Key:
Prolonged dry spell is now becoming an official drought in many areas (at least 15 successive dry days). The longest dry spell here is 22 days in September 2014, but this looks certain to be beaten as the last 17 days of May rainless. Warm and sunny weather for early Summer and no rain in the models until mid June at least:
Thu 1st West Wales warm and sunny, W Mids some sun after being plagued by North Sea cloud at the end of May, this still affecting the E Mids; maxima Porthmadog 24.9c (warmest in UK), Lwn 24.5c, Trawsgoed 21.3c, ROW 19.3c, Hereford, MH & Shawbury 18.6c, CITE 17.9c, Mumbles 17.6c, Coventry 16.6c, Nottingham 14.3c.
Fri 2nd Midlands joined in with sunny weather, maxima average to warm, Porthmadog 24.2c (warmest in UK again), Lwn 22.7c, Trawsgoed 20.9c, ROW 19.8c, CITE 19.2c, Coventry & MH 17.7c, Aberporth 15.8c.
Sat 3rd as the Summer warmth builds at least nights are still cool, even low enough for localised touches of grass frost (as at Pershore grass min -1c, air min 3.5c), other minimum air temperatures Lwn & Shobdon 3.3c, CC 3.6c, Trawsgoed 5.3c, Coventry 7.0c, Nottingham 7.2c, Mumbles 10.2c. Warm and sunny day, max Porthmadog 23.9c (warmest in UK) but here at Lwn unofficially 24.3c, Trawsgoed 22.5c, ROW 21.9c, CITE 21.6c, CL, Coleshill & MH 20.5c, Nottingham 19.5c, Aberporth 17.3c.
Sun 4th sunny and warm again WW, return of North Sea cloud Midlands but most cleared afternoon; Porthmadog max 25.0c (yet again warmest in UK), Lwn 24.9c, Trawsgoed 23.1c, ROW 21.9c, CITE, MH & Mumbles 20.7c, Coventry 19.6c, Nottingham 18.6c, Aberporth 17.7c.
Mon 5th North Sea cloud persisted into afternoon central & E Mids; Marches & WW sunny; Porthmadog 24.3c, Lwn 23.6c, Valley 21.6c, Shawbury 19.6c, CITE 18.1c, Mumbles 16.7c, Coventry 16.4c, Nottingham 16.3c. Third successive cloudless day here at Lwn with an estimated 15.5 hours bright sunshine each day, this is now one of the most prolonged dry, sunny spells of recent decades (comparable with Summer 1995 excepting temperatures much more amenable).
Tue 6th N Sea cloud made it over to WW but cleared late morning, persistent cloud for the Midlands though where it was cool, even very cool for June; maxima Porthmadog 22.7c, Lwn 20.6c, Trawsgoed 19.0c, Aberporth 16.7c, Pershore College 15.9c, Coleshill & Coventry 14.0c, Nottingham 13.0c.
22nd successive dry day here at Lwn equalling the record from September 2014 (only Summer 1995 had a more prolonged drought since I have been in Wales as far as I can tell). The climate of WW these past weeks has been akin to the Mediterranean (where ironically they have had much rain and floods of late). Getting close to 300 hours of sunshine here now in the past 4 weeks which is a greater amount than in the last exceptionally prolonged sunny spell of June/ July 2018 (c 250 hours in under 3 weeks). The sunniest calendar month here is 271 hours for May 2020.
Wed 7th warm. locally very warm and sunny WW, cloud cleared most of the Midlands around midday with temperatures around average, maxima Lwn 25.4c, Porthmadog 22.6c, Pembrey Sands 22.5c, ROW 21.1c, Pershore 20.3c, CITE & Mumbles 19.2c, CL & Coleshill 18.8c, Coventry 17.9c, Aberporth 16.9c (we were at nearby Llangrannog where it felt more like 20c), Aberdaron & Nottingham 16.5c.
First week of June exceptionally sunny for WW, interludes of N Sea cloud means the Midlands only quite sunny. Comparing Llanwnnen with Coventry for this period, Llanwnnen an estimated 99 hours sun for the week, Coventry 57 hours; days between 20 and 25c Llanwnnen cf 14 to 20c Coventry; both locations a rainless week (Llanwnnen now on 24 successive dry days). Poor Weybourne on the North Norfolk coast a very dull start to Summer 2023, just 15 hours so far.
