Weather log August 2022
Key:
A damp humid start to August across Wales and parts of W Mids, rest of Midlands very warm and dry (max 26.8c Wellesbourne Mon 1st cf CC 18.1c).
Tue 2nd very wet overnight mid and N Wales, PWS near Blaenau Ffestiniog almost 100mm, not very much further south just a few mm generally, but at least it's nice and green again cf E Mids! CC wettest place officially in the UK with 57.6mm. A very warm night for many above 17c, minima Hereford 19.0c, Coventry 18.3c, Pembrey Sands 17.8c, Shawbury 17.5c, Aberporth & Lwn 16.8c, CC 15.6c.
The dry weather continued well into August for the Midlands with just a little rain in places the first few days here, very little rain too for most of S Wales with a hosepipe ban coming into force for Pembrokeshire and the west of Carmarthenshire (ironically much of Carmarthenshire saw near average rainfall in July!).
Thu 4th/Fri 5th lovely weather across W Wales, plenty of sunshine and a nice cool breeze, maxima between 17c and 20c, still pretty warm parts of the Midlands though; maxima 5th Aberporth 16.7c, Lwn 17.8c, Aberdaron 18.0c, MH 19.1c, Shawbury 19.3c, Mumbles & Nottingham 20.2c, Coventry 21.4c, Pershore 23.9c.
Sat 6th quite a cold August night in many places and close to a grass frost for a few, minima Lwn 2.3c, Tirabad 2.6c (officially coldest in UK), Shobdon 3.8c, Trawsgoed 4.3c, CL 5.4c, Nottingham 7.9c, Coventry 8.8c, Aberdaron & Mumbles 11.8c.
Sunny weather continued into the second week, still cool nights inland at first but with temperatures rising by day:
Mon 8th minima as low as 4c (third successive night below 4c here at Lwn), Swyddffnnon 3.8c (coolest in UK), Lwn 4.0c, Trawsgoed 4.4c, Shobdon 7.5c, Coventry 11.5c, Nottingham 12.3c.Mumbles 14.4c. Sunny again, warm or very warm WW and very warm/ hot Midlands maxima Pershore 28.8c, CITE & Coventry 27.7c, CL & Hereford 27.6c, Mumbles 26.1c, Lwn 23.6c, Aberporth 19.8c.
Tue 9th another refreshingly cool night in the countryside, for some coastal spots a warm night; minima CC 4.6c, Lwn 5.2c, Trawsgoed 7.2c, Shobdon 8.4c, CL 10.9c, Nottingham 11.2c, Coventry 12.7c, Mumbles (Swansea) 16.4c. Near unbroken sunshine again (14 hours is the most possible at this stage) and very warm or hot, maxima ROW 30.1c (hottest in UK), CITE 29.7c, Pershore 29.4c, CL 29.3c, Nottingham 28.1c, Shawbury 27.2c, Tirabad 26.4c, Lwn 26.3c, MH 25.2c, Aberporth 20.0c; all locations 12 to 14 hours bright sunshine.
The heat continues to build in this more prolonged heatwave of Summer 2022; maxima widely over 30c:
Wed 10th hot and sunny for mosts, cooler sea breezes to Cardigan Bay, many places in the Midlands topped 30c; maxima CITE 32.1c, ROW 31.1c, Pershore 30.4c, Shawbury 30.3c, CL 29.7c, Nottingham 29.5c, Lwn 29.2c (second hottest in August (after 29.3c in 2020), Trawsgoed 28.0c, Mumbles 27.7c, Aberporth 22.5c. 14 hours of unbroken sunshine here at Lwn the sunniest August day since my webcam estimations began in 2013, most other places having 13 or 14 hours again today.
Thu 11th thankfully nights here in rural Wales are refreshingly cool at this stage in the heatwave, not so for coasts and cities with the though Swansea area having a very warm one; minima Lwn 7.8c, CC 9.7c, Shobdon 9.8c, Coleshill 11.9c, Nottingham 13.5c, Coventry 14.3c, Aberporth 16.5c, Mumbles 18.6c. A very hot and sunny day (mostly cloudless), here at Lwn max 30.8c made it clearly the hottest recorded August day (beating 29.3c in 2020) and perhaps the hottest in August since 2003 when much of Wales managed above 30c? Other maxima Shawbury 33.4c, CITE 33.1c, Coleshill 32.1c, CL 31.5c, Nottingham 31.1c, Trawsgoed 30.1c, CC 29.0c, Aberporth 25.1c; once more virtually unbroken sunshine in most areas (13 or 14 hours).
