UK Review of Summer 2005

The word 'Summer' often provokes wistful thoughts of long, warm, sunny days, yet when people talk about a 'typical British summer' it is frequently with reference to anything but! Contrary to the dreamy image, summers in the United Kingdom regularly have spells of unsettled and active weather.

Warm, cool, wet, dry… an average UK summer will see spells of all of these weather types, and Summer 2005 was no exception. Yet despite the wide variety of weather conditions that can occur through the season, a summer is often remembered by just one key weather event.

Summer 2005
Across the UK as a whole Summer 2005 was warmer, sunnier and drier than average. Northern Ireland had a particularly dry season, with 72% of the average rainfall. East Anglia was wetter than normal, with 108% of the average.

June was a typical summery month with warm or hot spells interrupted by very wet and thundery weather. Northern Ireland's most exciting weather occurred on the 18th, when overnight thunderstorms gave a stunning lightning show.

The following day, whilst the south of England was basking in the heat, once again the northeast of England was battered by torrential downpours that resulted in flash flooding in places. Hawnby, in North Yorkshire, saw an exceptional 60 mm (2.4 in) of rain fall in just one hour.

July started and ended unsettled but through the middle fortnight it was mostly warm, dry and sunny. Scotland did well, with 30°C (86°F) recorded at Peebles and Glenlivet on the 11th. Despite having a duller than average month, July in Northern Ireland was warm and dry too, with 29°C (84°F) on the 11th in County Fermanagh.

On the same day Belfast Airport saw its hottest July day since 1989. The warmest day of the month was the 14th, when Gravesend in Kent saw 31.7°C (89.1°F). Just two weeks later and London saw its coldest July day for 25 years when the temperature only reached 15.6°C (60.1°F) on 27th.

August was mainly unsettled but still saw warm days, especially towards the end of the month. It started showery, with reports of funnel clouds at Shoreham Airport in West Sussex on the 1st. Warm days were followed by chilly nights, with Shap Fell in Cumbria seeing a nippy minimum temperature of 1.4°C (34.5°F) on the morning of the 7th.

There were some chilly days too; at Fylingdales on the North York Moors the temperature only rose to 14.5°C (58.1°F) on the 12th. Towards the end of the month, an unseasonably deep depression brought wet and windy conditions across most of the country.

A gust of 68 mph (109 km/h) was recorded at South Uist in Scotland on the 23rd, and one of 64 mph (102 km/h) was recorded at RAF Valley on Anglesey in northwest Wales the day after. 49.4 mm (1.9 in) of rain was recorded at Shap Fell on the 24th. The month's highest temperature of 32.2°C (90.0°F) was reached in Central London on the 31st.

The tornado started in the Kings Heath area, south of Birmingham city centre, and travelled for about 7.5 miles (12 km) through the neighbourhoods of Moseley and Bordesley to Erdington, northeast of the city centre.

The scale of the damage ranged from just tree damage, right up to an entire first floor being removed from a terraced house in Kings Heath. The tornado's wind speed, based on the observed damage, was estimated to be in the range 115-160 mph (185-255 km/h). This makes the tornado a T4-T5 on the TORRO tornado intensity scale, a rare event for the UK, especially in such a built-up area.