July 7th-8th Strong winds and heavy rain 

On the 7th July a depression moving up from France intensified and brought another spell of unseasonably strong winds and wet weather to the UK.

The heaviest of the rain moved slowly north through England and Wales during the late afternoon, evening and overnight period. The rain was accompanied by strong winds from the north-east as the depression tracked closer to the UK and deepened further, many homes in East Anglia were left without power for many hours as the storm raged on; gusts of wind reached 68mph at Culdrose, in S Cornwall. The combination of strong winds, heavy rain, and depressed temperatures made it feel more like the middle of November than mid summer – even flooding the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park just a day after it was opened by the Queen!

What was quite interesting was the widespread nature of very high rainfall totals, throughout East Anglia many places reported 20 – 30mm falling from the rainband during the latter part of the 7th.

On the 8th, the low continued to move across England and eventually out into the North Sea; further spells of heavy rain accompanied the wrap around occlusion and those to the north of it had a rather cold day. In fact Sennybridge was cold with a maximum of just 9.6C, one of lowest ever maximum temperaures ever recorded in July. Many other places, especially in the north of England, West Midlands and the Welsh marshes also had their coldest July day on record with all areas reporting maxes of just 12–14C, including RAF Shawbury with a max of just 11.4C and at Nottingham, Watnall recording a chilly 11.7C as its maximum  – both were the lowest maximum temperatures recorded in July for those particular stations. Elsewhere in England where the occlusion had cleared, it turned brighter and warmer. However intense thundery showers developed and became quite organised, bringing some torrential downpours and atrocious conditions once again. One storm which literally developed over RAF Wittering dropped 51mm in 2 hours, bringing their rainfall total for the 24 hours to 18Z to a huge 108mm -over 4 inches- for the day.

High rainfall totals 24 h to 18Z on 8^th July