The temperature reached 21.7C here today ending a run of 12 consecutive
days with below average maxima.

The thermometer did not even exceed 15.5C during the 11 days from the
22nd July to 1st August. I do not know of any 10-day spell at this time
of year (as far back as 1905) in which 16C has not been exceeded at a
site in Aberdeen.

The mean maximum (14.2C) for the last 10 days of July was on a par with
1965 as the coldest of the past 100 years and was only about 0.5C
higher than for the warmest 10-day spell of February 1998.

I know only of the following years (since 1905) in which the mean
maximum for the last 10 days of July was below 16C:

1965 14.2
1970 14.5
1958 14.7

1907 15.3
1914 15.6
1910 15.7
1971 15.7
1918 15.8

Averages have been computed from data published in the Daily Weather
Report availaible to only the nearest degree Celsius or degree
Fahrenheit. 1907-1918 temperatures were recorded at King's College
Observatory in Old Aberdeen while those from 1958-1971 are from Dyce.
The latter would appear to have summer maxima about 0.5C higher than
the former. The average maxima for July 2005 was 0.2C higher at my site
at Hazlehead than at Dyce.

Richard Slessor,
Hazlehead,
Aberdeen