Weather log August 2020
WW = West Wales
Lwn = Llanwnnen
AG = Aldermans Green, Coventry
CL = Church Lawford
ROW = Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire
CC = Capel Curig, Snowdonia
MH = Milford Haven
Mids = Midlands
CITE = Coton-in-the-Elms, Derbyshire
COL = Climatological Observers Link
PWS = Personal weather station
Unremarkable start to August although rather dull WW but then the second week had a remarkable August heatwave and many thunderstorms:
Fri 7th past few nights very mild/ warm, widely above 15c as a prelude to the impending heatwave that is due for much of England in the coming week. Min last night 17.4c here at Lwn is an August record (beating 17.4c 18/08/12) and equal third warmest night on record (17.8c 18/07/14)). Other min Peembrey Sands 17.6c, Shawbury 17.0c, Mona 14.0c, Shobdon 12.7c. Min higher much of Midlands yesterday (CL 17.0c). Hot sunny spells Midlands for the second successive Friday, WW generally warm but more cloud; maxima Hereford 31.0c, CL 30.9c, Shawbury 29.5c, Lwn 26.0c, Trawsgoed 24.3c, Aberdaron 17.1c
Sat 8th hot much of Midlands, more pleasant sea breezes WW, maxima ROW 30.7c, Usk 30.1c, Pershore 29.8c, CITE & CL 28.6c, Mumbles 26.3c, Shawbury 25.5c, Lwn 23.7c, Aberporth 19.0c
Sun 10th quite hot Midands, Wellesbourne max 27.6c, Pershore 27.5c
Mon 10th Thunderstorms affected parts of Wales; Llanwnnen must have had a severe storm 1400 as over 26mm rain fell in half hour, up to a record rain rate of 245mm/ hour for the station, a short power outage, with lightning detectors going crazy over the region! Total rain for the day 33.6mm at Lwn made it the wettest August day recorded here (beating 28.5mm 15/08/13) - note probably nearer 40mm fell as I apportion daily rain amounts from the electronic WS figures when we return after being away and unusually this was well below the manual gauge catch for the week, and so suspected that the Davis suffered significant splash out from the intense rain (and hail?). Meanwhile we were in the hot, humid Midlands, thunderstorms locally later (much thunder heard Coventry early evening from storm near Warwick). Max Wellesbourne 31.6c, Pershore 30.7c, CL 30.6c, Hereford 27.1c; Pembrey Sands 23.6c, Lwn 21.4c, Aberdaron 19.1c.
Tue 11th hot or very hot and humid with thunderstorms in places such as Rugby and Coventry; maxima Wellesbourne 33.6c, Pershore 32.9c, Tirabad, Powys 28.5c, Lwn 27.9c, CC 25.0c, Aberporth just 17.5c with the sea mist (seen on Llangrannog webcam nearby)
Wed 12th exceptional heat for the Midlands in particular; at Coventry, min 19.7c was the warmest August night on record (over 100 years); maxima ROW 35.0c, Pershore 34.5c, CL 34.2c, Coventry, Bablake School 32.9c, Shawbury 30.6c; Usk, Monmouthshire 33.6c, Mumbles 29.5c, Aberporth 21.5c (likely cloudy/ misty on Cardigan Bay again); max 29.3c at Llanwnnen being an August record (beating 28.3c from 2018); spectacular lightning display from Coventry during the evening, flashes at least every second for a couple of hours from a storm again centred on the Warwick area
Thu 13th min 17.6c Llanwnnen was the warmest August night recorded here (beating 17.4c the week before), it was also the second warmest night recorded here (after 17.8c July 2014 see above); thundery showers and storms about once more inc Coventry at my Aunts funeral midday; still quite hot parts of WW but generally a much cooler and cloudier day, max down some 12c or so across the Midlands (max Porthmadog 29.8c, Lwn 27.1c, Mumbles 22.2c; Hereford 24.3c, Coventry 21.3c, Astwood Bank, Worc 20.9c; Hereford 44mm rain, Newport, Salop 38.8mm.
A very warm month to date, mean maxima are at 25 - 26c for much of the Midlands, and 21 - 23c for inland Wales; all areas having warm nights, generally averaging 13 - 15c:
Sun 16th humid and warm for most with thundery downpours widespread pm; thundery downpours affected Rugby and probably Llanwnnen for example (14mm in the hour here just before we arrived home in the evening).
Mon 17th widespread thundery downpours once more, inc Llanwnnen, Coventry and Rugby, rainfall very localised over 30mm for Hatton, Warwick PWS, 23.2mm CL (fourth wettest spot in UK today) but not much Bablake on the west side of Coventry. Llanwnnen it was once more the wettest August day recorded with 34.2mm (see above notes 10th). Wettest place in UK Aberporth 50.6mm (24 hours to 0600 18th), Valley 30.2mm, CL 23.2mm, Trawsgoed 22.0mm, Watnall 0.2mm
Sixth day of thunder out of the last 8 (since Mon 10th) at Coventry, 4 days this month so far here at Llanwnnen equals the monthly record (May 2008) for a thundery month.
