August 2014 Summaries and Statistics

[TonyH]

Cool and rather wet

 

Coming after the preceding rather good Summer months, August must have seemed disappointing for many with its consistently below average temperatures and plentiful showers and rain. It was notably cool after the 11^th with 19c (average) not being attained again until 28^th (19.5c), 20c was not reached between 12^th and 30^th, a 3 week spell! Rain-wise, although wet, it was not as wet as August 2012 (159mm). Rainfall being spread quite evenly through the month, no dry spell lasted longer than 3 days (6^th – 8^th). Sunshine at an estimated 159hours was slightly below average.

 

1^st – 5^th: Mixed, sunny intervals, rain or heavy showers 1^st and 5^th otherwise mostly dry. Temperatures around average to quite warm.

 

6^th – 9^th: Mostly dry and rather warm with sunny spells, warmest day of the month 24.6c 9^th.

 

10^th – 18^th: Unsettled and cool; spells of rain or showers, some very heavy, especially morning of 14^th when the rain rate reached 123mm/ hour. Thunder 10^th. Sunny intervals with 15th a dry sunny day.

 

19^th – 24^th: Very cool with sunny spells and some showers. A notably cool spell for August/ Summer, nothing higher than 17.1c, and the mean maximum being 15.8c, unusually cool, especially given it was not a wet spell and most days saw decent sunny spells! Coolest days were 19^th and 20^th at max 15.2c. Nights also very chilly, a touch of grass frost measured night of 21^st with an air min of 2.6c, and 4 other nights falling below 7c.

 

25^th – 31^st: Often rather cool, some rain or showers but with decent dry interludes. Apart from very heavy downpours in the early hours of 26^th this was a reasonably dry spell with only small amounts of rain. Nights were appreciably milder than the previous few weeks, none falling lower than 9c. Sunshine rather restricted until the months final day which saw sunny periods.

 

Total rainfall: 143.3mm (130% local LTA)

Wettest day: 21.2mm 1^st

Rain days >0.2mm: 23
Wet days >1.0mm: 18
Days of heavy rain >10mm: 6

Mean temperature: 14.0c

Mean Max: 18.6c

Mean Min: 9.5c

 

High Max: 24.6c 8^th
Low Max: 15.2c 19^th , 20th
High Min: 15.3c 6^th
Low Min: 2.6c 21^st

 

Est sun: 159hr

Max sun: 11 hours 7^th

Days no sun: 0

Air frost: 0

Ground frost: 1

Mean RH: 85%

High RH: 100% vs
Low RH: 42% 7^th

Predominant wind direction: WSW
Mean wind speed: 5.0mph

Max gust 30mph 28th 

Mean pressure: 1011mbar
Max pressure: 1023mbar 15^th
Min pressure: 993mbar 10^th

 

Days with:
 

Hail: 0
Gale: 0
Thunder: 1

Fog: 1

Fog at 0900: 0

Edited September 2, 2014 by TonyH

[SP1986]

First I'll post my Monthly statistics, then secondly I'll post my seasonal stats for summer.

 

August 2014 Statistics

A month which will go down in the annals of history for both it's remarkable wetness, and it's remarkable night temperatures which sort Northern Ireland break it's all time record, recording -1.9C. Also here there are some notable statistics within this dataset. August was a month of two halves, starting as July had left off, warm, but increasingly wet. Thereafter much cooler weather took over a third into the month, allowing for some big rainfall totals, some strong winds, and some notably cold night temperatures. Towards the end of the month saw a slight recovery in temperatures, though maximum temperatures were around average, minimum temperatures were slightly below. Quite an interesting month.

Below are the statistics for my weather station during the month of August

Mean Maximum: 20.0C
Mean Minimum: 12.1C
Overall Mean: 16.05C

Monthly Rainfall total: 179.1mm
Rainfall days: 22 days
Max rainfall in one day: 23.3mm (25th August)
Total Snowfall: 0cm
Snowfall Days (snow falling): 0cm
Max snowfall in one day: 0cm

Highest daily maximum temperature: 25.1C (8th August)
Lowest daily maximum temperature: 15.7C (25th August)
Highest daily minimum temperature: 15.4C (1st August)
Lowest daily minimum temperature: 7.8C (27th August)

Days with Ground Frost: 0 
Days with Air Frost: 0
Days of falling snow: 0
Days of lying snow: 0
Thunder days: 0

Temperature frequency breakdown

Maximum temperature:
15.0C to 19.9C: 15 days
20.0C to 24.9C: 14 days
25.0C to 29.9C: 2 days

Minimum temperature:
5.0C to 9.9C: 4 days
10.0C to 14.9C: 15 days
15.0C to 19.9C: 2 days

Compared to the Colwyn Bay average (81-10 average = 15.95), my average comes in at 0.1C above the Colwyn Bay average, making it an average month

 

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Summer 2014 Statistics

Below are the statistics for my weather station during the Summer season of 2014

Mean Maximum: 21.5C
Mean Minimum: 12.5C
Overall Mean: 17.1C

Seasonal Rainfall total: 273.0mm
Rainfall days: 44 days
Max rainfall in one day: 23.3mm (25th August)
Total Snowfall: 0cm
Snowfall Days (Sn*w falling): 0 days
Max snowfall in one day: 0cm

