Submitted by Bill Caulfeild-Browne
Every time I write this column it seems another record of some sort has been broken. This time it was for precipitation. Although it only rained on six occasions, a downpour mid-month amounted to 122.4 mm. A cell centred itself over Tobermory, rotating slowly, on the evening of the 16th and didn’t leave until early morning on the 18th.
This, combined with a few other rainy days, gave us a monthly total of 156.2 mm. The previous record for my station was set last year, at 146 mm. The record for the 20th century was 145 mm. in August 1972. It seems to be getting wetter!
Otherwise the month was rather pleasant with lots of sunshine and warm temperatures. The high for the month was 29.9C on the 2nd and the low was 13.3C on the 11th. The mean temperature was 19.5C, 1.2C above the long-term average. There were a few very windy days that curtailed tour boat operations – winds gusting to 52 km/hr were observed when the new front came in to chase the rainstorm out on the 18th, and they persisted through the 19th.
September has started out with promise which I hope persists for outdoor enthusiasts – like me!