Thu 8th WW warm or very warm and sunny/ W Mids rather warm and sunny/ E Mids mostly sunny with average temps: maxima Whitechurch (Pembs) 25.3c, Lwn 25.1c, Pembrey Sands 24.3c, ROW 22,4c, Aberporth 21.8c, Pershore 21.3c, CITE 20.6c, Aberdaron 19.2c, Coventry 18.7c, Nottingham 18.0c.
Thu 8th this phenomenal dry, warm and sunny spell has given an estimated 313 hours here at Lwn in the 4 weeks since May 12th. This makes it the most prolonged very sunny spell here probably in decades.
Fri 9th West Wales very warm or hot and sunny, more humid while the Midlands warm and mostly sunny: maxima Porthmadog 29.7c (hottest in UK), Pembrey Sands 27.2c, Lwn 27.1c, Aberporth 25.9c, ROW 24.7c, Mona 22.7c, CITE 22.0c, Coventry 21.6c, Nottingham 19.7c.This was the fifth day of the month Porthmadog was warmest place in the UK.
Sat 10th hot or very hot Midlands, Mid & N Wales. Thunderstorms S & W Mids pm (these missed Coventry); WW a little rain in places with warm sunny intervals (spits mid afternoon here at Lwn), now just 1mm in over a month here. Maxima Pershore 30.3c, CITE 29.9c, CL 29.6c, Nottingham 29.1c, CC 27.7c, Trawsgoed 27.0c, Lwn 26.7c, Shobdon 26.4c, MH 20.0c. Newport (Salop) 12.8mm rain, Coventry 0mm; PWS near Upton-upon Severn (Worc) recorded 42mm.
Sun 11th WW warm and humid with sunny intervals, local showers; Midlands very warm/ hot; thunderstorms E Mids late afternoon became widespread tracking west and forming a thick line early evening. Some of these were quite severe (radar judged 3 inches very locally such as close to Brownshill Green, Coventry while a PWS at Long Itchington near Southam (Warks) recorded 62mm during the early evening. There was much thunder and lightning at Coventry & Rugby as the storms moved close by with hail in places too. Parts of Coventry had road floods (NW city) while others escaped with next to nothing (NE city & Nuneaton PWS 0.6mm). Church Lawford had 27mm in the hour to 1900 and Corley (EA gauge) 24mm 7 to 8pm. Places nearby escaped such as the Hinckley area which remained bone dry (all PWS 0.0mm thereabouts), Bulkington and even Meriden not many miles from soaked Corley, such are thunderstorms. Church Lawford 34mm wettest Met Office station in the UK today while Bablake, Coventry 27.6mm dramatically ending their droughts (30 and 22 days respectively). Maxima CITE 30.3c, CL 30.0c, Coventry 29.7c, Nottingham 29.1c, Llanwnnen 24.7c, Hereford 23.1c, ROW 22.7c, CC 22.5c, Aberporth 19.0c.
Mon 12th some rain overnight parts of WW, here at Lwn 1.5mm broke the almost 4 weeks drought (longest recorded here). It remains a 'partial' drought however (a prolonged run of days averaging under 0.2mm per day) - this now being over a month long (just 5.5mm since May 8th or 35 days). Longest 'PD' here since 40 days in May/ June 2018. Warm or very warm with thunderstorms again breaking out pm, this time affecting Wales as well as the Midlands, hit and miss as usual, but Llanwnnen, Coventry & Rugby all had thunder and lightning but missed the worst of the downpours (Braunston, Northants 16.4mm 4 - 5pm). The radar judged the hills inland of Tal-y-Bont (N Ceredigion) to have had over 100mm today while nearby Bont Goch (EA) recorded 45.2mm for the day (half of this in one hour afternoon). By the by it was another hot day for the Midlands and warm most of WW (bar some Cardigan Bay coasts), max CITE 29.7c, Nottingham 28.9c, Newport (Salop) 28.4c, Coleshill 28.3c, CC 25.6c, Lwn 22.8c, but with Aberporth just 16.0c (coolest in the UK); Sutton Bonington (Notts) 35.0mm, Hereford 17.8mm.
Tue 13th an infamous day in Meteorology being known for the 'June 13th anomaly' or 'enigma' because of being the only day of Summer (June 1st to August 31st) never to have reached 30c somewhere in the UK. This anomaly ended today, our Lwn garden reached 30.1c at 1300 as did the official MO station of Porthmadog at the same time. A few places on the south coast of England also topped 30c. Maxima Porthmadog 30.8c, Lwn 30.4c, ROW 29.0c, MH 28.6c, Pershore 28.1c,Trawsgoed 27.5c, Coventry, Valley & Hereford 27.4c, Nottingham 27.2c, Aberporth 23.6c.
