UK Review - June 2009

June saw the highest temperatures of the year so far, but also some heavy thunderstorms which triggered localised flash floods.

After a hot and sunny start to June, some very wet weather hit much of central and southern England & Wales over the weekend of the 6th and 7th.

Rainfall totals were widely between 40 to 60mm, with a maximum of 78.1mm in Cardiff. Surface flooding affected a number of areas.

On the 10th heavy, slow-moving thundery downpours affected parts of Wales, West Midlands and South Yorkshire. Flash flooding was reported from a number of locations.

There were also slow-moving storms across southern Scotland and Northern Ireland over the weekend of the 13 and 14th, with golf-ball-sized hailstones reported at Leuchars (Fife) on 13th.

These storms moved into England and Wales on the 15th. Surface flooding was reported from a number of locations across the country. Up to 30 mm of rain was reported to have fallen in 30 minutes in the St Helens area.

Heavy storms were also reported in north-west England, South Yorkshire, Norfolk, Devon and Cornwall.

Hot weather triggered some severe storms between the 25th and 30th. The main area affected was from just north of London, through the Midlands and into north-west England.

Although the storms were scattered, some were severe with 20-40mm of rain reported in some areas in just a few hours.

Some funnel clouds were reported on the 26th, and marble-sized hailstones in Essex on 27th.

Localised flash flooding was reported from a number of areas on all 6 days and a number of people were treated for lightning strikes.

Towards the end of the month, weather watches for heat were issued for parts of England and Wales, as daytime temperatures were expected to exceed 30C and night-time temperatures were forecast to remain relatively high.

This was the first warning of its kind since 2006.

30C was exceeded in parts of south-east England on the 29th and 30th.

Statistics

Mean temperatures were up to 1.5C above the 1971-2000 average across the UK.

Values exceeded this average across western areas of England, Wales and Scotland, but temperatures were near average for the time of year in north-east Scotland and parts of north-east England.

The mean maximum temperature for Western Scotland was the highest since 1992.

Rainfall was below normal for June in most areas, but were above this average in a few small areas, with parts of the West Midlands receiving around double the average rainfall for June.

The driest regions included Kent and Cornwall with only around a third of the June average.

Sunshine was above the seasonal average away from eastern coasts, with around 150% of the June average recorded in parts of Northern Ireland and north-west Scotland.

A maximum temperature of 31.8C was recorded at Wisley (Surrey) on the 30th.

Kinlochewe (Highland) recorded a maximum temperature of 26.9C on the 24th.

Tulloch Bridge (Highland) recorded a minimum temperature of -1.5C on the 7th.

Cardiff Bute Park recorded 78.1mm of rainfall in the twenty-four hours ending 09:00 UTC on the 7th and there were unofficial reports of more than 90mm of rain in Exeter on the 6th.