Monthly Weather Review - Pitsford Hall

Headline: Largely dry for the first half of the month and then very wet making this the wettest June since records began in Northampton.

June opened with a deep area of low pressure positioned north-west of Ireland. The first couple of days were generally dry, although on the 3rd the low began to push frontal systems eastwards across the British Isles. A particularly wet day was recorded in the county with just over 15mm falling at Pitsford Hall over 5.6 hours. Flooding was reported at Stoke Goldingston on the county border with Buckinghamshire.

As the main band of rain cleared eastwards an area of high pressure built across the UK with a centre placed to the north of Scotland. There were some showers around on the 6th and 7th, but generally the county enjoyed a dry spell of weather with mainly light north or north-easterly winds right through to the 13th. On the whole most days through this period were rather cloudy due largely to the wind drawing in cloud off the North Sea. However, the 9th did see a fair amount of sunshine, 11.9 hrs at Pitsford, and this allowed temperatures to climb to 24.6C, the highest recorded during the month.

A low developing to the south-west introduced rain on frontal systems on the 13th and 14th. The amount of rain falling at Pitsford during the afternoon of the 14th was significant (68.8mm) representing one of the wettest days on record. The heavy rainfall resulted in chaos around Northamptonshire with many roads and buildings flooded. At the peak of the storm 30.8mm of rain fell in an hour at Pitsford Hall between 14:00BST and 15:00BST with 11.5mm falling during a torrential downpour between 14:15 and 14:30 BST. Motorists were subjected to gridlock after the downpours forced part of Bedford Road in Northampton to lift upwards as underground sewers failed to cope with the volume of water. The heavy rain caused problems in the county's schools with several closing or partly closing. The amount of rain falling even exceeded that recorded during the Easter floods of 9 April 1998 and beating the previous wettest day recorded by Moulton Park climatological station on September 14th 1994.

The rain on the 14th was to mark a turning point in the weather during June with the rest of the month staying wet. Low pressure came to dominate the weather with some very slow moving systems working across the UK. Some particularly heavy spells of rain occurred on the 16th and 17th with low pressure pretty much centred over the Midland counties. Despite the rain there were some spells of sunshine on most days. The 18th saw low pressure developing to the south-west and over the next few days this deepened significantly, although it only progressed slowly remaining fairly stationary over Ireland and feeding further spells of heavy rain across the UK, the county included. This low eventually began filling on the 22nd. However, by the 24th this low had regained momentum and began deepening once more. Again with the centre still largely over the county, some significant falls of rain were experienced with 10.8mm reported in around 4 hours at Pitsford. With the low deepening came some strengthening wind, gusting to 43mph on the 25th.

Over the next few days the low would make slowly progress towards southern Scandinavia. However, this low was quickly followed by another system working in off the Atlantic maintaining the unsettled wet weather. As the month came to a close, low pressure will still very much in charge with some long spells of rain on the 30th.

Overall, this was the wettest June since records began in Northampton beating the previous record, 139mm in 1958, by a sizeable margin.

Air Temperatures    
The Highest Maximum:   24.6C on 9th
The Lowest Maximum:   14.7C on 6th
The Highest Minimum:   14.3C on 9th
The Lowest Minimum:   6.4C on 28th
The Mean Maximum:   19.7C  
The Mean Minimum:   10.7C  
The Overall Mean:   15.2C  
Difference from the Monthly Mean: +0.2C  
    
Relative Humidity:    
Highest Relative Humidity (at 0900): 97.8% on 10th
Lowest Relative Humidity (at 0900): 44.6% on 27th
Mean Relative Humidity (at 0900): 80.1%  
    
Dew Point:    
The Highest Dew Point (0900):  16.1C on 12th
The Lowest Dew Point (at 0900): 2.3C on 27th
The Mean Dew Point (at 0900):  12.0C  
    
Rainfall:    
Total:     176.1mm  
Difference from the Monthly Mean: 308.4%  
Duration:    75.4hrs  
Highest 24 hour fall (0900 to 0900): 68.8mm on 14th
Rain Days (>/=0.2mm):   18   
Wet Days (>/=1.0mm):   14   
    
Sunshine:    
Total Duration of Bright Sunshine: 132.6hrs  
Sunniest day:    12.5hrs on 1st
No. of days without sunshine:  5   
Difference from the Monthly Mean: 84.1%  
Cloud cover (mean at 0900):  6.3oktas (78.8 %)
    
Pressure (reduced to sea level):    
The Highest Pressure:   1027.1mb on 5th
The Lowest Pressure:   996.2mb   on 25th
Mean Pressure (recorded at 0900): 1012.0mb  
    
Winds    
Run of wind (mean over 24 hrs): 79.3miles  
Mean daily wind speed:   4.3mph  
Run of wind (cumulative):  2377.6miles  
Highest Maximum Gust:   43mph on 25th
No. of gusts of 50mph or more:  0   
Highest wind strength (at 0900): 17.3mph on 26th
Mean wind strength (at 0900):  5.5mph  
    
Winds from the Following Directions:    

N 3 NE 5 E 2 SE 2 S 4 SW 2 W 3 NW 4 Calm 5
   
    
Days with:    
Thunder:    2   
Hail <5mm:    0   
Hail >/=5mm:    0   
Snow or snow & rain:   0   
Fog:     0   
Air Frost:    0   
Gales:     0


Concrete minimum observations will be reinstated next month together with black bulb readings and evaporation (Piché evaporimeter). Heavy rain in June flooded the evaporation pan making readings of evaporation void.

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.