On Sep 1, 12:28*pm, "peter clarke" wrote:
This seems to have been *an unusual month. A relentless westerly type,
almost without interruption throughout and, as far as I can remember, no
significant anticycones centred near *the country. Yet it has been a very
dry month in the south-east, thanks to pressure staying relatively high for
much of the time to the south or southeast. Keith's ( Southend) *total of
9.8mm *is the lowest I have seen so far, but it has been *a very wet month
in the west and north, of course.

August must have been a classic example of rainfall when south-west winds
prevail for several weeks, and it will be interesting to see the map of the
rainfall totals for the British isles when it becomes available.

The month must have excited the GW enthusiasts because it was the sort of
month we have been told to expect in a warming climate in summer, with a dry
southeast *and unsettled conditions towards the northwest. August was a very
good example. As ever, *not much notice should be taken of a single month's
weather, but interesting nevertheless.

Peter Clarke
Ewell, Epsom

The other factor influencing this month on the south coast was that
cold pool of air in the Atlantic. Result was that in these parts
(Southampton) it seemed to be dry, but often cool. I haven't got
measurements but, using the recorded maximum temperatures for nearby
places, there were hardly any very warm days (OTOH the 11th and 19th
being the only standout days) and a good number of days with the
temperature 2C+ below average (OTOH 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 10th, 27th,
29th, 30th) and a number of other slightly-below-average days (3rd,
25th, 26th, 28th). Temperatures seemed about average most days from
the 5th to 24th, with the occasional warm day, and, apart from the
31st, cooler than average otherwise.

There were also few very sunny days, though there were a number of
fairly sunny days in the week beginning the 7th. On the other hand,
heavy rain was just about absent, meaning the grass is starting to
look brown in places. The only significant bands of rainfall were on
the 1st, 3rd/4th, 6th - apart from that it was just drizzle or short
lived showers, Bill included.

As nearby as Bracknell the temperatures appear to have been different.
It seems that inland central southern and SE England, at least, have
had the promised barbecue summer - but the effect of living next to
the coast has been very much greater than a normal year. Normally we
can rely upon a 22C max in July and August here in very ordinary
"westerly" types.

Nick