Fri 21st more torrential downpours with thunder for WW overnight, fifth day with thunder here at Lwn is a monthly record (beating 4 days May 2008)..a further inch of rain here so that the August 2020 rainfall total has equalled the wettest August recorded here (166.1mm in Aug 2008)...the wettest of any Summer month (218.3mm in June 2012) will be under threat with 10 days of the month remaining. Strong to gale force winds also today, unusually so for August courtesy of this named storm (Ellen) with gusts to 68mph Mumbles, Llanwnnen 45mph, Coventry 39mph, brought a few trees down even Midlands
Tue 25th another named storm (Francis) the second in a week, more unseasonable weather with heavy rain and strong winds, widely over an inch of rain, severe flooding for parts of Snowdonia as over 100mm fell. Here at Lwn 30.1mm to 0900GMT was remarkably the third occasion that the previous long- standing August daily rainfall has been beaten this month (see above notes)..other totals (24 hours to 1800) Mona 35mm, Pembrey 32mm, MH 31.6mm, Watnall 26mm, Shawbury & Trawsgoed 24mm, CL 22mm, Hereford 15mm
Wed 26th first decent day since we came back from Coventry over a week ago, dry and bright and fairly warm with little wind!
Nicer end to the month with sunny spells WW still cool and mostly cloudy Midlands though..
Nature notes
Sat 1st watching the Swifts at the church at dusk. We were there half hour in the churchyard, there seems to be 2/ 3 nests on that (the east) side. There are still chicks in the corner of the church (SE). Each visit I check for chicks that may have perished and there was one, it was fairly well developed (probably about a fortnight off fledging) and appeared in an advanced state of decomposition (been there at least one week), not noticed before as in Coventry last week. Then around the front of the hall dismayed to see a freshly killed adult in the middle of the road, as I did not notice this less than 30 minutes previously it must have happenend while I was in the churchyard. Unfortunately I have seen them often low over the road sometimes going along it, and this one had made a misjudgment (there was very little traffic and they should be slow-moving here within 30 metres of the junction). It is now likely one of its chicks will perish unless they are within a few days of fledging (quite possible as its now August) and perhaps if only 1/2 chicks the remaining adult will cope with feeding.
Still 1 or 2 Holly berries remaining on the tree survived since last Winter!
Mon 3rd 6- 8 screaming Swift church hall dusk, still young in some nests audible
Fri 7th screaming Swifts over village early afternoon (sounded like half dozen or so); Llanybydder, no Swifts over car park; 3 Swift Aberduar; no Swift but H Martins Rhydybont on a sultry, warm evening
Sat 8th 2 Swift Lampeter Uni teatime; 3 Swift Llanwnnen dusk with perhaps a parting scream :(
Sun 9th from memory a few Swift Abergavenny on way to Midlands late afternoon
Mon 10th 1 Swift above Sainsbury, Coventry 1930 beneath the anvil of a big thunder cloud
Wed 12th 8 - 10 Swift evening on the edge of a spectacular thunderstorm Aldermans Green, Coventry
Tue 18th Chiffchaff singing from a tree by the stream passing Lampeter student union building.
Mon 24th Longwood snatch of Chiffchaff song.
There have been large gatherings of Swallows and Martins over the village most days this month, typically 30 -40 birds excitedly feeding over the gardens
August 2020 summary
Very wet in many areas but with local variation due to storms with some spots having three times the average August rainfall; at Llanwnnen this was the wettest August (records began 2006) and with only one wetter Summer month (June 2012 218.3mm); a very thundery month, some places such as Coventry having thunder on 6 days while here at Llanwnne the 5 days was a new monthly record (beating 4 days in May 2008); all areas dull, particularly WW; rather warm/warm in spite of the cool ending, in many areas it was the warmest August since 2003 or 2004 (August has been generally rather poor since then!)
August 2020 rainfall:
Valley 118.4mm (170%)
Aberdaron 138.8mm (193%)
Trawsgoed 124.4mm (144%)
Aberporth 161.6mm (236%)
Llanwnnen 214.4mm (197%)
MH 112.2mm
Watnall, Notts 89.4mm
Shawbury, Salop 134.8mm (227%)
Coleshill c 78mm
Coventry, Bablake School 94.4mm (150%)
Church Lawford, Warks 103.0mm (167%)
Pershore, Worc 103.6mm (188%)
Hereford 138.8mm (290%)
PWS
Cosby, Leic 89.2mm
Warstock, Bham 125.3mm (184%)
Alvechurch, Worc 127.7mm (245%)
Ludlow 128.3mm
August 2020 sunshine:
Aberdaron 142.9 hrs
Llanwnnen 85 hours estimated (56%)
Watnall, Notts 146.9 hrs
Shawbury, Salop 112.9 hrs (70%)
Coventry 147.0 hrs (79%)
Wellesbourne, Warks 127.6 hrs
Shobdon, Herefordshire 123.9 hrs
Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire 119.7 hrs
Summer 2020 summary
Overall the Summer was mediocre and wet, however it contained record breaking heat on the last day of July for the Midlands (over 35c in places) and also a remarkable hot and thundery spell second week of August; sunshine below average for all areas, a very dull Summer for much of Wales
Summer 2020 rainfall
Aberdaron 306.4mm
Aberporth 361.4mm
Llanwnnen 435.5mm (162%)
Watnall, Notts c 235mm
Shawbury 276.6mm
Coleshill c 227mm
Coventry, Bablake School 236.2mm (130%
CL 236.6mm (133%)
Hereford 233.0mm
Summer 2020 sunshine
Llanwnnen est sun 334 hrs (66%)
Watnall 432.7 hrs
Shawbury 374.2 hrs
Coventry, Bablake 494.9 hrs (86%)
