UK weather events and extremes of 2008

January 15th: The wet and windy period continued as a low, around 973mb crossed Wales, giving gales or severe gales to its south, Milford on the Solent's mouth saw a gust to 78mph at 10Z and Dover to 66mph. A ship, the Ice Prince sunk off Start Point, Devon with 5000 tons of logs on board.. most of which washed ashore along Sussex beaches in the following week or two. It followed the wreckage almost 1 year ago of the 'Napoli', in almost the same place and same conditions.

January 27th: a condition known as super geostrophic flow operated. Basically it occurred because as the upper air flowed up around high pressure to the west where the isobars were well spaced it was then squeezed around and across the north of England where the isobars were much more tightly packed due to lower pressure across Northern Scotland. Atmospheric waves -much like waves at sea- were formed, which brought these stronger winds aloft rolling down to the surface, this being especially pronounced to the lee of high ground. Typically the wind becomes very gusty as these waves roll through. Leeming saw wind gusts reach as high as 70mph and several large lorries were blown off the M1 along with some damage to trees.

Jan 31st: January ended stormy as a very deep low crossed the N Isles of 948mb. This gave storm winds in many parts of Scotland at times along with severe gales elsewhere. Gusts as high as 84mph were recorded at several locations during the day including Carlisle and -unofficially- at an amateur weather station at Lee on Solent.

Feb 4th: A windy day as a small depression across Southern Ireland deepened, moved north east across the Irish Sea and brought a spell of wet and windy weather to the SW especially and through the Channel. Pressure fell rapidly in places (7mb in one hour at the K3 buoy off S Ireland). Seven Stones Light Vessel near the Scilly Isles recorded a gust of 78mph at 21Z and as the occluded front went through it gave gusts to 70mph in exposed spots in the south and SW; Lands End recorded 71mpg at 2046Z; Polruan (south Cornwall) recorded a mean speed of 54mph and gust of 70mph around 2230Z and Milford on Sea (Dorset) 73mph early on the 5th with heavy rain and hail showers rattling in behind the front overnight too.

Feb 15th: Half way through the month and the sunshine totals across the UK were very high indeed. It was already sunnier than an average February for England and Wales in fact. Across England and Wales, the first half of February 2008 was sunnier than the second half of June 2007 and it was sunnier than the first half of July 2007, quite a remarkable statistic. It was also cold and foggy overnight in places, Topcliffe saw as low as -7.3C on the night on the 15th/16th.

Feb 20th: Some very cold nights as freezing fog became quite persistent. Topcliffe fell to -9C on the 18th and Dishforth (Yorks) only rose to -2.9C on the 19th giving some areas one of their coldest February days for 20 years or more. The fog was thick enough also in places for freezing precipitation to fall from it and up to 2cm of this icy/snow like feature collected and was reported in places in the Midlands and north.

Feb 28th: February looks likely to be remembered as a dry and very sunny month with some local sunshine records for February being broken, especially across part of eastern England.

4th April: A warm start to April in many places. For instance the 2nd saw the south warm and sunny with Lee on Solent reaching as high as 18.4C. The third saw the warmth move northwards, with Inverbervie in Scotland reaching 18.9C, certainly very warm in Scotland for early April though nowhere near any records. The 4th saw the warmth back in the south again with Charlwood (near Gatwick Airport in Surrey) reaching 18.3C. It will make the abrupt change to a much colder pattern with snow about in the next few days, all the more notable.

6th April: A cold polar based air mass covered the UK giving a cold night with widespread frost (see http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/2008/brack/bracka20080406.gif.
However as a slow moving occluded front pushed south later in the night, snow fell from it widely and it was one of the snowiest April days on record in recent memory. Parts of the south and Midlands saw up to 10-12cm fall early in the morning and even the far south, central London saw lying snow and right along the coasts from Swanage- Kent saw as much as 5-7cm . Snow fell right onto the beaches here and lay, something that hasn't happened for over a decade and certainly not in April. Although it melted in strong Spring sunshine during the day it was enough to give a very unseasonal and wintry day for many as children (and not a few Dads too) built snowmen on the beaches.

11th April: A cold period after the early warmth. Wintry showers continued in the period up to the 11th in places as a generally cold northerly flow persisted. Temperatures were nearly a degree below average in the first third of the month (tempered by the warm start). However in the mainly N-NE ly flow it was very sunny in the SW with 150% of the average expected but parts of Eastern Scotland saw twice the average rainfall expected in contrast to just 50% across East Anglia.

May 10th- A cool start soon gave way to a very warm period with temperatures overall a remarkable 5C up on the monthly average so far. Much of the warmth has seen the highest UK temperatures locally, with Herstmonceux recording the highest temperatures in the UK three times in the last six days, a slight foehn effect of the east wind and some dry ground probably helping boost temperatures. The 5th saw it reach 23C (highest in UK) as did the 6th, the 7th and 8th reached 25C, the 9th reached 26C (highest in UK) and today it soared to 27.3C. This was the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK on May 10th, since records began, hence quite a feat.