Wed 14th warm night SW Wales but rural Midlands rather cool, minima Mumbles 17.4c, Aberporth 17.3c, Lwn 11.8c, CC 11.3c, Coventry & Nottingham 10.6c, Shobdon 5.9c. Warm or hot and sunny by day, max Lwn 28.9c, Porthmadog 28.0c, ROW & Trawsgoed 27.5c, CITE 26.5c, Coventry 25.7c, Nottingham 24.9c, Mumbles 22.7c.
Thu 15th very warm or hot again, plenty of sunshine, but showers with local thunder broke out afternoon over Snowdonia and the Cambrians; maxima Lwn 29.2c, Usk (SE Wales) 28.8c was officially hottest in UK, ROW 27.9c, CITE 27.6c, Coleshill, Pershore & Trawsgoed 26.5c, Mona & Nottingham 26.1c, Coventry 25.7c, Aberporth 23.8c. Swyddffynnon, Ceredigion 1.2mm officially wettest in the UK however the radar suggested very locally perhaps 50mm in the Cambrians.
First half of June has been very dry for much of WW (very locally up to average); rainfall variable due to thunderstorms Midlands, ranging from very dry to rather wet. WW has had an incredibly sunny and warm first half, here at Lwn 175 hours to 15th is above the whole June average. Even more incredible is that the past non-calendar month (May 16th to June 15th ) has had an estimated 352 hours (no month here has even been close to 300 hours before). The Midlands has also been sunny (Coventry 131 hours). Very warm for WW and warm so far Midlands; mean maxima 25.5c here at Lwn has not happened in June before. With warmth expected to last for much of the remainder of the month June 2023 is expected to be the hottest for 200 years for the UK.
Rainfall totals June 1st - 15th:
Valley 4.4mm
CC 14.8mm
Trawsgoed 23.4mm
Aberporth 2.8mm
Llanwnnen 5.0mm (very dry)
MH 2.0mm
Mumbles 1.4mm
Nottingham 7.0mm (very dry)
Coleshill 8.6mm
Coventry 30.6mm (average)
CL 37.4mm (rather wet but most in one hour of one day)
Pershore 27.8mm
Hereford 18.2mm
King's Newnham (EA gauge) 11.4mm
NRW gauges June 1st - 15th
Bethesda 5.6mm, Cwm Dyli (Snowdonia) 25.4mm, Corris (Gwynedd) 27.2mm, Bow Street 9.0mm, Penuwch 14.0mm, Rhos Ymryson ( 5 miles from Lwn) 2.0mm, Pencader 4.8mm, Tenby 2.4mm
Fri 16th last of the really warm/ hot days for the time being, maxima Porthmadog 28.1c, ROW 28.0c, Lwn 27.8c, Mona 27.1c, Hereford 26.9c, Trawsgoed 26.7c, Nottingham 25.9c, Coventry 25.8c, Aberdaron 22.6c. Midlands stayed dry and bright, rain in places WW.
Sat 17th warm and humid, thundery showers in places, as during the evening mid & N Wales (we were away but Llanwnnen would have had thunder 2030 with sferics as close as 4 miles.). 7mm from the evening downpours ended the Llanwnnen partial drought (39 days).
Sun 18th warm and humid, thundery showers quite widespread, inc Coventry; a couple of inches locally; Sutton Bonington (Notts) 36mm officially wettest in UK; also Wellesbourne (Warks) 23mm.
Tue 20th Midlands heavy rain with thunder in places moved north late night/morning, an inch in places. Warm with scattering of thundery showers WW (thunder from various directions early evening here at Lwn), these affecting Midlands evening (inc Brum area). Pershore College 18.6mm to 2100.
Wed 21st scattered showers with local thunder though many places escaped dry; here at Lwn just a few spots afternoon as a dark line of showers persisted to track just NW of here for several hours, these giving 17mm at Cribyn PWS just 3 miles to our north
Thu 22nd warm or very warm, sunny periods, a few thundery showers developed, big storm affected Leicestershire (S of Leicester) late afternoon with frequent lightning and large rainfall totals., the thunder was heard rumbling away from Rugby with Wigston PWS 71mm in 90 minutes and Fleckney (EA) 48mm in a similar timescale.
