An historical perspective on the climate statistics
for Coventry during August 2006


Temperature

After the warmest June and July on record, August has been a
disappointment for many, though the monthly mean temperature (16.6C)
still equalled the 30-year average for Coventry (1971-2000).

Even so, so warm have recent August months been locally, that this was
the coolest August in the city since 1999 (16.3C).

Even though it felt cool after the heat of early summer, it was nowhere
near as cold as August 1986 (14.0C), and it was considerably warmer
than our coldest August, which registered just 13.3C in 1912.

Days of special note include:

� 6th The hottest day of the month (27.9C) registered the lowest
August maximum since 2000 (27.2C).

� 25th This was the coldest August night (8.1C) since 2003 (7.3C).


Rainfall

With a monthly rainfall total of 92.1mm, this was the wettest August in
our region since 2004 (142.4mm) with 39% more rain than is normal at
this time of year.

Only four August months have been wetter than this in the past 32 years
(1986, 1992, 1999 and 2004). Just out of interest the wettest August on
record (to 1870) was in 1912 with 157.9mm, which also happened to be
the coldest August on record too.

Sunshine

This was our dullest August in Coventry (136.6hr) since 1986 (128.1hr),
with 27% less sunshine than we might expect at this time of year.

Only two August months have recorded less sunshine since 1972 (1978 &
1986). The dullest August on record in 1902 recorded just 87.2 hours of
bright sunshine.

In August 2006, the sunniest day of the month managed just 9.4 hours of
sunshine – this is the lowest such value since 1968 (8.6hr). looking
back through the record books, we find that the lowest ever daily
sunshine maximum in August was just 7.2 hours in 1912.