May 15th- with temperatures some 5C above average across England it was the warmest start to May here since 1833.

May 19th- After the warm start it turned notably colder especially by night. In fact there were some very cold nights indeed for late May. Kinbrace in Northern Scotland recorded -6.2C on Sunday night into Monday. This is the coldest temp so late in the year for 52 years, since -6.7C was recorded in 1956 (on 20th May). The date record was -6.7C also, (set in 1903) so it narrowly escaped being beaten. Grass minina of -5C were quite widespread also and at Farnborough (Hants) the air temperature reached just below freezing.

May 25th- another wet bank holiday in the south and Midlands! Although totals of 10-15mm were quite widespread in the south, the far SE suffered the most, especially in Kent , when a slow moving front and further convective pulses moved north across it. Some local stations reported up to 35mm in 12 hours although these were localised to the area of SE Kent, especially around Folkestone and Dover.

May 28th-29th- a very wet period for many areas in the 72 hours from the 25th as thundery rain moved up from the continent. The wettest appeared to be Manston, Kent where over 100mm fell in the last three days and 150mm in the last week of May. Storms in the East Kent area also did damage as well , three houses at least were struck and set alight by lightning though fire crews restricted the damage to the roof areas.  In consrast to the wet weather though fire crews needed to tackle another blaze, this time a blaze on moorland, when 65 firefighters attempted to contain the blaze near Baitings Reservoir, in Ripponden, W Yorks. A 4km stretch of moorland was ablaze with strong winds causing the flames to spread and change direction. There was a two mile fire front along the side of the main A58 road between Lancashire and Yorkshire at one stage. The 29th saw further storms and localised flooding affect parts of Somerset, especially in and around Crewkerne.

June 3rd: A very wet day in places as fronts became slow moving across central Southern parts causing localised flooding in places, especially around the New Forest and in Oxfordshire. 24 hours totals to 7pm included 47mm at Benson (Oxon) and 45mm at Brize Norton, 43mm at Little Rissington and also High Wycombe (Bucks). Unofficially, Thactham (Berks) reported 56mm falling since midnight, most falling in the 12 hours to noon. It was warm and humid in the far south though, with dewpoints as high as 16-17C.

June 22nd: The longest day was one of the windiest recorded in June in recent years. As a deep low swung away into the North Sea, a tight gradient on its south western flank brought very gusty winds with it; Wittering reported a gust of 76mph. Loftus and Blackpool reported 63mph. In N Wales one person was hurt when a marquee collapsed in Caerwys, Flintshire, and rail services were affected after a train hit a tree near Wrexham. Properties in Madeley, Shropshire, and Armitage near Lichfield had no electricity for a time. It was very wet too, Eskdalemuir reported 56mm in the 24 hours to 7pm today and Keswick in the Lake District reported 53mm.

June 26th : More wet weather affected the north of the England and Wales today as low pressure dominated giving some very high daily totals which included 77mm at Ringstone Edge reservoir (above Huddersfield) and 67mm at Blackstone reservoir above Rochdale (figures courtesy of Philip Eden). It was windy too in places on coasts with a gust of 55mph on the Mumbles at Swansea.

July 6th: Notably unsettled. Across the south on the coast at Newhaven (E Sussex) saw a gust to 58mph (and 60mph yesterday) with heavy showers inland giving quite widespread thunderstorms in central and eastern parts today. Since midday on the 4th to midday today, Cardinham (nr Bodmin, Cornwall) saw over 60mm of rain fall.

July 15th: Half way through July now and was turning into one of the coolest on record recently. The average temperature across England was 1.2C below average with over 250% of the average rainfall and just 86% of expected sunshine in the period. (figures courtesy of Philip Eden).

July 27th: The breakdown from some very warm weather saw a lot of thunderstorms developing, mainly in a very warm upper plume of air ahead of a cold front, from SE England right up towards Wales. As temperatures near 30C were reached once again with 29.7C at Kew Gardens in SW London the air became 'juicy', a lot of warm moisture contained in its lower layers and primed for storm development. Scattered storms developed initially but an upper trough with deep lifting and upper cooling brought more widespread storms by evening for many along the south coast, central south, Wales and the NW of England. Parts of Berkshire and Surrey saw about an inch of rain in an hour (25mm) and 3cm hail. The M5 at Smethwick (Brum) also saw 30mm fall in one hour. Houses were struck by lightning in places and set on fire, including one at Kidderminster. Four cars at a car showroom in Wednesbury, caught fire after being hit by lightning and flash flooding in Dudley and Tipton (W Midlands) caused at least one driver to be stranded in his vehicle as thousands of commuters faced problems getting home. Despite the heat recently, temperatures overall in July are still below average.

July 28th Cooler in the west but still a very warm day and hot in places in the east and SE. Cambridge Botanical Gardens recorded the warmest temperature of the day and indeed of July as a whole across the UK with a standardised reading of 30.2C.

August 2008

6th August- After a warm day with 27C recorded in London some spectacular thunderstorms developed in the evening across the south east as an area of upper level activity moved through some parts, with almost constant lightning for a few hours in places. Various places lost their power across East Sussex and lightning set fire to a number of properties.