A mixed end to June:
Sat 24th very warm night widely 15c or above minima. The low of 17.1c here at Lwn being a June record (beating 16.1c from 2017). This held up from the high of just 18.6c yesterday which was overcast and the coolest day of the month so far; Shobdon & Trawsgoed 17.9c, Pembrey Sands 17.6c, CC, Coleshill & Nottingham 16.6c, CL 15.7c, Aberdaron 15.2c. Hot much of the Midlands by day max Nottingham 28.3c, ROW 27.9c, Pershore 27.3c, Coventry 27.2c, CL 26.5c, Lwn 26.2c, Trawsgoed 25.8c, Shawbury 25.1c, MH 22.5c, Aberdaron 19.6c.
Sun 25th Very warm night many areas, min Pembrey Sands 18.2c, Mumbles 17.9c, MH 17.3c, Lwn 16.7c, Coventry 16.6c, Trawsgoed 14.1c and Shobdon 11.1c, so rural Herefordshire one of the coolest parts of the UK overnight. Still a warm day WW but a front brought a line of showers across from the west with local thunder and cooler, fresher air by evening. Midlands hot and sunny before the trough affected NW Midlands in particular with locally heavy downpours and thunderstorms here (Shrewsbury area about an inch of rain), just isolated showers elsewhere. Maxima Wellesbourne (Warks) 29.6c, Nottingham & Pershore 29.2c, CL 28.8c, Sutton Bonington 27.8c, Shawbury 25.5c, Lwn 23.5c, Trawsgoed 22.7c, Aberdaron 17.6c.
Wed 28th a rather cloudy, drizzly couple of days for West Wales, a few heavier bursts; another warm night min 16.5c and so the third time in a week that the previous warmest June night record was topped. Gogerddan 11.6mm wettest place in the UK on a not especially wet day.
Nature notes
First week of June: just over a month ago I was spiking the lawn as it was waterlogged and muddy, now it is baked dry and starting to brown over. Holly trees shedding leaves although it looks like it will be a bumper red berry Autumn. Bluebells where well shaded and especially higher up (200M) still have flowers, most now going to seed.
Fri 2nd Aberduar chapel, Llanybydder: c 10 screaming Swift this fine warm evening, nice to see they are doing so well since the new soffits were installed in 2018.
Rhydybont chapel: c 6 screaming Swift putting on a great display here as usual. The wooden soffit has quite a few holes as it is rather dilapidated (keep expecting to see scaffolding erected these recent years). Also half dozen Sand Martin and half dozen H Martin (no nests evident here as yet, perhaps as it has been so dry).
Forestry: Cuckoo calling upon arrival after 2100 from about 100m distance. Nightjar churring 2150 (20 minutes past sunset) for 5 minutes from the usual slope adjacent steep path, then nothing until 2220 when by the main gate ready to depart, one was churring from within 100 m (neither birds seen). As 400 m apart I take these to be 2 different birds.
Sat 3rd first Swift egg shell on the ground Church hall (west side central).
Sun 4th about a dozen screaming Swift suddenly flew over the garden this morning as if out of nowhere and were gone a minute later.
Southern forestry dusk, Laburnums coming out; distant Nightjar 2200 from back at the car about 300 or 400 yards away in the northern (usual) forestry.
Wed 7th driving the minor routes to Llangrannog this afternoon, still much Hawthorn bloom, some fresh, meaning the prolonged dry weather has kept it on for over a month. Pockets of Laburnum scattered about too. Much Red Campion along verges and some Foxgloves.
Sun 11th Rhydybont chapel, Llanybydder half dozen screaming Swift evening.
Sun 11th Forestry 'Laburnum lane' dusk Grasshopper Warbler before the Laburnums some 150m from car parked in central layby. Clearly visible reeling as close as 40m. Laburnums perfect after a month of dry weather and sunshine, splendid showing along here as usual. Also quite a bit of fairly fresh Hawthorn at this altitude (300masl) also a Horse Chestnut still holding candelabras. Redstart heard.
Drove to main gate 2200 for Nightjar churring at close quarters (c 40m) but not seen.
Wed 14th forestry early evening; Stonechat, Tree Pipit (I think), possible Wood Warbler, not so many Chiffchaff or WW in song.
Thu 15th Aberystwyth plentiful warbler song by the river at Morrisons.
