They could of course move the screen into the centre of that patch, it does look a little odd like that, even if the 1.5m distance has been maintained. I guess with this being a botanic gardens and all, cultivated & uncultivated areas are going to be constantly changing.

It's not usual to have the screen 1.5m from one edge of the defined area, because it needs it to be sufficiently far away from other instruments e.g. the rain gauge.

This is the 5km grid Average Maximum Temperature for the UK on 10th August 2003 showing just SE England with Brogdale highlighted

(click in the image for a bigger version)

It can be seen that the Brogdale area is somewhat split off from the main area of higher temperature and a number of nearby cells are 2 -3 degrees C lower

As was mentioned earlier, this could be the effect of local topography and not an erroneous reading

This is Met Office data but they do not explain how these 5km cells are populated. They obviously include local stations in the area but here must also be quite a bit of averaging, projection and interpolation to get full coverage of the 10,000 or so cells which make up the UK

Yes - please Met Office if you’re reading this, send me some top notch equipment and I’ll happily take readings for you. 

Where are you finding that reading? As far as I can tell this is the 0900Z data for |July 26 and it shows a minimum of 20.0C, with 24.3C the reading at 0900Z.

http://wow.metoffice.gov.uk/observations/details/201907263foef47xtye6ucrdyyb96sccar

The highest minimum was for 23-24 July, at 21.3C: http://wow.metoffice.gov.uk/observations/details/20190724o6e55hpqdre6ucrdyyb96sp8dh

The cells to the immediate north are Sheppey, so yes - they would be a fair bit lower due to the cooling effect of the marshes and the Swale.

As I keep saying, it's the local topography that results in Faversham (and Sittingbourne, to the west, for that matter) being a hotspot IF the conditions are right. Take it from a local!

Hi all.

Just back from France. We missed the exceptional UK heatwave but experienced 41c (106f) near Angers on the car thermo.

Catching up on my stats imagine my shock at seeing 39.2c as my max on the 25th July.

My first reaction is an erroneous reading.

However...Langdon Bay reached 35.9c that day at 130m asl jutting out into the Dover Strait. I normally record 3 degress warmer than that location.

A couple of questions.

How did IDJ and Whether Idle compare that day ? If my reading is accurate then I expect to see a T2M of 38+ from my local buddies who are located at sea level close to the shoreline.

I'm trying to piece things together but mysteriously Wundermap had a number of local weather stations out of action that day.

Thanks 

Hi Steve, 

Can't be sure, but I think Ian's Vue went up by like 3C in an Hour from 35C to 38C sometime after 3pm. He was quite uneasy about it like you are with yours. Mine up here got to 37.6C but although in open space and over grass is in full sun (cant odds it).

Thanks Snowhoper. That's really useful to understand.

Hopefully Whether Idle and Ian can verify soon.

It sounds as there was some sort of event that turned a very hot day to an historic day down here on the corner. The max occured at 17:01hrs. Unfortunately due to the lack of Met Office official stations around here means we'll never know.

Were there any record minimums recorded?
I recorded 21.0c min Thr/Fri night which is the highest I have ever recorded. Missed this thread from Friday morning onwards due to being away. 

I believe the Scottish record minimum went. 20.9C minimum at Achnagart on 25th/26th. https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/1154680158105800704

To get an idea of what it was like, it really would be worth reading this thread!  I know it’s a long one but reading it will help you understand and I think Ian and WI might have posted their temps.  Go for it Steve!  

I've got a couple of hours spare later... I'll give it a trawl Caz 

I think there was a period of 1-2 hours on the afternoon of Thu 25th when the flow not only aligned perfectly with the hottest part of N. France, during the peak of the day's heat - or close to it, but was also orientated such that it crossed close to the shortest possible stretch of water on the way over to SE England.

So it's possible that a wedge of over 40*C heat was shifted rapidly across to the far SE of England, only having time to cool into the very high 30s by the time it reached Folkestone.

40C is the next target in this country and I doubt it will be long before it's hit.

Thanks SC. That's re-assuring. Northern France was 41c at around 5pm and from all accounts there was a fair ole SSE'ly breeze blowing..hence allowing for minimal modification.

I've a Davis vantage vue and very happy with the results it gives. Bear in mind the siting of this station has remained in position since Sept 2006 and has sat through many heatwaves. Previous max 33.9c ! 

39.2c is staggering.

I'd happily accept a margin of error for over exposure of 0.5c or so given its not fan assisted.

Nevertheless I'm pretty sure had a Met Office official station been located somewhere in the vicinity of Folkestone a figure of very close to 39c would have been achieved on this already historic afternoon. 

If you missed this, it is worth a read. Couldn't believe it when I saw the hourly readings come out at the time. 

https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/temperatures-suddenly-shot-up-ten-3138661

There could have been other examples across the country.

I can clearly see that the article in question went out before its authors had learned about the actual temperature of 38.7°C  as recorded at Cambridge Botanic Gardens being confirmed as the new all-time UK record.

Nevertheless, that is quite an interesting phenomenon which makes that article, well worth reading.

Hi Steve. Back now from 2 week break!  Left on the morning of 25th July. I Posted on that day a transect of car temps. On my return this morning I Downloaded my Davis VP 2 data. Saw Your post and was thinking that if the very exposed clifftoppermost Langdon Bay was 35.9, that on the basis of hot day maxima over the past 14 years at this site, that my valley bottom max would be 2-3 degrees higher. Also, given your 39.2, I was expecting my max to be somewhere around half a degree Celsius lower than yours, as you will recall that you are usually about +0.5 c from me on scorchio days.

So, on that basis I was anticipating something in the region of 38.5 c. In fact I recorded 38.6. So very close to the expectation. So. The evidence does indeed suggest that the   Defecto ( if not the official, I hasten to add) national record may well belong to the South East Kent Massive. 

WI. 

Excellent Phil...thank you.

To summarise

IDJ - Coastal Folkestone 38.3c (100.9f)

WI - Semi coastal Dover 38.6c (101.5f)

Gusty - Inland Folkestone 39.2c (102.6f)

Wow.  For the SE Kent massive when the previous record was probably closer to 36c 97f. What an extraordinary day that was. One to tell the grandchildren.

Its just a shame that it will never been shown officially.

We know though. 

Fascinating conversation.

I wonder if modification but also have been limited by the hot air failing to mix at all with the cooler surface air over the water, and like laminar flow in a river, simply skated across the top of the cool, finally making landfall a few m ASL on reaching the Kent coast. Temperatures on the open water would then be much lower, and under the circumstances there wasn't enough time for a sea breeze set up.

A thread for the classic forum surely?
It is clear reading this that 25th July should go down as a truely historic day. Not just because the record was broken in Cambridge but because many areas experienced their hottest day ever. The records were much more widespread than 10th August 2003.

All this with damp ground (here at least) and no build up of heat over days/weeks.

I agree with that and what makes that even more remarkable is that most people would normally expect these high temperature records to be more likely to be broken during a really good summer such as what we had during the first half of last summer in particular. This summer hasn't been as good overall as last summer and yet, this hasn't stopped those records from being broken on this occasion.