Scorcher

A very good month here overall- a bit of a shame about the last few days of the month which have prevented an 18C+ finish. It's been unusual for a warm month in that the south has been cooler than the north for much of it. Minima have actually been on the low side of average here which has brought the overall mean down at my local station. Average max of 22.9C over the month which is comfortably above average for these parts and that's with the cooler spell at the end of the month that brought it down. 188.6 hours of sunshine, which is slightly above average but actually impressive when you consider how dull the first half of the month was- we only had 61,2 hours up to the 15th and then 127.4 hours for the second half of the month. So a very sunny and warm second half of the month.

Yes I thought the first half of last August was easily the best since 2003. As you say, it's a shame about the last third of the month which was very disappointing.

July 2019 was a very warm month at 17.5C- in some past decades it would have been the warmest summer month. It would have been comfortably the warmest month in the entire 1960s- not to be dismissed at all. Last August was also very warm at 17.6C- again would have been the warmest month of the decade if it had been in the 60s. There have been some very warm summer months in the last 3 years.

It's been better than 2014 up here- no doubt in my mind about that. If you look at Weather-History's Manchester summer index you'll see that it currently ranks above the 2 summers you mention up here. I can understand why people further south wouldn't agree though as it's been rather underwhelming further south.

Why do you have to spread your negativity over so many consecutive posts? Why not summarise all your misery in one post?

I think this is the case in England too- I would like to see more official urban sites as these would reflect the experience of the vast majority of the population- far more than rural air force bases do.

Can anyone point me to a time when he's been right?

Hard to beat 2006 and 2018- superb months. 2013 another great month but temps more consistently in the mid 20s.

There is an argument for it being better than 2014 in the NW I think- for me July 2014 was a month that promised a lot but didn't deliver many really hot days up here. There wasn't a spell during that month to match the spell we've just had IMO.

Not here- it's the maxima that have been more notable and I think that's the case across many areas of the country. Very impressive consistency by day here with barely any days not reaching 20C.

I think geographically anything around or above 30 is challenging in NI- the heat often misses them completely when England experiences heatwaves and the warmest wind directions for heat are not favourable. E and SE winds come off the Irish Sea and there is basically no land mass at all to the west of the country. This spell has been a bit unusual in that it's been homegrown heat for the most part with Northern Ireland at the centre of the high for much of the period- very rare. In terms of Ireland as a whole island, the west and central areas are generally more favoured for heat than the east due to shelter from easterly and southeasterly winds but it's quite unusual anywhere on the island.

The Ballywatticock reading is being checked by the Met Office I believe- it did seem a bit suspicious to me but I guess we will find out in a few days.

The CET for this month is fair- there have been no cooler days at all really. Also 2013 had a lot of clear sunny days with temps in the mid 20s with few really hot days. Nights weren't overly warm.

Yes this is certainly true for this part of the country too, maxima have been comfortably above average (although very consistent without any really high temps until this week). Hardly any cool days to speak of so far this month.

Minima are going to hold it up though. Only 4 days from the 27th to make a dent in the figure and I can't see it being that cool.

Certainly won't be cold in the slightest...

Also this is one of the biggest misconceptions- that the Med isn't humid. The coastal Mediterranean is very humid in summer, particularly the islands such as the Balearic Islands and Cyprus. Really high relative humidity.

The classic prolonged memorable spells are nearly always dry air masses. 2018 and the spell in mid July 2006 are prime examples, although 2006 did become more thundery later on. August 2003 is another- generally low relative humidity and I believe June/July1976 was also low humidity. People have a perception that it's humid because of our well insulated buildings and lack of air conditioning. Hot, humid spells are usually more shortlived in this part of the world.

As others have said, amazing to see such a prolonged hot and humid spell in this country. So often the more prolonged spells in this country have lower relative humidity- but this spell feels properly Mediterranean with temps in the high 20s and humidity above 50% in the afternoons. Also these spells seem to be often quite hazy- visibility and air quality seems unusually good for a UK hot spell. The sun also feels stronger as a consequence.

True, although I often think Manchester Airport is a bit low- it's consistently cooler than Rostherne nearby by day (although slightly warmer at night). Rostherne is averaging 22.4C for July so far.

Comical- it was 31C at 14:20 (still miles too high) and then half an hour later apparently went up to 38C before quickly dropping down to 34C. 34C with 45% relative humidity by the way- quite something for the UK It's been far too high for months in all honesty but it took people ages to agree I had a point about it.

This has been discussed in the ramp thread and also the North West regional thread- there is clearly a problem with the station. I've been making the point about the Liverpool Airport station for months- it's consistently been miles higher than nearby stations. There is nothing particularly favourable about the location either- it's more exposed than many of the inland sites nearby.

Looks like it could rise a fair few places by the end of this week with a lot of sunshine and heat to come.

It's been very suspect for months, if not years. Even back in the day it used to record higher readings in certain setups than the other stations nearby. I see nothing favourable about the location of the station geographically when compared to other stations nearby such as Hawarden, Crosby or Woodvale. There's no way it should be recording higher temps than inland stations such as Rostherne or Manchester Airport in a NW wind.

Plenty more heat to come before then and still scope for that to change- a fair way out still.