Tag: June

June 2011 was a cool month and also broke the trend of three consecutive months with below average rainfall. The mean temperature was 14.3°C which is 0.6°C below the long-term average. There were two brief periods (2^nd – 4^th and 25^th – 27^th) when we enjoyed warm weather with a maximum of 27.2°C on the 27^th. The record for June stands at 31.6° which was recorded on June 30^th 1995.

The rainfall of 63.1mm was 115% of the long-term average. Looking at the rainfall data for the first six months of the year I find that 2011 was the sixth driest I have recorded since my station started in 1984.

The solar radiation was 17% below the figure for 2010.

In a previous email I referred to my anemometer (it is sited at the top of a four metre pole that is fixed permanently above the ridge of the bungalow), which had been attacked by a rook. During June there were three nights when the wind dropped out and the instrument was disabled. This time the culprit/s were spiders which overnight had tied up the anemometer and wind vain. It takes a surprisingly strong gust of wind to break the gossamer threads so I have to free the instruments by standing tip-toe on a wall whilst holding at arms length an eight metre fibre-glass pole.

June 2010 produced some real summer weather, particularly during the latter half of the month. There were a few cool days, notably at the beginning and middle of the month when the maximum was several degrees below the average but the last ten days compensated with days of hot, dry weather and often cloudless blue skies from start to the finish of the day. The maximum of 27.8°C was recorded on the 26^th but in contrast we had the coolest night since 2001 when a minimum of 1.4°C was noted in the early hours of the 20^th. The wettest day occurred on the 7^th with 14.7mm, almost half the total of 36.0mm for the month. There were three days with maximum sunshine of 13.5 hours and five of 13.3 hours.

The mean temperature was 0.6°C above the long-term average, principally due to above average maxima.  With 22 totally dry days it was a very dry month, 36.0mm was 65% of the long-term average. It was the fifth driest January – June period on record. Due to the high temperatures the evapotranspiration total was 114.8mm, thus more than three times the moisture returned to the atmosphere than fell in rainfall.

Although the month started with three warm, dry days the next ten days were decidedly cool and wet with the 6^th being the wettest day of the month with 9.7m. The coolest night was the 12^th when the thermometer dropped to 4.2°C. A warm spell from 13^th to 16^th was followed by dry, cool days produced by northerly winds. However, summer returned on the 22^nd with increasingly hot, although very humid days, and thankfully for gardeners, some useful rain on the 25^th. The hottest day was the 29^th at 29.5°. The total rainfall was 41.2mm being 73% of the long-term average and the mean temperature was 0.7C above the long-term average.