August 1956

[Weather-history]

August 1956 was very cool with a CET of 13.5 and it was also wet with an EWR of 158.6mm

Some notable events of the month were:

5th: 60mm fell during a storm at Swanage in 1 hour.

6th: 45mm fell at Arundel Castle in 18 minutes

Hailstorm left 30cm+ deep in Tunbridge Wells, 81mm fell at Faversham

18th: 50mm+ fell across many western parts and northern parts as a deep low moved through northern England

25th: 75mm+ fell on parts of Somerset.

Low pressures, one after another moved through the UK during the month and there was hardly one day where high pressure had total control over the UK until the very end of the month

Here's some data from the month

Dyce

Mean Max: 14.7 (-2.7) Highest Max: 17.8 Rainfall: 83mm (108%)

Glasgow

Mean Max: 16.1 (-2.4) Highest Max: 18.9 Rainfall: 117mm (127%)

Eskdalemuir

Mean Max: 14.5 (-2.7) Highest Max: 19.4 Rainfall: 226mm (173%)

Tynemouth

Mean Max: 14.6 (-3.0) Highest Max: 20.6 Rainfall: 159mm (227%)

Manchester

Mean Max: 16.9 (-2.5) Highest Max: 21.7 Rainfall: 201mm (240%)

Watnall

Mean Max: 16.9 (-3.4) Highest Max: 20.6 Rainfall: 152mm (214%)

Birmingham

Mean Max: 17.1 (-3.2) Highest Max: 20.0 Rainfall: 112mm (170%)

Kew

Mean Max: 18.2 (-3.3) Highest Max: 21.7 Rainfall: 93mm (163%)

Belfast

Mean Max: 16.1 (-2.1) Highest Max: 20.6 Rainfall: 161mm (171%)

August 1956 was a fairly thundery month over England and Wales

Number of days with thunder

Manchester: 6

Birmingham: 5

Watnall: 7

Ross-on-wye: 7

Kew: 7

But not so over Scotland

Dyce: 0

Glasgow: 0

Stornoway: 0

Not surprising the summer of 1956 made news for all the wrong reasons with film footage of deserted windswept beaches, people struggling to stay upright in the strong winds, children and adults having "hail ball" fights and workmen clearing the hail that struck Tunbridge Wells with shovels.

For the whole of the UK, September 1956 was warmer than the previous August

[Terminal Moraine]

I can just remember August 1956. We had friends from Northumberland staying for a fortnight ( can't remember which two weeks ) and the main topic of conversation of the adults was how bad the weather was, I think it rained at some time on each day of the fortnight, sometimes for the whole day.

August 1986 was almost as bad here. Buxton had a mean of 11.6c in 1956 and 11.7c in 1986. I recorded a mean max' of 14.8c in 1986.

1922 was worst of all with a mean of 10.4c at Buxton, 1912 came in at 11.2c. 1912 was worst for sunshine though with only 93 hours, the other poor Augusts mentioned above all had between 112 and 120 hours.

T.M

Edited August 6, 2006 by Terminal Moraine

[Snowyowl9]

I can just remember August 1956. We had friends from Northumberland staying for a fortnight ( can't remember which two weeks ) and the main topic of conversation of the adults was how bad the weather was, I think it rained at some time on each day of the fortnight, sometimes for the whole day.

August 1986 was almost as bad here. Buxton had a mean of 11.6c in 1956 and 11.7c in 1986. I recorded a mean max' of 14.8c in 1986.

1922 was worst of all with a mean of 10.4c at Buxton, 1912 came in at 11.2c. 1912 was worst for sunshine though with only 93 hours, the other poor Augusts mentioned above all had between 112 and 120 hours.

T.M

I certanly don`t remember the 1956 event wasn`t around then,1986 I was in school can`t really remember that summer either nothing really stood out.

August 1993 was certanly cool if I remember I had one day of 10c max.

[Weather-history]

Here's a famous photo that adorned several newspapers the next day of the hailstorm that hit Tunbridge Wells on the 6th August 1956.