An historical perspective of the climate statistics for Coventry during August 2015


Temperature

Last year, August 2014 was the coolest August (15.4ºC) in Coventry since 1993 (15.1ºC), only 3 August months in Coventry had been cooler than 2014 in the previous 35 years (1985, 1986, 1993.)

By comparison, August 2015 has been warmer (16.5ºC) than last year, but still 0.5ºC below normal.

It has however followed the recent trend, in which eight of the past eleven August months in Coventry have been cooler than the city's 30 year average (1981-2010).

Looking at this eleven year period, the average August temperature from 1995 to 2005 was 17.8ºC, compared to the 2005-2015 average of 16.6ºC - a considerable cooling trend of 1.2ºC.

August has also followed the cooling trend of 2015; it has become the seventh month out of the first eight with lower than average monthly temperatures.

There have only been four years with a lower January to August average temperature in Coventry since 1987 (1991, 1996, 2010 and 2013).

* 31st Bank Holiday Monday was the coldest August day (14.6ºC) since 2011 (14.3ºC) and the coldest day of the whole summer!


Rainfall

65.8mm of rain fell in Coventry during August 2015, just 5% higher than the monthly average.
Just out of interest, 32% of the August rainfall total fell on the last two days of the month, over Bank Holiday Sunday & Monday.

Although it was drier than August 2014 (81.4mm), it was wetter than August 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Only six August months have been wetter than 2015 since 1997 (1999, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014).



Sunshine

We recorded 138.4 hours of sunshine during August 2015, a poor return for High Summer, 25% below the Coventry 30-year average (1981-2010).

It was the dullest August in the city since 2011 (129.4hr).

We seem to have 'lost' almost 30 years of sunshine during August in Coventry over the past 10 years or so. We recorded an average of 179.8 hours of August sunshine per month between 1996 and 2005, but only 150.6 hours from 2006 to 2015.