Diary of Highlights

1st to 3rd
A weak cold front pushed east on the 1st, with pressure building in its wake, but some thundery showers developed on the front across East Anglia before it finally cleared during the early hours of the 2nd.

The build of pressure brought fine and very warm weather, particularly to southern England with highs of 25 or 26C on the 3rd.

4th to 5th
The fine weather continued across most parts into the 4th with Northolt (Greater London) reaching 29.7C. However, a combination of a trough followed by a cold front saw thundery showers working their way northeast from southwest England later in the day

The bands of thundery rain continued to move northeast during the night and through the morning of the 5th, with 29.3mm recorded at Cambridge in the 4 hour period ending 0700 GMT. Drier, brighter weather followed across most parts.

6th to 7th
There were a few showers on the 6th, mainly around the fringes but for most parts it was a more settled day. It was generally very warm and locally hot with Rotherham reaching 26.4C.

The very warm weather lasted into the 7th with 26.7C in Herne Bay (Kent) but it was cloudier in the north and west with a little drizzle on the coast.

It was very warm to the south of the front but the warm weather set off some heavy showers with around 25mm recorded in west London on the 9th. Further showers developed on the 10th with some torrential thundery downpours across the Midlands and south. Wisley (Surrey) recorded 42mm and locally there were reports of in excess of 75mm across west Berkshire.

11th to 13th
It was rather cloudy across most parts during the 11th with weak weather fronts straddling the area giving pockets of rain. However, a build of pressure saw drier, brighter conditions sinking southeast across England and Wales during the 12th and fine weather persisted through the 13th.

It was locally very warm with Liverpool reaching 23.9C on the 12th and Charlwood (Surrey) recording 24.6C on the 13th. However, later on the 13th fresh to strong winds developed across western parts with rain reaching northwest England.

14th to 15th
A weather front pushed slowly southeast during the 14th and a further frontal wave brought rain across from the west during the 15th with showers following. Lowestoft (Suffolk) recorded 31.5mm before the rain/showers cleared during the early hours of the 16th.

16th to 22nd
Lingering rain and showers cleared early on the 16th with a rather cool north to northeast flow developing in its wake, engendered by a build of pressure to the west of the UK. Over the next few days high pressure dominated the weather with the centre drifting southeast.

Clear periods allowed a widespread ground frost to develop on the morning of the 17th while a few places such as Shap Fell (Cumbria) and Benson (Oxfordshire) recorded air frosts. The days of the 17th and 18th were also rather cool but thereafter it was generally rather warm. Weather fronts did push across during the period but as weak features.

23rd to 24th
A weather front swept across from the west on the 23rd but a ridge of high pressure built across England and Wales in its wake. This allowed a widespread ground frost to develop during the night with a local air frost across northern England.

A fine day followed across most parts on the 24th.

25th to 30th
This period was typically autumnal with a fresh to strong westerly flow developing and bringing weather fronts sweeping across interspersed with drier periods and showers. Gusts of 40-45 knots were reported across western parts on the 26th.

It was initially rather warm, particularly in the south. Temperatures were closer to normal on the 28th and it was rather cold in the southeast on the 29th but warm weather returned for the 30th.