August 2004 Review

[paul tall]

Temperature wise, a month of two halves, the first half of the month seeing maximum temperatures above 20ºC most days, also with exceptionally warm nights, temperatures rarely dipping below 15ºC during most nights. The average minimum temperature of 13.2ºC was considerably warmer than the 1971-2000 Durham average of 10.6ºC.

Because of this, the mean temperature was pushed up to 16.4ºC, which is 1.3ºC above the 1971-2000 Durham average. The second half of the month was noticeably cooler and fresher. The warmest temperature recorded was just 26.0ºC (78.8ºF) on the 8th. We also had a record high night time minimum, where the temperature fell no lower than 18.3ºC (64.9ºF) in the 24 hours up to 9 am on the 9th August. The coldest temperature recorded was 7.2ºC (45.0ºF) in the early hours of August 22nd.

The weather was very unsettled throughout the month with several bands of persistent heavy rain passing through the area. The month was also duller than average according to other local stations.

One thing August 2004 will be remembered for is the incredible amount of rain that fell. This was not just the wettest August recorded in North East England, but several locations recorded their wettest month EVER. The rainfall total for Newton Aycliffe was a staggering 210mm!! That’s by far and away a rainfall record for this location.

Compare the reading of 210mm this month to the 30 year Durham average of 61.3mm and it gives you an idea of just how wet this month was. Rainfall above 1mm was recorded on 15 days, compared to the 9.2 days that you might expect. The daily rainfall record was broken with 45mm recorded between 9am August 9th and 9am August 10th. A further 27mm was recorded in the following 12 hours, giving a 36 hour rainfall total of 72mm. The month was also unusually humid, with an average 9am humidity reading of 91.4%

To summarise, a warmer than average month, although that was exclusively down to warm nights rather than warm days, which was dull, unsettled, incredibly wet, and humid.

MONTHLY SUMMARY August 2004 (Anomalies are compared to Durham averages 1971-2000)

MEAN MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE ....19.7ºC (+0.1ºC)

MEAN MINIMUM TEMPERATURE .....13.2ºC (+2.6ºC)

MEAN TEMPERATURE .....16.4ºC (+1.3ºC)

HIGHEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE .....26.0ºC on the 8th

LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE .....14.8ºC on the 23rd

HIGHEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE .....18.3ºC on the 9th

LOWEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE .....7.2ºC on the 22nd

DAYS ABOVE 18ºC.....19

DAYS ABOVE 20ºC.....14

DAYS ABOVE 25ºC......3

NIGHTS BELOW 0ºC.....0

NIGHTS BELOW 10ºC....4

DAYS THUNDER HEARD..2

TOTAL RAINFALL.... 210mm (+148.7mm)

NUMBER OF DAYS WITH 1mm OR MORE.. 15 (+5.6 Days)

GREATEST 24 HOUR FALL.... 45mm 0900 9th - 0900 10th

HIGH RAINFALL RATE....85mm/hr at 2100 on 9th August.

FALLS OF 20mm OR MORE IN 24 HOURS.... 5

SLEET OR SNOW OBSERVED TO FALL ....0

50% SNOW COVER MORNING OBSERVATION .....0

AVERAGE HUMIDITY 9AM...91.4%

MINIMUM HUMIDITY...38% on August 21st

AVERAGE ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE AT 9AM..1010.7hpa

HIGH BAROMETER....1024hpa on 1st August

LOW BAROMETER.....993hpa on 19th August

MAXIMUM WIND GUST...21km/hr ESE on 13th August.

[Shanice]

Report for August 2004 At Pollard's Hill, Surrey

Temperatures were above Average and so was Rainfall with the wettest August ever recorded at Pollards Hill.

