The Summer of 1975

Summer 1975 was the warmest Summer since since 1947 with a CET of 16.9C. Here's a summary of this Summer.

JUNE

The start of June was extraordinary, it was cold, there were frosts and there was snow. A low pressure just to the north of Scotland moved southwards introducing a pool of unusually cold Arctic air for the time of the year that spread to most parts on the 2nd. Snow showers were reported widely across the UK and there was lying snow over some of the hills in the north, 10cm in parts of the Highlands.
The weather changed on the 4th, as a warm front moved up from the SW introducing very warm air. Temperatures were into the high 20s and with high pressure close by, there was plenty of sunshine. This weather was more or less to last to the 14th, with hot and sunny weather and temperatures into the high 20s. A cold front on the 14th introduced cooler weather and a liitle bit of rain. This heralded a short unsettled spell of weather with Atlantic systems moving into the UK, although the SE saw little rain.
Pressure increased on the 20th and this gave a fine warm spell with temperatures into the high 20s but as the high moved further westwards, cooler winds from the north brought lower temperatures and even ground frost in places at the end of the month.

JULY

The first few days of July was dominated by high pressure and it was dry, warm and fairly sunny. On the 8th, low pressure from Biscay moved into the SW and this system gave thunderstorms in the south and an inch of rain fell in places. The low pressure became slow moving over the UK giving rain or thunderstorms. On the 12th, a new low moved into the SW and this gave further rain but the SE became largely dry and warm with temperatures around 26C. This was the most unsettled spell of the Summer with Atlantic systems moving in from the west and heavy rain for western slopes of the UK. It wasn't until the 25th before the weather settled down as the Azores high ridged towards the UK, temperatures were into the low 30s in the south but as a cold front moved down from the NW engaged the hot air, thunderstorms broke out across the SE.

AUGUST

With high pressure across the UK, the weather for the start of August was very warm and sunny but as it moved towards Scandinavia, it introduced a very hot SEly flow from the continent and temperatures rose even higher across the UK. 32C was reported across parts of the UK, Glasgow:31.2C, RAF Gloucester 33.9C. Troughs engaging the hot air brought some thunderstorms but the hot spell lasted to about the 8th in the west but it wasn't until the 14th the weather broke in the east with severe thunderstorms including the Hampstead storm. (The Hampstead storm will be in a separate article). The weather was then generally unsettled until the 24th with Atlantic systems moving in from the west. From the 24th to 29th, the Azores high was back to bring a spell of warm, dry sunny weather but on the 29th, low pressure developed across the near continent and this brought unsettled weather especially to the SE with some rain at the end of the month.
August 1975 was a very warm month and until 1995, it was the warmest August on record.

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