It was certainly a hot June. Our previous hottest June day on record, 33.5°C set in 2022, was beaten with 35.4°C on Wednesday 24th, and then beaten again with an astonishing 37.6°C on Friday 26th. That’s not only the hottest day in our 42 year records for June, it’s the third hottest day for any month in Epping, after 38.8°C in July 2022 and 37.9°C in August 2003.

These were accompanied by three ‘tropical nights’ where the temperature never falls below 20°C, on the nights of 23rd-24th, 25th-26th and 26th-27th; the middle one was the warmest with the temperature falling no lower than 21.6°C overnight. These were our first three tropical nights in June, and the 10th, 11th and 12th in all our records. The average daily minimum across the month of 14.1°C was also a record for June, surpassing the previous warmest of 13.5°C set only last year.

Perhaps surprisingly, the overall monthly mean temperature was not a record, at 18.9°C it was just 0.2°C below last year’s record.

The reason for the heat was a large area of tropical air from the Sahara moving up across western Europe and getting stuck there for the second half of the month. Before that, it was more unsettled with more normal temperatures. This is clearly shown by the rainfall record, with most of our rain coming in the first eleven days of the month. Overall, therefore, it was our fourth drier than average month in a row, the total rainfall of 42.2mm well below our long term average for June of 54.5mm. It resulted in the fifth year in a row with June drier than average.

The barometer reflected the unsettled start and the blocking high pressure end to the month. Our comparable wind and pressure records only cover 18 years, but both the mean pressure for the month of 1015.0mb and the maximum of 1026.9 were slightly below the long term average. The reason, despite the settled anticyclonic weather, was that unsettled start, the low for the month of 994.4mb being our second lowest for June after 991.0mb in 2004.

We have only three years of detailed sunshine records so far, and surprisingly this June was the dullest. The sun shone on 26 days, delivering 187 hours of sunshine, compared with 202 and 230 hours in the last two Junes.

The winds were consistently in the south-west quadrant during that start to the month, but had more of an easterly element in the second half of the month. The first half was of course breezy with the unsettled weather, the maximum gust of 28mph (force 6) coming on Wednesday 3rd.