August Max Temp Avg: 24.33c (Highest: 29.9c 8th)

August Max Temp 1991-2004 Avg: 24.02c (Highest: 36.8c on 10-8-2003)

August Min Temp Avg: 15.08c (Lowest: 9.8c on the 31st)

August Min Temp Avg 1991-2004: 14.47c (Lowest: 7.1c on 25-8-1993)

August 2004 Temp Mean: 19.7c

August Mean Temp Avg 1991-2004: 19.24

August 2004 Rainfall: 112mm (Highest 24hrs 44mm on the 19th)

August Rainfall Avg 1993-2004: 48.75mm (Highest 24hrs: 44mm on 19-8-2004)

2004 So Far....

Highest Day 2004 Max Temp: 30.8c on 8th June

Lowest Night 2004 Min Temp: -3.4c on 27th February

Total Rainfall for 2004: 453mm (Highest 24hrs 44mm on 19th of August)

[johnholmes]

Hello

My figures for just south of Doncaster are:-

Mean Max 22.4C with an Absolute Max of 30.6C on 8th August

Mean Min 14.0C with the lowest being on 21st August with an overnight Min of 8.8C

The lowest daytime Max was 14.1C on 20th August.

This gives a mean temp of 18.2C, 2.1C above the long term average for this area.

I don't have any rainfall amounts, just the days with rain, I had 22, the long term average is 13.

there were 3 days with fog reported(average1) and 4 days, possibly more with thunder(I'm deaf!!), long term average is 2

All in all a warm but wet month.

jh

[Thundery wintry showers]

Tyneside's month was similar to what was described at Durham.

However, it probably wasn't quite as wet, for many of the areas of heavy rain that affected Durham had weakened by the time they reached the coast- we ended up with more than our fair share of coastal drizzle.

Due to the dominance of sea fog during the first half of the month, it is likely that South Tyneside was even more anomalously dull than Durham.

[Paul Gilliver]

Turned out to be an average sort of a month here in Newhall we only caught the tail end of the storms.

MONTHLY SUMMARY August, 2004

MEAN MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE 22.5c

MEAN MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE ANOMALY +2c

MEAN MINIMUM TEMPERATURE 13.5c

MEAN MINIMUM TEMPERATURE ANOMALY +3.5c

MEAN TEMPERATURE 17.5c

MEAN TEMPERATURE ANOMALY +1.5c

HIGHEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE 30.9c on the 8th

LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE 17.5c on the 30th

HIGHEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE 17.1c on the 4th

LOWEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE 8.5c on the 28th

MAXIMUM DAILY RANGE 14.5c on the 8th

MINIMUM DAILY RANGE 6.5c on the 25th

TOTAL RAINFALL 111.8mm

PERCENTAGE OF AVERAGE 171.40%

NUMBER OF DAYS WITH 0.2 OR MORE 21

NUMBER OF DAYS WITH 1mm OR MORE 14

GREATEST 24 HOUR FALL 19.3mm on the 23rd

FALLS OF 25mm OR MORE IN 24 HOURS 0

AIR MINIMUM BELOW 0.00 0

GROUND FROST 0

SLEET OR SNOW OBSERVED TO FALL 0

50% SNOW COVER MORNING OBSERVATION 0

HAIL UNDER 5mm DIAMETER 0

HAIL 5mm DIAMETER OR MORE 0

VISIBILITY BELOW 1000mtr 3

DAYS WHEN THUNDER HEARD 5

DAYS WITH 10 MIN WIND SPEED 39mph OR MORE 0

WIND BETWEEN

N 0

NE 6

E 1

SE 8

S 1

SW 6

W 9

NW 0

CALM 0

MEAN WINDSPEED 3.1 m.p.h

GREATEST WIND GUST 28 m.p.h on the 29th

GUSTS OF 50mph OR MORE 0

HUMIDITY AT MORNING OBSERVATION 77.50%

RAINFALL DURATION 46 hours

AIRFROST DURATION 0

MEAN BAROMETER PRESSURE 1006.82 mb

HIGHEST BAROMETER PRESSURE 1019.5 mb on the 1st

LOWEST BAROMETER PRESSURE 990.9mb on the 18th