Weather Record for July 2001

The month started rather like June finished - overcast but dry. Then we had the best part of a week of fine, sunny and hot weather with the 4th and 5th hitting 310C, 880F! The only downside was rather warm and humid nights which made sleeping rather difficult.

The next 10 days or so were rather more mixed, generally rather cloudy and with the temperature gradually falling away with Friday 13th (!) having the questionable distinction of the lowest monthly maximum temperature of 130C (55.40F) and the 16th the lowest nighttime temperature of 60C (400F). The day itself was fine and sunny up to midday, and though the cloud built up later it soon dispersed and we had a fine afternoon with a high of 220C (720F). This was fairly typical weather for this part of the month - some fine spells but also cloud from late morning to mid afternoon, usually clearing later but sometimes persisting for the rest of the day. This period also saw rain every day for 8 days, the 10th and 11th having a total of 20.6 mm, nearly 40% of the monthly total.

From the 18th onwards the weather gradually improved, with some sunshine on every day except the 21st, more rain, albeit fairly light from 21st to 25th, but gradually rising temperatures reaching a peak of 280C (820F) on the 26th. The temperature fell away to 21 to 220C for the last 3 days of the month, but the weather was generally fine with sunny periods and broken cloud. The small amount of rain fell overnight.

With 11 days without rain the total for the month at 53.2 mm (2.1") was some 11% below the long-term average (and the year so far some 200 mm, 8" below average), average maximum temperature 21.90C (71.40F) some 30C (20F) above average, and sunshine 2 hours above average (this last comes from another Keswick weather station). One of the main features of this month's weather was the humidity - only once did it fall below 30% and the average minimum was around 50%, and with a nightime maximum well over 90% on all but one day (78% on the 18th) made for some sticky days and uncomfortable nights!

Design and © Barry Colam