7th August -A wet day in parts of central and east Scotland, Edinburgh reported 40mm. In fact it was a dull and wet first week overall; temperatures were near average but there was just 59% of the average weekly sunshine and 145% of the normal weekly rain across England and Wales.

13th August- An unusually windy day for August as a deep area of low pressure moved east across the southern UK, central pressure being as low as 985mb. As a result a very tight gradient developed to the south and along the south coast there were some strong gusts; Newhaven Coastguard station reported a gust of 67mph.

15th August- A very unsettled first half of August overall, both wet and dull. England & Wales saw 186% of average rainfall and just 64% of the sunshine. Temperatures though were near average, as a result of night time temperatures being some 1.5C above average, balancing day time deficits of about the same amount.

18th August: some severe weather affected Northern Ireland today as slow moving fronts brought torrential rain to many parts of central Ireland as well. There were many reports of flooding and an underpass in Belfast was under 20ft of water at one stage, which had to be pumped out by the fire brigade on the following day. This link shows the rainfall recorded across Ireland http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=61545&d=1218921177 (by kind courtesy of Netweather)

19th/20th August: severe weather affected west Wales overnight with around 50 boats at Abersoch damaged. Debris littered the beach as winds gusted to about 50mph. Around 32mm of rain fell too in the area in about a 12 hour period with the upland station near Capel Curig seeing 54mm in the 24 hour period up to 18Z on the 19th. Further torrential rain affected the central western coastal area of Wales on the 20th also, Trawscoed recording another 27mm up to 18Z on the 20th.

24th August: A unusually deep low south of Iceland brought strong winds to the far NW today. Stornoway and South Uist gusted to 55mph, though this is nothing especially unusual for this area of course, even in August.

31st August: Thunderstorms developed quite widely with Chalfont St Giles (Bucks) reporting 51mm; 32mm of rain fell in less than 20mins in a torrential downpour at Hampstead (London) and a funnel cloud was observed in this storm there.

September 5th -7th A very wet period as deep low pressure anchored to the SW of the UK, it was a low as 978mb at one stage. Heavy rain moved across the SW and Wales with around 60-80mm in places. As water and river levels were already high it didnt take much for rivers to flood and many areas in South Wales especially were badly affected, with closed major roads and flooded properties. Bridgend Council in the South Wales valleys declared a state of emergency mid afternoon. By the 7th the mopping up continued in many areas. By then some areas had seen as much as 80-100mm fall in the space of 36 hours. Many areas were affected but especially central Wales (esp Powys), Yorkshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, Teeside and Northumberland, as well as other more localised areas. Morpeth was described as being a "scene of utter devastation". At one stage Morpeth was "virtually cut off" from the outside world by the rising water. Sadly too, five people died in accidents related to the heavy rains.

September 16th- Although high pressure finally gave some drier weather in the south the rain continued for the north west. In fact quite a large area NW of Glasgow & just east of Fort William in western and Highland Scotland saw 36 hour totals -up to 12Z today - up at around 70-80mm locally, in stark contrast now to the dry south. It has been so wet already in September that even if it didn't rain again throughout the month we would end up with above average rainfall totals across most of the UK.

September 30th- the month ended rather cooler than normal for most though only slightly but certainly it was wetter everywhere despite the last few weeks of drier sunnier weather, due to the exceptionally wet start. Only Northern Scotland bucked the trend seeing half of its average. It was quite dull overall too.

Oct 4th: A very chilly start to the month; the first three days saw temperatures up to 3C below average across England. Its was very wet in places too, Shap Fell saw 53mm fall; Capel Curig saw 45mm (in the 24 hours to 09Z on the 4th).

Oct 9th-13th: A much drier sunnier period and locally warm too. Gravesend and Weybourne reached 19.4C on the 7th. The warm period peaked with Gravesend reaching 22.9C on the 12th (which was just 0.8C below September's highest UK temperature) and Manston 21.4C on the 13th.

Oct 23rd: A deep low swungs by the NW of Scotland, gusts of 66mph were reported at Sule Skerry) with a lot of rainfall in the Western Highlands.

Oct 29th: With a polar northerly airflow becoming established from the 27th onwards this was a notably cold day with snow in places, especially around the area northwest of London, where a 2-5cm fell in places, enough to allow the youngsters to build snowmen. This is some of the earliest lying snow recorded for many years in this area. In Northern Ireland where snow also fell on the 28th and 29th and lay during the day, the maximum temperature at Lough Fea was just 1.1C. More snow fell later in the day in North Wales, with Coedpoeth (at 200m) near Wrexham reporting as much as 15-20cm. Overnight, further north, Altnaharra's temperature (Highlands) fell to -6C.

Oct 30th: Flooding affected East Devon, especially around Ottery St Mary with many residents having problems. The fire brigade responded to 150 calls in a few hours. Hail fell, drifting to depths of a few feet in places. At nearby Dunkeswell the equivalent of 72mm was reported in a few hours around midnight.