Highest daily maximum temperature: 30.6C (25th July)
Lowest daily maximum temperature: 14.5C (28th June)
Highest daily minimum temperature: 17.8C (18th July)
Lowest daily minimum temperature: 5.1C (6th June)

Days with Ground Frost: 0
Days with Air Frost: 0
Days of falling Sn*w: 0
Days of lying Sn*w: 0
Thunder days: 1

Temperature frequency breakdown

Maximum temperature:
10.0C to 14.9C: 1 day
15.0C to 19.9C: 21 days
20.0C to 24.9C: 59 days
25.0C to 29.9C: 9 days
30.0C to 34.9C: 2 days

Minimum temperature:
5.0C to 9.9C: 9 days
10.0C to 14.9C: 59 days
15.0C to 19.9C: 14 days

Compared to the Summer CET average for Colwyn Bay (81-10 average = 15.38 ), my statistics come in +1.62C above the Colwyn Bay average.

[johnholmes]

For Cantley near Doncaster

Wetter and cooler than average with the first monthly mean/max/min below average since May 2013

Mean=16.3 (17.6)

Avge Max=20.9 (22.3) hottest day=4th with 26.1 and coldest day=25th with 14.4

Avge Min=11.7 (12.9) coldest night=20th with 7.6 and warmest night=6th with 15.7

 

Rainfall=67.4 (47.7), wettest day =21.0 on 8th an evening of thunderstorms with very heavy rain peaking at 97.6mm p hr at 2017; 18 days with 0.2mm or more and 13 with 1.0mm or more

 

no fog, frost, snow or hail and just 1 day with thunder

Edited September 4, 2014 by johnholmes

[Styx]

 

Hobart, Tasmania - August ( Third month of winter )

Hobart ( pop 220,000 ) is situated at sea level on the south-east coast at the base of Mt.Wellington ( 1270m ).

Climate: Temperate/maritime. 

 

A wintry beginning but more than balanced out by an exceptionally dry and mild period after mid-month. Every month this year has been warmer than average and August was no exception, although nights were slightly colder than average ( 1981-2010 comparison ). The winter statistics showed rainfall was close to average in Hobart but temperatures were much warmer than normal with the mean maximum the equal-highest since records began in 1882. The following statistics are for August:

 

Average daily maximum:  14.6 ( +0.9 )

Average daily minimum:  5.4 ( -0.3 )

Rainfall:  46mm ( average 54mm )

Rain days ( +1mm ):  3/from 9

 

A cold outbreak at the end of July persisted into the 1st with 28mm in the 24hrs to 9am ( the wettest day of the year ) and a further 11mm during the day. All of this rain fell as abundant snow to near 400m level. Progressively milder days followed in a long fetch of drying westerly wind, with winds turning gale-force on the 6th as an intense low passed to the south of Tasmania. Minor wind damage in some suburbs. Another strong cold front crossed the island on 10th but this time showers were few and far between ( 6mm ) with very light snow descending to 250m level ( hillier suburbs ) by evening. Snow at this level will usually occur once or twice a year. Thereafter, strong high pressure was the only story - moving in from the north-west before settling between Tasmania and New Zealand. Almost exclusively dry for the rest of the month with sunny days developing and morning fog.

 

Extremes in daily temperature for August ( Records since 1882 ):

 

Highest daily maximum:  19.9...27th ( Record 24.5 in 1977 )

Lowest daily maximum:  7.3...1st ( Record 5.5 in 1974 )

 

Highest daily minimum:  11.4...6th ( Record 15.0 in 2005 )

Lowest daily minimum:  2.5...11th ( Record -1.8 in 1962 )

Edited September 5, 2014 by Styx

[Stargazer]

My statistics for central Reading in August 2014:

Average maximum: 20.8
Average minimum: 11.9
Average for month: 16.3

Highest maximum: 25.5 (7 August)
Lowest maximum: 15.9 (26) - the lowest March maximum recorded since I moved here in 2002
Highest minimum: 16.5 (6)
Lowest minimum: 6.1 (24)

 

Rainfall: no data available for this site; Local stations recorded around 90mm for the month, which is around 160% of average.
Sunshine: no data available for this site.

Thunder heard on 5 days.

No frosts or winter precipitation.

 

August 2014 started warm but cooled down rapidly in the second week with a cool and showery NW airflow persisting for much of the rest of the month. There were plenty of thundery showers around the middle of the month. The Bank Holiday Monday was particularly miserable with heavy rain all day, reported by the local press as the wettest here for 22 years.  Temperatures ended up around 1.5 deg C below the long-term average for August, with an unusually cold minimum of 6.1 on the 24th when some local rural stations reported a ground frost.

 

For summer 2014 overall:

Average maximum: 22.4
Average minimum: 13.6
Average for season: 18.0

Highest maximum: 28.2 (23 & 24 July)
Lowest maximum: 15.9 (4 June)
Highest minimum: 18.4 (19 July)
Lowest minimum: 6.1 (24 August)

 

In short, two warm and dry months followed by a cool wet one.  Compared to the long-term average temperatures at Reading university my recorded daytime temperatures were 0.9C above average and night time 1.5C above (although we're near the town centre, so would expect night time temperatures to be slightly higher anyway).  One feature of this summer has been the high frequency of thunderstorms, with an exceptional four-hour storm in the early hours of 14 June.

 

Unusually, particularly for a warmer than average summer, the temperature never reached 30C here; since I moved to Reading in 2002 this has only happened once before, in 2011.