Late August 1930: intense heat

Weather-history · August 25, 2021

After a pretty poor summer, the meteorological summer of 1930 ended with an intense heatwave for the time of the year.

Temperatures surpassed the 30C mark with date records set on the 28th August with 33.9C at Rickmansworth and on the 29th with 34.4C at Camden Square.

The change to the hot airmass was abrupt, especially for the north, for instance at Kew

24th: 20C

25th: 22.2C

26th: 28.9C

27th: 31C

Eskdalemuir

26th: 17.8C

27th: 28.3C

The temperature at 5000ft over Duxford was recorded to be 21.7C on the 27th.

The minimum temperature at Kew on the 30th was 19.4C

The heat was accompanied by severe thunderstorms and large hail. Spectacular lightning displays were seen with one report in Surrey recording 63 discharges per minute at peak for one storm.

From the Guardian of 27th Aug 1930 as the hot spell begins

A Face like Thunder · August 25, 2021

It must have been a fairly short-lived hot spell as Brazell (London Weather) has the mean for Aug 1930 as 62.8F or -0.2 below the average at the time. The hottest day was given as the 29th at 89.1F. Both sunshine and rainfall were above average that month. Overall, 1930 seems to have been a fairly average year, with a mild January offset by cooler than average temps in 8 out of the 11 other months. The overall mean was 50.8F, -0.1 below average.