Fri 12th a warm night for coasts, still getting refreshingly cool for many inland rural locations though such as Lwn (min 9.4c); other minima Mumbles 19.5c, Aberporth 17.7c, Coventry 16.5c, Nottingham 13.6c, Shobdon 10.6c, CC 10.3c. A very hot and very sunny day, the August record went again here at Lwn, max 32.7c beating yesterday's 30.8c (note the August record high up to 2019 was just 28.3c, so we have now leaped 4c above that. Other max ROW 33.8c, CITE 33.6c, Pershore 33.0c, CL & Hereford 32.4c, Trawsgoed 31.6c, Nottingham 31.4c, MH 30.8c, Aberporth 26.8c.
Sat 13th a warm or very warm night for coasts and some urban areas again; Mumbles 20.8c, MH 18.6c, Coventry 16.0c, Trawsgoed 15.1c, Nottingham 14.3c, Lwn 13.2c, Shobdon 11.9c. Another day widely into the low to mid 30's c and all stations above 27c (81f). Here at Lwn max 32.6c a shade under yesterday's. That's two successive days above 32c (90f) which we have not had here before in any month. Other maxima ROW 33.8c, CITE 33.7c, Pershore 33.1c, CL 32.8c, Coventry 32.1c, Gogerddan (Ceredigion) c 32c, Shawbury 31.7c, Nottingham 31.6c, Trawsgoed 31.4c, MH 30.6c, Aberporth 27.1c. Almost unbroken sun widely 12 to 14 hours.
Sun 14th quite widely a warm night, locally very warm, refreshingly average here at Lwn and some other rural spots; minima Aberdaron 20.9c, Mumbles 20.3c, Coventry 16.7c, Nottingham 14.4c, CC 12.2c, Shawbury 11.3c, Lwn 11.2c. Last day of the heatwave, it has been 6 days long (>25c) here at Lwn and 7 days (>27c) at Coventry. Maxima ROW 34.0c, CITE 33.8c, Pershore 33.4c, CL 32.9c, Nottingham 32.2c, Lwn 31.8c, Trawsgoed 31.2c, Mumbles 29.7c, Aberporth 27.0c; a few thundery showers affected N Wales pm.
Mon 15th another warm night in some areas, minima Mumbles 17.5c, CC, Coleshill & MH 16.5c, Pershore 14.7c, Trawsgoed 12.3c, Lwn 11.4c. Cooler but still a warm and humid day, maxima mainly between 22 and 26c; Astwood Bank 27.0c, Coventry 26.4c, Market Bosworth & MH 25.1c, Lwn 24.4c, Trawsgoed 23.7c, Shobdon 21.0c, Aberporth 20.5c. Scattered thunderstorms pm, these gave toorential downpours of 2 inches in parts of Carmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire but many places escaped dry; Hereford 18.8mm (18mm of this in an hour), Abergorlech (NRW) 17.2mm in an hour, Lwn 0.3mm. Much thunder from the Abergorllech storm 10 miles SE audible here early evening with spectacular Cumulonimbus clouds.
Most areas have had a very warm, very dry and very sunny first half to August. Temperatures 2 to 4c above normal, most places 80% or 90% of the average August sunshine total already. Much of the Midlands has average around 27c by day (cf WW 22 to 25c).
August rainfall to 0900 16th:
Mona 28.4mm, Valley 10.6mm, CC 74.2mm (near average), Aberdaron 10.6mm, Trawsgoed 8.2mm, Aberporth 2.6mm, Llanwnnen 4.8mm, Pembrey Sands 3.6mm, MH 3.6mm, Mumbles 5.6mm.
Nottingham 0.8mm, Coleshill 1.4mm, Coventry 0.2mm, CL 1.2mm, Hereford 18.8mm, Shobdon (Herefordshire) 3.2mm.
Sunshine to 15th:
Llanwnnen 148.5 hours (estimated from webcam captures)
Nottingham 156.5 hours, Shawbury 148.4 hrs, Coventry 151.7 hrs, Shobdon 150.2 hrs.
Tue 16th a mild/ warm night again; min Coventry 16.4c, Mumbles 16.3c, Nottingham 15.3c, CL 14.7c, Lwn 13.4c Trawsgoed 13.8c, CC 12.5c, Shobdon 10.4c. Much cloud by day, much cooler for WW, still fairly warm Midlands. Widespread downpours with thunder in places (thunder reported Coventry early evening) these most prevalent over the Midlands with most getting a decent soaking, some places had 50mm in a couple of hours with some PWS in the Cotswolds receiving over 100mm; wettest place officially though across Wales & the Midlands was Astwood Bank (Worc) 31.6mm (to midnight). Holbeach in Lincolnshire received 143mm - much over a few hours today, while Marham not 30 miles away in neighbouring Norfolk has had just 0.4mm all month to date! Maxima mostly 17 to 20c today WW and 21 to 25c Midlands; CL 25.1c, Nottingham 24.5c, Market Bosworth 23.1c, Lwn 17.9c (below Aug average), Mumbles 20.7c, Shobdon 20.5c, Aberporth 16.1c.
