Monthly Weather Review - Pitsford Hall

Headline: Generally unsettled with rainfall significantly above average. Some spectacular thunderstorms around mid-month. Temperature and sunshine very much in line with the average for August.

August began with the weather influenced by low pressure centred over Scotland. Whilst the heaviest of the rain associated with this low was confined to areas further north, the county did experience a scattering of showers on the 1st and 2nd. The proximity of the low made for some cool and quite windy days with gusts reaching 33mph on the 2nd. The 1st and 3rd clocked in some reasonable amounts of sunshine, but the 2nd and 4th remained quite cloudy.

A ridge of high pressure built across the British Isles from the 5th onwards, but this was insufficient in strength to prevent a frontal system from working southwards. Rain associated with this front reached the county overnight into the 7th. As this front worked further southwards it triggered thunderstorms and flash floods later in the day across parts of the south-east, but fortunately the county was spared these problems.

Another temporary ridge developed across the region on the 8th, but again it was insufficient to combat the progression of a frontal system during the day which eventually brought a small amount of rain to the county during the evening. Low pressure developed to the north of Scotland over the next few days and then trundled southwards across the North Sea. A band of rain associated with this movement delivered a fair amount of rain at Pitsford on the 12th. With winds coming in from a mainly north or north-westerly direction, temperatures fell smartly and with air maxima struggling to reach 20C after the 11th, conditions felt distinctly autumnal. The 13th and 14th saw further showers, mainly light.

The 15th saw an area of low pressure developing west of Ireland. Over the next few days the low developed to become firmly centred over much of the British Isles by the 17th fuelling a very unsettled spell of weather across the county. Much of the rain on the 17th and 18th was delivered via some spectacular thunderstorms. 12.3mm of rain was recorded at Pitsford on both the 17th and 18th. Unfortunately, lightning strikes on the 18th caused a number of house fires across Northampton as well as a number of flash floods. Rainfall associated with the storms on the 18th was particularly intense; 12.0mm fell in the space of half an hour from 12:50 GMT at Pitsford. Further showers continued over the next few days, heavy at first on the 19th becoming lighter later. Nevertheless, despite the showers there were some fairly good spells of sunshine.

A ridge of high pressure had built in across the UK on the 22nd producing a fine day across the county with some 9.9 hrs of sunshine recorded at Pitsford on a day that turned out to be the sunniest in August. However, the high quickly gave way to low pressure and associated fronts moving in from the west the following day delivering a further 4.9mm of rain at Pitsford. The unsettled weather continued with further fronts driving more rain eastwards over the next few days. As the month came to a close, low pressure was generally dominating the picture across much of the UK from the north or north-east driving further showers across the county.


Air Temperatures    
The Highest Maximum:  27.5C on 6th
The Lowest Maximum:  18.0C on 13th & 29th
The Highest Minimum:  16.3C on 7th
The Lowest Minimum:  8.4C on 25th
The Mean Maximum:  20.8C  
The Mean Minimum:   12.1C  
The Overall Mean:   16.5C  
Difference from the Monthly Mean: -0.1C  
    
Relative Humidity:    
Highest Relative Humidity (at 0900): 97.7% on 13th
Lowest Relative Humidity (at 0900): 59.9% on 8th
Mean Relative Humidity (at 0900): 81.5%  
    
Dew Point:    
The Highest Dew Point (at 0900): 17.6C on 6th
The Lowest Dew Point (at 0900): 10.5C on 15th
The Mean Dew Point (at 0900): 13.4C  
    
Rainfall:    
Total:    73.2mm  
Difference from the Monthly Mean: 150.3%  
Duration:    38.3hrs  
Highest 24 hour fall (0900 to 0900): 12.3mm on 17th & 18th
Rain Days (>/=0.2mm):  19   
Wet Days (>/=1.0mm):  14   
    
Sunshine:    
Total Duration of Bright Sunshine: 175.6hrs  
Sunniest day:   9.9hrs on 22nd
No. of days without sunshine:  0   
Difference from the Monthly Mean: 103.4%  
Cloud cover (mean at 0900):  6.4oktas 80%
    
Pressure (reduced to sea level):    
The Highest Pressure:  1024.3mb on 8th
The Lowest Pressure:  1000.3mb on 17th
Mean Pressure (recorded at 0900): 1012.5mb  
    
Winds    
Run of wind (mean over 24 hrs): 108.3miles  
Mean daily wind speed:  5.9mph 
Highest mean daily wind speed: 12.9mph on 12th 
Run of wind (cumulative):  3356.2miles  
Highest Maximum Gust:  36mph on 12th & 13th
No. of gusts of 50mph or more: 0   
Highest wind strength (at 0900): 21.9mph on 12th
Mean wind strength (at 0900):  8.6mph  
    
Winds from the Following Directions:    

N 7 NE 0 E 0 SE 1 S 3 SW 2 W 6 NW 11 Calm 1   
    
Ground Temperatures:     
Lowest Grass Minimum:  4.4C on 25th
Mean Grass Minimum:  9.2C  
Lowest Concrete Minimum:  7.4C on 25th
Mean Concrete Minimum:  11.1C  
Lowest Bare Earth Minimum:  8.7C on 25th
Mean Bare Earth Minimum:  11.9C  
    
Soil/Earth Temperatures:     
Surface mean:   17.4C  
5cm mean:   16.6C  
10cm mean:   17.0C  
20cm mean:   17.5C  
30cm mean:   18.2C  
40cm mean:   18.1C  
50cm mean:   18.5C  
100cm mean:   17.7C  
    
    
Days with:    
Thunder:    3   
Hail <5mm:   0   
Hail >/=5mm:   0   
Snow or snow & rain:  0   
Fog:    0   
Air Frost:    0   
Ground Frost:   0
Gales:    0   
    
Total (Tank) Evaporation:  83.71mm  
% Rainfall to Evaporation:  87.4%

All data © Pitsford Hall weather station.

The weather station publishes a full Monthly Weather Report (ISSN 1741-4733) which is distributed to libraries across Northamptonshire. This report comprises a full UK weather diary, reports of extreme weather events across the county, statistics from Pitsford Hall's affiliated stations across the county as well as news from the weather station itself. Individuals may download this report for £2 or take out an annual subscription for the paper-based report for £25. Click here for further details.