Diary of Highlights

1st to 29th:
Low pressure was situated close to, or over the British Isles throughout this period giving generally unsettled conditions over England with frequent showers or longer spells of rain. The showers were often very heavy and thundery with some areas experiencing localised flooding due to the intensity of the rain.

There were some torrential downpours on the 3rd, with hail and thunder reported in parts of the southeast and the Wimbledon tennis tournament was abandoned for the day. On the 16th and 17th there were several reports of funnel clouds and tornadoes and further reports of flooding.

By far the most notable event occurred on Friday 20th when some extremely heavy rain affected parts of the south and west. It was at its worst through the morning period when amounts exceeded 25 mm in an hour in many places. This event soon became newsworthy with flooding reported in west and south London, Berkshire, central southern England and the south and west Midlands.

Pershore college of Agriculture recorded 120.8 mm of rainfall on the day (157.4mm in the period 19-20th) with several other sites from west Berkshire into Gloucestershire and Worcestershire recording in excess of 100mm, much of this rain falling in a fairly short period. As the river systems responded the next few days brought serious flooding to parts of the Severn valley and upper Thames areas.

30th to 31st:
The very last few days of the month brought a change in weather type with high pressure building across from the west and a few dry and sunny days for most places. The maximum temperature reached 24.7 °C in central London on the 31st with many parts above 20 °C but with a few chilly nights.