Wed 17th 24 hour rainfall totals to 0600: Pershore 37.2mm, CL 28.8mm, Coventry, Nottingham & Shobdon 9.8mm, Shawbury 2.0mm, Lwn 1.0mm, Aberporth 0.2mm, MH 0.0mm. Another mild/ rather warm night, minima generally 13 - 16c. A lot of cloud again little rain or drizzle in places. A cool day for the Midlands, max 17.6c at Coventry the only day of the month thus far not to get above 70f (21c); other max Shobdon 16.8c, CC 17.7c, Nottingham 18.8c, Trawsgoed 19.2c, Aberporth 20.1c, MH 21.4c, Lwn 21.6c.
Big transition in the weather after mid month and post heatwave for WW in particular to a lot of cloud and temperatures back down to average or at best merely warm! Occasional rain or drizzle, quite small amounts for many areas. Much of the Midlands remained mostly dry and warm with some sunny spells, temperatures here reaching 25c or so in places along with some further often warm, muggy nights (Coventry all nights above 15c and therefore 'warm' 12th to 19th):
Sat 20th quite a pleasant and rather warm day for many places with sunny spells, maxima generally 20 to 24c (Coleshill 25.0c, Coventry 24.1c, Nottingham 23.2c, Lwn 22.0c, Trawsgoed 21.8c, Valley 20.2c, CC 18.4c).
Tue 23rd a warm night above 15c widely, lows CL 17.8c, Coleshill & Coventry 17.7c, Nottingham 17.5c, MH 17.2c, Lwn 15.9c, Mona 14.5c, Shobdon 13.6c. Much cloud, a little rain in places as has been the case much of this past week.
Wed 24th a warm or very warm night; minima Pershore 19.6c, Coleshill 19.0c, Coventry & Nottingham 18.7c, Pembrey Sands & Shobdon 17.3c, Lwn 15.9c, Mona 14.6c. First appreciable rain of the month here at Lwn, 10mm falling during the early hours, some decent falls of up to an inch over some other parts of WW too, mostly dry night Midlands.
Thu 25th first nice and sunny day WW for 10 days (just 11 hours estimated during those in stark contrast to the preceding 11 days that produced 137 hours). The Marches warm, sunny spells; Midlands quite cloudy with some rain. Lwn est 10 hours sun, Aberporth 9.8 hrs. Rain: Astwood Bank 11.2mm, Coventry 4.0mm, most of Wales & Marches a dry day. Maxima Shobdon 23.2c, Mumbles 22.8c, Lwn 19.8c, Sutton Bonington 18.7c, CL 17.9c, Nottingham 17.8c, Aberporth 17.6c.
A largely fine and warm end to Summer 2022 with variable cloud but most seeing decent sunny spells, particularly WW sheltered from the NE breeze:
Sun 28th mainly dry and warm day, however SW Wales saw some isolated heavy downpours pm; radar suggested 40mm just west of Carmarthen fell late afternoon.
Bank Holiday Monday 29th most places warm sunny spells, more cloud Midlands, best of sun WW. Very warm here at Lwn max 25.0c (highest reading since 14th). Other max Whitchurch, Pembs 25.5c (warmest in UK), Mumbles 24.6c, ROW 22.8c, Hereford 22.0c, CL 21.0c, CITE 20.8c, CC 20.5c, Nottingham 18.9c.
Nature notes
Sat 6th not seen a Swift for about a week now.
Wed 10th 'other/ opposite' Forestry dusk 20 - 25 H Martin flew around in quite a tight bunch which is unusual as normally they are more apart. Goshawk I think glimpsed several times as it kept taking off ahead of us as we walked along (grey- blue uppers and a bit bigger than a buzzard?).
Fri 12th quite a large bat flew over high above the garden going more or less due north, it was n't a Noctule as they have more chunky body this was slimmer but long winged (reminded me of a Greater Horseshoe we saw high above Brandon Marsh in the mid 1970s).
Mid month: the large pond below the church which when full takes some 3 feet has now almost completely dried out, it came close in Summer 2018 but was not completely dry.
From mid August large gatherings of Swallows which they tend to do before the majority head south (seen 30 to 40 together).
Sat 27th Forestry: quite a few Butterfly on profuse Heather along with Bees and other winged insects. Butterflies seen Painted Lady, Small & Large Tortoiseshell, Peacock.
