This summer had the UK’s coolest weather for almost ten years
The results are in for summer 2024, and it was not a chart topper.
After drizzly days at Wimbledon and Royal Windsor Racecourse, thunderstorms yesterday, as well as the worst rain Glastonbury has ever seen, this may not be too shocking.
Latest provisional figures from the Met Office weather forecaster show the UK hasn’t had a summer less warm since 2015, almost a decade ago.
Mean temperatures have been 0.22°C below the long-term meteorological average for the UK, with Scotland and Northern Ireland experiencing generally cooler temperatures.
Met Office scientist Emily Carlisle said: ‘Mean temperatures in both June and July were below average, with temperatures in August only slightly above.
‘This was largely due to northerly winds bringing cold Arctic air to the UK in June and July, while August saw an increase in westerly winds bringing slightly warmer Atlantic air.
‘Although we had some heatwaves and bursts of hot weather, these were fairly short-lived and conditions across the whole three months were pretty unsettled.
‘August was the wettest month of the summer, with some places in Scotland experiencing double their average summer rainfall during the month and Storm Lilian bringing strong winds and heavy rain at the end.’
The average mean temperature for the UK was 14.37°C, which is 0.22°C cooler than the long-term meteorological average. The last time the mean temperature was this low was in 2015, when the summer’s average was 13.91°C.
England was only 0.07°C below average while Scotland and Northern Ireland were 0.40°C and 0.45°C below average, respectively.
There were some hot spells, even as recently as yesterday where daytime temperatures reached 30°C in West Sussex.
Cambridge saw the highest temperature of the year so far on August 12 with 34.8°C recorded, but overall there were few sustained hot spells.
Summer 2024 was so bad that it was even blamed for a period of deflation in shops for some items including clothes and electricals.
Perhaps more surprising than summer being relatively cool is that rainfall was actually less than average over the summer.
Overall there was 5% less than usual, but Scotland was particularly wet (18% more than average) and England particularly dry (23% less than average).
Southern England only recorded half of its monthly average (50%).
Even though it was the coolest summer since 2015, it’s important to put in context that summer was actually warmer than average when compared to 1961-1990.
To give a better picture of recent years, the average temperatures are calculated in bands of decades rather than since records began.
The average mean temperature in the previous meteorological averaging period was 13.78°C, compared to this year’s 14.37°C.
So even a disappointing summer is warmer than normal compared to 50 years ago, showing the affects of a warming climate overall.
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