Weather report for August 2012

August 2012 was the ‘best’ of the three summer months.
Probably it would be more realistic to say the least worst! But there
were some positives, despite the all-pervading sense that the weather
was continuing along the pattern of the past few months. More of that
later. So, what were the good points? August 2012 recorded the highest maximum of any August since 2007 with a reading of 27.1C on the 19th. The mean temperature of about 16.6C made this the warmest August since 2006, although as in July, the frequent cloudiness kept the nights warmer than can be the case in our rural frost-prone location. So the daytime average was the highest since 2007. There was one cool night, a minimum of 4.7C was recorded on 31st. Coincidentally, 31st August 2010 recorded a similar low of 4.3C.

August proved to be a wet month. Measurable rainfall fell on 22 days. The first week or so was cool and with rain each day.
There were two warm and dry periods of about three days each, 9-11th & 20-23rd, each of which were followed by a further week of wetness. Two falls of more than 20mm occurring during the second of these weeks helped make for the month’s total rainfall of 151.8mm. This is probably double the monthly average.

The ‘summer’ three months however will go down as the
wettest in living memory. I recorded 528.9mm of rain during this period. The last six years have seen poor summers. The first three of these scored 341, 326 and 292mm respectively. The next two were drier with totals in the 170mms. So this summer has produced three times the figure of the last couple. When you add on the figures of April and May, another 235mm, we have a total far higher than that recorded for the previous twelve month period. Remember the threat of drought?!! Not surprisingly, sunshine seems to have been in short supply with measurable rainfall being recorded on 62 days. As I have said already, the cloudiness kept night time temperatures up, so the average summer mean temperature of 15.1C is about 0.2C warmer than last year’s cool and dry affair. But then all the  previous four ‘disappointing’ summers recorded mean figures higher than in 2012.

Peter at Pottlelake