Tue 30th Merlin's Walk, Carmarthen is a good place for House Martin nests (they use the bends in downpipes above the row of shops. Three nests this year all now seem unoccupied (they were actively feeding chicks in late July).
Fewer H Martin by month end it seems, quite a few Swallow though.
August 2022 summary
Warm or very warm; dry or very dry and sunny.
Here at Lwn it was the driest, warmest and sunniest August since records began in 2006. In Coventry with records dating back to 1892, only two August months have been warmer than this year (1995 and 1997).
August 2022 rainfall
Capel Curig, Snowdonia c 105mm (dry)
Valley, Anglesey c 31mm (dry)
Trawsgoed, Ceredigion c 25mm (very dry)
Aberporth, near Llangrannog c 11mm (very dry)
Llanwnnen 21.2mm (21%)
Pembrey Sands, Carms c 19mm (very dry)
Milford Haven, Pembs c 15mm (very dry)
Mumbles, near Swansea c 26mm (very dry)
Nottingham c 21mm (very dry)
Shawbury, Salop c 18mm (very dry)
Coleshill c 21mm (very dry)
Coventry, Bablake School 16.0mm (25%)
CL, Warks 33.0mm (53%) - 29mm of this in one day.
Pershore, Worc c 45mm (rather dry) - 37mm in one day.
Shobdon, Herefordshire 21.4mm (33%)
Hereford 40.0mm (68%)
National Resources Wales (NRW) rain gauges
Llyn Cefni (Ynys Mon) 56.4mm (61%)
Bethesda Quarry (Gwynedd) 74.4mm (59%)
Cwm Dyli (Snowdonia) 145.4mm (57%)
Bow Street (near Aberystwyth) 31.2mm (36%)
Frongoch (Devil's Bridge, Ceredigion) 32.2mm (42%)
Penuwch (Ceredigion) 19.0mm (18%)
Rhos Ymryson (near Gorscoch 5 miles NW of Lwn) 34.2mm (29%)
Cellan (2 miles NE of Lampeter) 22.2mm (23%)
Pencader (Carms) 36.0mm (29%)
Abergorllech (Brechfa Forest, Carms) 45.8mm (38%)
Rhydargaeau (Carms) 49.6mm (38%)
Garnswllt (near Ammanford, Carms) 44.0mm (38%)
Felinfoel (near Llanelli, Carms) 35.0mm (33%)
Maenclochog (Preselis, Pembs) 46.2mm (33%)
Tenby (Pembs) 23.6mm (27%)
Bolton Hill (near Haverfordwest, Pembs) 17.6mm (17%)
COL stations rainfall Aug 2022
Llansadwrn, Anglesey 67.4mm (75%)
Alcaston, Salop 17.4mm (28%)
Alvechurch, Worc 65.7mm (88%)
Warstock, Brum 25.7mm (37%)
Cosby, Leic 36.7mm (57%)
Hinckley 26.4mm
Towcester, Northants 27.0mm (42%)
Daventry, Northants (PWS) 10.2mm
Sunshine totals Aug 2022
Llanwnnen estimated 207 hours (128%)
Nottingham 226.7 hours (127%)
Shawbury 202.9 hrs (121%)
Coventry, Bablake School 231.6 hours (133%)
Shobdon, Herefordshire 206.7 hrs (123%)
COL stations sun
Alvechurch 185.1 hrs
Cosby 235.6 hrs
Towcester 235.5 hrs
Summer 2022
Dry and warm; sunshine generally above average
The Midlands experienced a very good Summer being very warm and dry/ very dry; WW had a warm one with most places below average rainfall. Sunshine ranged from around average to sunny for the E Midlands. Summer 2022 will be remembered for the record breaking heat in July when a few places topped 40c and most places broke long- standing heat records.
Here at Lwn the Summer started with a rather wet June, then a rather dry and warm July ending with a very dry, warm and sunny August.
Coventry saw all 3 months of well below average rainfall, June there was fairly warm and slightly sunny, July warm and slightly sunny, then August very warm and sunny.
Summer 2022 rainfall
Mona c 135mm (dry)
Aberporth c 77mm (very dry)
Llanwnnen 180.5mm (65%)
Pembrey Sands c 123mm (very dry)
Mumbles 93mm (very dry)
MH 126mm (very dry)
Nottingham c 77mm (very dry)
Shawbury c 76mm (very dry)
Coleshill 72mm (very dry)
Coventry, Bablake School 74.0mm (41%)
CL 110.0mm (62%)
Pershore c 104mm (dry)
Hereford 102.4mm (dry)
Summer 2022 sunshine
Llanwnnen estimated 534 hours (106%)
Nottingham 599.4 hours (quite sunny)
Coventry 651.4 hrs (116%)
