June 1957: Sunshine galore

[Weather-history]

June 1957 was an exceptionally sunny, warm month which ended with a significant heatwave 

35.6°C on the 29th June 1957 at Camden Square. 35.0°C was also recorded at Northolt .

 

 

For England and Wales, June 1957 is the sunniest June ever recorded with 284.6hrs but there was a spectacular crash during July and August with sunshine well below the average so much so that the combined sunshine total for both months was less than that of June's.

Some sunshine totals (hrs)

346: Shanklin

340: Ilfracombe

339: Littlehampton

328: Torquay

326: Pembroke

320: Worthing

318: Scarborough

303: Broadstairs

296: Ramsgate

294: Keele Uni

293: Margate

291: Kew

292: Bristol

290: Huddersfield

285: Manchester

283: Edgbaston

282: Waddington

274: Coventry

      

[Metwatch]

Trevor Harley writes:

"One of the sunniest and warmest on record, and quite dry. Over 15 hours of sunshine were recorded at Manchester Airport every day from the 14th to the 21st, and 15 hours of sunshine were recorded widely across England on the 17th. There was a notable thunderstorm on the 8th in Cornwall: 203 mm of rain falling at Camelford led to flooding, with 140 mm of it in two and a half hours, with about half of that in just one hour. There were hail-drifts up to 2 feet deep. Bridges were destroyed. It was very warm over much of the UK from the 12th-20th. However, some violent thunderstorms affected the southwest: Teignmouth endured flooding on the 18th. There was a notable heatwave at the end of the month, carrying on to the 7 July. The equal record high for June, 35.6C, was set on the 29th in London (Camden Square) - in fact it was probably recorded at 96F, which is 35.55, so coooler. At Kew, the temperature reached 27C (80F) for ten days, and then on the last three days of the month, 32C (90F) was recorded at a number of locations across the SE. However, the east coast was considerably cooler. Sandown (IOW) had 345 hours of sunshine, and over 300 hours was recorded across many sites in England. With an average of 265 hours across England and Wales it was the sunniest month on record until 2020."

A Met Office page on the extreme daily rainfall as well, 180.1 mm at Roughtor View, Camelford (Cornwall), but likely above 200mm.