Wettest July in 20 years and dullest since 1998
It was the wettest July in 20 years last month.
But the month also gave us the hottest day of the year so far.
Guernsey Met Office data showed that it was a month of two halves. For the first half of the month the average air temperature was about 16C, with a minimum air temperature of just 11C at the mid point of the month.
But temperatures jumped in the second half of the month, with the year’s hottest temperature so far of 26.6C recorded on the last day of the month.
The rain is likely to be the abiding memory of the month, with only 11 dry days.
In total 92mm of rain fell, compared to an average of 43mm. The wettest day – Thursday 25 July, the day of the Royal Guernsey Agricultural & Horticultural Society annual show – saw 17mm fall.
‘The mid-summer month was rather disappointing, with over twice the average rainfall leading to the wettest July in 20 years,’ the Met Office said.
Fortunately the Royal visit by King Charles III and Queen Camilla was one of the few totally dry days, with more than nine hours of sunshine.
Normally more than 250 hours of sunshine is expected in July, but only 202 were recorded last month.
There was also a lot of weather disruption at the airport last month.
‘[With] 10 days with fog noted and four days with no sunshine, the most since 1978, this led to the dullest July since 1998,’ the Met Office stated.
‘The last six days of the month saw arguably the best of the weather with a warmer run of temperatures, little rain, and averaging over 10 hours of sunshine a day.’
The month ended with some light rain and then a solitary flash and a bang of thunder in the final hour.
So far in August, it is has been sunnier than average, with 37 hours of sunshine recorded in the first four days.
