Submitted by Bill Caulfeild-Browne
For the first time this year we had a month which conformed to the long-term mean temperature. Every other month, save February, has been cooler than one would expect. Indeed, the year so far is one of the coolest we’ve had in a while.
July started out cool and sunny with a low of 8.1C, unusual for what is generally the warmest month of the year. But it soon warmed up. By the 19th we reached our high for the month, 29.1C, and from then on high temperatures remained in the mid-twenties.
It was a remarkable month for sunshine. There were only three mostly cloudy days and another three were a mix of sun and cloud. The rest were cloaked in bright sunshine. It was, by a small margin, the sunniest July in the last five years since I started recording solar energy.
Unsurprisingly, given the number of clear days, there was only one night and one day when it rained – but, boy, did it rain! The night of the 15th/16th soaked us with a very welcome 65 mm. of the wet stuff. Until then we were on the verge of drought conditions. A further 24 mm. fell on the 27th during a violent storm that caused a major power cut, and this made July a much wetter month than normal – 89 mm. against the average of 59 mm.
Water temperature at the Gap started the month at 13.3C and reached 19.4C by the end – along with near record lake levels!
