Daily Mirror front page: 28th June 1958

[Weather-history]

I mentioned a "June 1958" tinge to some of those ECM charts. Here's the front page for the Daily Mirror from the 28th June 1958

Looking at the stats, the rainfall for June 1958 for England and Wales was 110.9mm. making it the wettest June since 1912, not since 1903 as stated.

The 26th of June was a very wet day in the SE with about an inch of rain falling over the region.

Gordon Manley is quoted in that article as saying he expected a drier spell at the end of August going off previous years. The "drier" warmer spell came at the start of September.

Summer 1958 was a bit of a washout overall.

Chart for 27th of June 1958

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119580627.gif

[Louby]

Ooo Thanks Mr D! I enjoyed reading that, I especially like the adverts!

[Summer of 95]

Looking closely the small print suggests the "fifty-five years" is specifically for Kew- one is tempted to say typical SE-centered media even back then

As far as the whole of England and Wales goes, yes it was still the wettest for 46 years- interesting though that at 27 I've lived through 4 wetter Junes than 1958, and 7 over 100mm- someone born in 1900 would need to have lived to 82 to have experienced that.

[Weather-history]

For such a wet summer, it was not especially cool. CET: 15.3

When you consider the two other very wet summers of the 1950s, 1954 and 1956, they both had a CET of 14.1

It was actually 0.1C warmer than the summer of 1998.

It follows the summers ending in "8" pattern

When was the last warm dry summer with a year ending in 8?

1868 CET: 16.9 Rain: 143mm

1878 CET: 16.0 Rain: 271mm

1888 CET: 13.7 Rain: 317mm

1898 CET: 15.1 Rain: 166mm

1908 CET: 14.9 Rain: 216mm

1918 CET: 14.9 Rain: 204mm

1928 CET: 14.8 Rain: 253mm

1938 CET: 15.3 Rain: 226mm

1948 CET: 14.8 Rain: 259mm

1958 CET: 15.3 Rain: 310mm

1968 CET: 15.1 Rain: 274mm

1978 CET: 14.5 Rain: 210mm

1988 CET: 14.8 Rain: 268mm

1998 CET: 15.2 Rain: 230mm

2008 ?

Is Summer 2008 going to break this odd run?

Edited May 23, 2007 by Mr_Data

[Nick H]

1968 CET: 15.1 Rain: 274mm

I remember 1968 being particularly bad. It was an Ashes summer and the Lord's Test was disrupted by some of the largest hailstorms ever seen at a cricket ground. I remember being at home in my bedroom, John Arlott describing the scene in that wonderful Hampshire burr of his. And then of course the Oval Test, when a freak thunderstorm sent the outfield into a virtual lake, spectators famously mopped up and Derek Underwood cleaned up the Aussies with 5 mins to spare on a drying, unplayable wicket, the ball spitting and popping all over the place. Underwood was unplayable on that type of wicket. Wonderful memories.

Edited May 23, 2007 by Nick H

[Thundery wintry showers]

1958 had 103 hours' sunshine at Durham- oddly, the same as in June 1997, though there have been a few duller ones (June 1987 didn't even make 100 hours)

[Weather-history]

The current set-up reminds me of June 1958

[hotflyer882]

Yes Summer '85 could well be similar in the outcome.