What a contrasting summer we’ve had

Latest weather report for the area

THE weather in July really gave us everything from searing heat to flash floods in just a few days.

Afternoon temperatures averaged 22.3c which is 0.5c higher than normal with the nights being particularly warm at 14c which was 1.5c above normal. Our mean temperature of 18.2c was 1c warmer than normal.

The real talking point however was the heat in the third week with temperatures climbing above 27c for four consecutive days with them reaching 35.2c at my station and 36.4c at Campbell scientific in Shepshed on July 25th.

These figures represent the highest temperatures ever recorded in our region and not too far away in Cambridge the national record temperature of 38.7c was reached making it the hottest day since accurate records began in 1900.

Hot on the heels of the heat came the rain. Up until the 22nd the weather had been predominately dry but after the temperature reached 28c on the 24th a ferocious storm arrived in the early hours. This produced a spectacular lightning display with ear splitting thunder between 2am 3am. 10mm fell during this storm at Mountsorrel with other locations receiving much more.

After the really hot day on the 25th cooler air arrived on the Friday but the hot air remained over the North Sea.

The cooler air-mass began to under cut the hot one which caused the weather front to become very active and it became almost stationary over us between Saturday morning and Sunday evening.

In Loughborough 57mm of rain fell in this 36 hour period and in Mountsorrel I recorded 53mm. These totals represent our usual monthly July rainfall!

Flash flooding became a severe problem with many major roads on Sunday morning becoming difficult to negotiate let alone the minor ones.

Several houses and flats in Mountsorrel were flooded after a blocked culvert on Loughborough Road near Waitrose caused hundreds of gallons of water to flow into peoples homes.

It took fire fighters many hours to pump out all the properties and many will take weeks to dry out. The usual roads in the Soar Valley flood plain were affected after the river burst its banks.

After a dry day on the Monday another deluge arrived on the Tuesday after a small but deep area of low pressure crossed overhead.

This produced another 12 hour deluge and in Mountsorrel another 30mm of rain once again causing flooding problems.

The large guide and scout camp at Heather was forced to close early after a weekly total of rain of 87mm recorded in Mountsorrel or more than 3.5 inches in just four days.

Our final rainfall total for July was 106mm and this coupled with June’s total of 138mm makes a summer rainfall total of 244mm so far which exceeds our total of 234mm for both these months set in 2012.

Sunshine for the month was below average at 166 hours or 12 per cent below normal.

Well what a contrasting summer we have had so far.

Compared to last year it has been much wetter and with far fewer hotter days than 2018 but let us see what August brings us!