wetter trend also continuing into the winter.
However, we have had many wetter spells in recent times and these wetter spells never last for any length of time these days which is why every single month here just keeps on ending up drier than average overall in the end. The latest models also back that up really well as there are some indications that high pressure might build yet again later on this month with even the possibility of heatwave number 7 in the UK as a whole. That would certainly bring a much drier second half of the month if that came off so although the trend according to the various analogues and model output is for a wetter trend over the course of this autumn, this particular month might still be a little bit too early for that to happen.
Regardless of how all of that pans out though, this is the very place to post those all important rainfall totals for this month in your particular location.
The north of Edinburgh, usually always missing out on snow events which occur not just within the rest of Scotland or the UK, but also within the rest of Edinburgh.