A 65mph
wind gust in June and the record for the UK's hottest temperature
- just two extremes that have helped Kent grab the weather headlines
in the last 12 months.
Kent
can be the hottest place in the country during the summer with the
best sunshine, but it can also be the wettest in the autumn and
the coldest and snowiest in the winter.
Understanding Kent's weather
To help understand why the county has the weather it does, we need
to think about where the weather is coming from (the source region),
what environment the air mass has travelled over and whether it
is being heated or cooled.
Air
masses are large volumes of air with relatively uniform temperature
and humidity that bring our weather. When air masses leave their
source regions, their properties (particularly the humidity) alter
in a way that depends on whether they pass over land or sea, and
how long a path they have covered.
This air mass from the south-west or west is referred to as Tropical
Maritime. The warm air can hold a lot of moisture and as it's being
cooled it can't hold any more and rains!
We can often get the brunt of it all here in the south-east during
spring and autumn as the area of low pressure moves along the Channel
and across Kent. During the summer most tend to drift over the north
of the UK and avoid us, with the exception of the recent storm on
June 23rd when a 65mph wind gust was recorded at Langdon Bay.
The weather and heat that the south-east experienced earlier this
summer are results of an air mass called Tropical Continental.
The
dry and warm air has originated from the tropics and in this case
from the African continent! Sometimes if it rains soon after we've
experienced these conditions, then we can often find a fine orangey
dust on our cars and windows. Some people think it is a residue
of acid rain but it is the dust from the Sahara that has been sucked
up into the atmosphere and is later brought down in the rain.
Hot weather can also indirectly bring thunderstorms, perhaps even
the exotically named Spanish Plume. When you hear this it
is an indication that potentially severe weather is on its way and
tends to make a track for the south of England.
It brings heavy showers and/or thunderstorms. It occurs because
warm and humid air from the across the Spanish plateau moves northwards
and meets with colder air higher up in the atmosphere from the Atlantic.
It all mixes and becomes very unstable and brings the unsettled
weather.
Air
masses are large volumes of air with relatively uniform temperature
and humidity that bring our weather. When air masses leave their
source regions, their properties (particularly the humidity) alter
in a way that depends on whether they pass over land or sea, and
how long a path they have covered. 
The
dry and warm air has originated from the tropics and in this case
from the African continent! Sometimes if it rains soon after we've
experienced these conditions, then we can often find a fine orangey
dust on our cars and windows. Some people think it is a residue
of acid rain but it is the dust from the Sahara that has been sucked
up into the atmosphere and is later brought down in the rain. 
