Here are a couple of reports from past solar eclipses visible from the UK.
12th October 1996, remember this one had a reasonable view of this.
1st August 2008, luckily we had a good view from here considering how dull that August turned out.
Starting to remind me of summer 2007. Today it has been lovely with sunny spells and looked like a completely dry day but we are now having a really heavy shower with hail! This happened a few times during the summer 2007
21st-22nd August 1987 is one that sticks in my memory. The forecast was for only the SE to be under the threat of thunderstorms but it was much further west the low and I remember large drops of rain falling from deep altocumulus castellanus that Friday evening. There was a storm way out west Saturday morning, I remember seeing the lightning flashes. We had a really heavy thundery shower in the afternoon and a man was killed by lightning whilst fishing by the storm. The follow day was a washout.
We were fortunate (unfortunate if you are inclined that way) of having that spell during late May, take that out and very wet and cool sums it up since start of April.
Wettest April to June periods on record for England and Wales since 1766 (mm)
1782 336.7
1830 324.4
1797 313.1
1843 305.2
2012 302.4 (up to 15th June)
96mm in the first half of June, which is remarkable and must be one of the wettest first half to Junes on record. The bulk of the rain that fell during June 2007 fell during the second half.
Too early to tell because the second half of the month could be better than the first half.It's the rainfall totals that are amazing, half way through the month and it's already in the top 50 wettest Junes. The first half of this June has been phenomenally wet.
Seriously how you can explain rationally the joy of wanting it to be exceptionally wet and dulI? Can understand the coolness part of the equation but not wanting the enormous rainfall totals that does not rationally make sense, IMO. And I don't equate excessive snowfall with excessive rainfall by the way. I can see people getting excited by a massive snowfall and a month with record breaking snowfall but not with rainfall.