This extraordinary summer of dry heat continued through August. The maximum of 36.7°C recorded on Thursday 13th was the second hottest August day on record, beaten only by 37.9°C in 2023. The average day maximum across the month was an amazing 26.6°C, a new record, and the mean temperature for the month as a whole was 20.3°C, also the second hottest on record. All of the other temperature markers we track, the month’s minimum, the average daily minimum, the highest day minimum, and the lowest day maximum, were warmer than the long term averages.

The rain held off for much of the month, with some much needed downpours on two days, but nowhere near enough for farmers and gardeners. This was the fifth driest August on record, following on from the past five months of below average rain.

You might think we’d be buried under a stagnant high pressure to cause this, but in fact this August we had each of the highest, lowest and mean pressures for the month within 1mb of the long term average!

The cause of the heat and drought lay in the positioning of weather systems, with a blocking high pressure nearby directing hot, dry winds from the mass of very hot air sitting over Europe. This is shown by the prevalence of winds from the east and southeast pulling that hot air in.

We only have three years now of comparable sunshine records, but this August was by a margin the sunniest of the three. The strongest sunshine was recorded on Saturday 8th.

With signs towards the end of the month of a weakening of the weather systems keeping it hot and dry, will September revert to normal, or will the heat and drought continue? We’ll report back again in a month’s time with what the weather records have told us!

Measure	Unit	Minimum	Average	Maximum	Average min	Average max	Total
Relative humidity	%	23	67	94
Temperature	°C	9.8	20.3	36.7	14.9	26.6
Wind source (most common/highest gust)	Sector		N	WSW
Wind speed	mph		2.6	26		15.8
Rain daily accumulation	mm		0.4	6.0			13.6
Barometric pressure	hPa	999.3	1014.3	1025.1
Solar irradiance during daylight	W/m² kWh/m²		303	1104		815	139.2
Sunshine (according to University of California formula)	Hours		6.7	10.9			209.1