Mid month: Many local House Sparrows have young chirping away which would be second broods (first broods having fledged early to mid May). Rookery in Lampeter is still active, most unusual, so I guess these too have managed second broods. Foxgloves seeding up. Bird song has declined through the month but many are still in song albeit seemingly with less vigour than a month ago (excepting the ever enthusiastic Song Thrushes!).
Sat 17th/ Sun 18th drove to Cardiff airport then back staying overnight, the only Swifts seen were those over villages within 10 miles of home driving back 18th afternoon.
Sat 24th Longwood, Lampeter evening; warm and humid plenty of Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler song also some Blackcap and Thrushes. A little muddy in places, must have caught a downpour in the past few days that avoided Llanwnnen. Main pond low, under a foot (3 feet full Winter) and Newt pond very low below 6 inches and just 12 feet by 6 feet of water extent (usually about 30 feet by 15 feet).
Wed 28th one dead Swift chick church hall (3 weeks old?), west side on ground beneath two south end windows. Chick(s) still audible from directly above the dead chick. Seems to be 5 or 6 nests this Summer which is typical. First obvious casualty of the year, many years having one or two be they chicks or adults.
June 2023 summary
Very warm and sunny; variable rainfall.
Much of WW dry (SW Wales very dry) whereas much of the Midlands average to wet.
CET 17.0c was on par with June 1976, here at Lwn mean max 23.8c would be virtually unprecedented for the month.
It was the warmest June since 1846 (CET 18.2c).
For the UK as a whole mean temperature of 15.8c and so the warmest June since these records began in 1884 (decisively beating 1976 & 1940 which were both 14.9c).
Rainfall totals June 2023
Capel Curig, Snowdonia c 105mm (rather dry)
Valley, Anglesey c 25mm (dry)
Aberdaron, Llyn Peninsula c 35mm (dry)
Trawsgoed, Ceredigion c 60mm (rather dry)
Aberporth, near Llangrannog c 25mm (very dry)
Llanwnnen 34.5mm (62% historical and 41% here)
Pembrey Sands, Carms c 20mm (very dry)
Milford Haven, Pembs c 15mm (very dry)
Nottingham c 60mm (average)
Shawbury, Salop c 40mm (rather dry)
Coleshill c 55mm (near average)
Coventry, Bablake School 67.4mm (113%)
CL, Warks 73.4mm (131%)
Pershore, Worc 52.0mm (100%)
Hereford c 40mm (near average)
Shobdon, Herefords 28.4mm (49%)
National Resources Wales (NRW) rain gauges June 2023
Llyn Cefni, Ynys Mon 43.4mm (rather dry)
Bethesda Quarry (Gwynedd) 47.6mm (very dry)
Cwm Dyli (Snowdonia) 183.6mm (average)
Corris (near Machynlleth) 134.2mm (average)
Bow Street (near Aberystwyth) 45.2mm (rather dry)
Pontrhydfendigaid (near Tregaron, Ceredigion) 58.0mm (rather dry)
Penuwch (Ceredigion) 36.6mm (very dry)
Rhos Ymryson (near Gorsgoch and 5 miles NW of Lwn) 50.0mm (rather dry)
Cellan (2 miles NE of Lampeter) 35.2mm (very dry)
Pencader (Carms) 39.0mm (very dry)
Abergorlech (Brechfa Forest, Carms) 27.0mm (very dry)
Rhydargaeau (Carms) 33.0mm (very dry)
Garnswllt (near Ammanford, Carms) 44.2mm (very dry)
Felinfoel (near Llanelli, Carms) 32.6mm (very dry)
Maenclochog (near Preselis, Pembs) 45.8mm (very dry)
Tenby (Pembs) 20.6mm (very dry)
Bolton Hill (near Haverfordwest, Pembs) 27.4mm (very dry)
COL stations rainfall June 2023
Llansadwrn 39.1mm (53%)
Ludlow, Salop 74.3mm (109%)
Alvechurch, Worc 70.7mm (101%)
Warstock, Brum 65.5mm (105%)
Cosby, Leic 68.0mm (104%)
Oadby, Leic 100.4mm (204%)
Towcester, Northants 51.4mm (90%)
Sunshine totals June 2023
Llanwnnen estimated 236 hours (145%)
Coventry, Bablake School 241.1 hrs (126%)
Shobdon, Herefordshire 215.2 hours (110%)
COL stations sun June 2023:
Ludlow 223.3 hrs
Alvechurch 225.4 hrs
Oadby (Leic) 216.2 hrs
Towcester 243.5 hrs
