MetJam
@metjam.co.uk
Jamie. BSc Environmental Science Student at University of Reading. Communications Director @ TORRO Avid weather nut from coastal Kent doing weather updates for the SE. Space weather & astronomy thrown in whenever that looks interesting too! metjam.co.uk
39 consecutive days without measurable rainfall (<0.2 mm of rain) here in Herne Bay as of today - the local record (back to 1961) is 44 days from 13th April to 26th May 2011. For summer, it's 43 days from 8th June to 20th July 2018. The record could very well go.
We’ve scraped past these showers with still no measurable rainfall - takes some doing!
40 days since a daily rainfall total of >0.2 mm was recorded here in Herne Bay
It was the driest July on record at Kew since 1800 [caveat of likely a variety of different station placements since then], which also recorded no measurable rainfall - very impressive for the area. Local records go back to 1697.
It was the hottest July on record for mean temperature and mean maximum temperature in Reading since records began in 1908. By mean temperature, it is also the hottest month on record since 1908. Extraordinarily sunny too, with just over 358 hours recorded.
July 2026 - the sunniest, driest and warmest July in the UK (when all combined) since at least 1910.
24°C maximum in Herne Bay today - far cry from the low 30s seen elsewhere.
Parched as anything in Crawley this afternoon - Charlwood doing its usual overreading as winds veered SSE’ly later in the afternoon but maximum likely sat around 33°C, toasty!
Today is the 20th day of the year in which a temperature of 32 °C or higher has been recorded in the UK - this exceeds the previous record of 19 days in 1995 📈
I’m on trains for a good few hours today - if you have any weather related questions that may quell my boredom, feel free to reply em! *Can guarantee there’ll be a point where I forget I’ve posted this and come back to loads later 🤣
Eyeing up around 33ºC tomorrow as a maximum temperature, with a smaller chance of an isolated 34ºC.
It’s always important in concerts like this to spot the weather station nearby
Sea breeze convergence very visible along the coast today - collision of these differing wind directions helping generate enough lift for some heavy showers in far SE Kent.
Hurn recorded 381.1 hours of sunshine on the Kipp & Zonen recorder in July; this, corrected for a Campbell Stokes recorder, looks to be over 400 hours of sunshine - without doubt, the sunniest ever month recorded for any UK station on record. An absolutely extraordinary July.
July was hot and dry and the landscape is now brown and parched Rainfall total for July was 1.5mm and was a result of a ten min shower at the end of the month at the Littlestone garden (SE Kent) June rainfall total was 80mm while May was 40mm @metoffice.gov.uk @metjam.co.uk
July recorded no measurable rainfall here in Herne Bay, the driest month on record since April 2007 and what looks to be the driest July on record
Sea breeze convergence may help to trigger more showers and thunderstorms in the far SE during the course of this afternoon - conditions may be right for funnel clouds to be spotted under the low lying bases of any showers that do develop, already one spotted in Margate.
Well sculpted cirrus above my head here in Herne Bay as strong SW’ly upper level winds (500 hPa winds are around 40 knots) are in place which helps to stretch and elongate the cloud.
The previous maximum temperature of 36.1ºC at Gosport, Fleetlands on the 24th of June appears to have been rejected, with the next hottest [36ºC at Wisley] accepted instead, based on the Met Office's daily weather summary for June. Two date records for June now held at Wisley.
It seems very likely that Hurn (with corrections) will have broken the old UK sunshine record - the median corrected estimate looks to be 396 hours of sunshine, beating the Eastbourne record by just under 13 hours to the 30th. The sunniest month at any UK station in 115 years.
A neat area of drought-ending rainfall is moving through in these clumps of showers this evening - Canvey to Southend seem to be the next target area
The temperature trace showing 38ºC being reached at the Lingwood site just after 13:30 UTC on the 26th of June - the site was accepted as its representative of a wooded area with artificial surfaces and heat sources not being a limiting factor, shading was within 'Satisfactory'.
Weather event verification reports are out for the June heatwave - will have a look through properly soon to see if there's anything of interest. For now, here are the sites at Hastings, Tenby, Hawarden Airport and Lingwood from the reports.
The sea breeze never really arrived here today - up to 34.2°C and still around 27°C now.
35.2ºC at Writtle is a date record for the 29th of July by 0.8ºC [34.4ºC, Perdiswell in 1948] - the 7th day this year that UK temperatures have exceeded or equalled 35ºC, beating the old record of 5 days in 1976 and 2020. We're up to 31 days of ≥30ºC temperatures as well.
Following rigorous quality control checks, 38°C has been verified as the new UK and England June daily temperature record, which is higher than our previously reported 37.7°C at the same site at Lingwood.
