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I think today is the 9th 30C day in July, 10th overall.

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I'm not sure but think we had 4 30c days before the record heat then 3 including the big 2 days. And today so 8 in July. Also think 3 or 4 29s as well. 

 

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31.7c in Weybourne,  Norfolk yesterday.  Looking at the output that could be the end of the heat for a while. 

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Thanks Rob and the embedded report (2019) style, not to be missed:

2022_03_july_heatwave (metoffice.gov.uk)

 

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My Geography knowledge of the S Midlands isn't great but on page 7 there is a 40.2c which appears to be somewhere like Northampton.  Not sure if this is a mistake?

 

Edit: Pitsford, 40.2c, wasn't aware of that one...

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Yes it's a manual station that I had missed in my initial roundup. I don't know if it's new as it does not appear in the list of Met Office station locations at https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-synoptic-and-climate-stations.

Pitsford also shows up in that report with the highest temperature on Monday 18th, with 38.2C, which beats the highest announced at the time, Santon Downham, by 0.1C.

 

 

BTW to answer the question about 30C days as far as I can see there have only been 8 in July so far:

 

10 July 30.1C St James's Park

11 July 32.0C Northolt

12 July 31.7C Wisley (+ 33.2C St Helier)

13 July 30.1C Gosport

17 July 33.0C Hawarden

18 July 38.2C Pitsford

19 July 40.3C Coningsby

24 July 31.7C Weybourne

 

Plus 1 in June:

17 June 32.7C Santon Downham and Heathrow (+33.2C Jersey Maison St Louis)

 

BTW I wouldn't necessarily say that's the end of the heat for a while - 6Z GFS has 30C this coming Sat, Sun, Mon and Tue, so we could squeeze in two more in July!

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Yes that's what I had, a decent spell in anyone's book. About six 28s to 29s aswell in the spell.

 

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I was reading on Twitter yesterday about how the Madrid all time record was recently tied at 40.7C.
Because it was Twitter the thread below quickly disintegrated into a puerile row between climate deniers and activist types with many dumb memes and the coloured map etc ..
But it did strike me that given the very high temperatures recorded in England last week and that 45C plus has been reached in the south of Spain (with well over 40 even in the more Atlantic climate of Bilbao) that seems a bit limp for a record. I was in Madrid a few years back and we seemed to get over 35C most days and 38-39C was a common occurrence (and indeed always seems to be).
Is there something that limits the potential for extremes equivalent in deviation terms to ours there ?? Altitude perhaps ?
Sorry there's possibly a better place to ask but I've typed it now ..

 

Yes I saw that to and thought It was quite low. Considering North Yorkshire's record is now 39c. Presume its altitude related think Madrid is 660m asl.

 

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Yes I think altitude is a big part of it. Southern Spain got pretty close to its record this month (within less than 2C of it, I can't remember the exact max but think it was 45.9C?) and Portugal also got very close to its record.

If you scroll through the model output it is actually noticeable how the 850mb temperature over Spain fluctuates diurnally by around 5C in these hot spells, unlike over the UK where it is more or less constant day and night. Presumably because the landmass which heats up is that much nearer to the 850mb level!

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The Met Office has confirmed that Scotland's record temperature during the heatwave was 34.8c at Charterhall in the Borders.

 

A reading of 35.1c at Floors Castle in Kelso has been rejected following a verification process as the site did not comply with Met Office standards.

In a roundabout way this is quite helpful in rebuffing the 1976ers with their Met Office conspiracy theories. It demonstrates that the office goes through a rigorous and objective validation process and will chuck out readings if they are considered suspect. It helps to reinforce the validity of other readings.

Incidentally as this thread is now sticky and there remains the prospect of heat in August I've renamed it summer 2022 heatwave thread. If the warm dry weather keeps going into mid August then it may need another renaming to something like "Legendary summer of 2022 thread" but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

  

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Hard to know what to do - I was going to move this to the classics thread at the end of this month. However, August looks like it will deliver something at least special - So what I'll do is keep this thread going as it is for the meantime. I'm not letting it drop off so to speak - I think getting 40C in this country was and is a classic in its own right. I'll keep this running into August.

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I think a lot of '1976ers' like me remember the longevity. Long periods of hot sunny weather and little rain during the 3 months. I lived in northern England and the drought was quite severe. Even here in the Lakes the landscape became brown and parched.

This summer, apart from the one record breaking day (around 35 C) it's been quite cloudy with enough rain to keep the Lake District nice and green.

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Don’t you remember 1995 though? Driest summer on record. Empty reservoirs across the North of England. Or 2003: sunniest summer on record. Followed in the sunshine stakes by 2018 (when I remember well the North including the Lakes went Savanna yellow). Or 1989, until 2018 the warmest and sunniest May-September extended summer on record. Yet whenever anyone compares summer weather with the past it’s always 1976. 

I suspect it’s about formative years. I remember 1995 like it was yesterday because I was 18 then. So 1995 (along with 1989) is the Gen X formative summer. 1976 is the boomer formative summer. The weather in one’s late teens seems to burn itself in the memory. 

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Yes I agree Tim! I also remember the 95 and 03 summer living just south of Nottingham we weren't far behind southern England with the heat and dust bowl conditions but the sky was often milky or a yellowy colour.

For me 1976 was waking up to deep blue sky on plenty of mornings, something I don't see very often now!

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I have just read this article in New Scientist. I hope you may find it of interest.
"First estimate of extreme heat's impact suggests that more than half of the deaths are expected to have been in people aged 85 and older."

40°C heatwave may have killed 1000 people in England and Wales
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2331349-40c-heatwave-may-have-killed-1000-people-in-england-and-wales/

Roger

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An op run this morning that is ;quote) “1976 on steroids” shows this summer has plenty more in the tank.

An outlier, but we have an ensemble mean that implies hot weather for an extended period of time, and scarcely any rain. 

Another week long hot spell and 2022 overtakes the likes of 1990, 1997, 2005 and 2013 and cements itself in the annals alongside 1975, 1989, 2003 and 2006. A fortnight or more of August heat and we’re up there with 1976, 1995 and 2018. All 3 of those had mediocre bits: much of August 1976, first 3 weeks of June 1995, and August 2018.

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I'll let this thread run to the end of August then move it to the classics thread.

We've got keep an eye on GFS - It's flagging up another very hot spell with 35s to 37s.

 

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I wasn't alive in 1976 but I'd say the local landscape around here is as dry as I have ever seen it. Not just the grass going brown which happens most years due to the sandy soil here, but trees shedding their leaves, and even the weeds along roadsides and alleyways dying back. The alleyways round here look as if they have been sprayed with weedkiller, as even hardy plants like nettles and brambles have gone brown and crispy. There's just no moisture anywhere.

Even the grey cloudy days like today just have a constant sapping warmth to them this year.

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40C on today’s 06z GFS.

Summer 2022 continues.

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12Z has 25C on the same day. A long way to go yet!

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29.1c today's high in Suffolk following 29.5c yesterday in Monks Wood Cambridgeshire.  Think we're upto 7 or 8 29s now this year.

 

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a couple of GFS fails this week. Both days were predicted above 30C.

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