July weather

The first 12 days of the month were mainly unsettled, with spells of heavy rain and showers, especially over England, while other parts of the UK saw less rain and more warmth at times. By mid-month, however, all areas were drier and much warmer, with temperatures exceeding 30 °C on several days in some areas, and unbroken sunshine for many.

In Northern Ireland, 31.3 °C was recorded on the 21st at Castlederg, Co Tyrone, setting a new record as the highest temperature for any month. However, the final week was much more unsettled once again, with temperatures back to near average and frequent showery rain.

The provisional UK mean temperature was 16.6 °C, which is 1.5 °C above the 1981-2010 long-term average, and was provisionally the equal fifth warmest July for the UK in a series from 1884. Mean maximum temperatures were up to 3 °C above normal in western Scotland and Northern Ireland, but close to normal in easternmost counties of

England, while mean minimum temperatures were between 0.5 and 2 °C above normal generally.

Wide parts of England and parts of the Scottish Highlands had a wet month, with double the average rainfall amount in many places, but Northern Ireland, south-west Scotland and the far north of Scotland had a dry month. The UK overall had 93% of average July rainfall. Sunshine was above average for western areas, especially in Scotland, but just below average for some eastern fringes, and well below for the Northern Isles, with 111% of average overall.

The UK monthly extremes were as follows: a maximum temperature of 32.2 °C was recorded at Heathrow, Greater London, on the 20th, and a minimum temperature of -0.1 °C was recorded at Braemar, Aberdeenshire, on the 2nd. In the 24 hours ending at 9 am UTC on the 26th, 87.9 mm of rain fell at Bethersden, Kent. A wind gust of 67 knots (77 mph) was recorded at Needles, Isle of Wight on the 30th.