By Philip Eden

July ended as it had begun, with a spell of great heat and humidity in the southern half of the UK. Between these two hot spells, however, came a lengthy period of cool and unsettled weather with several heavy downpours.

Compared with the long-term average July was 1.5-2.0 °C warmer than normal over England and Wales, but 0.5-1.0 °C colder than usual in northern Scotland. The Central England Temperature was 17.3°C which compares with the mean for the referenc e period 1971-2000 of 16.5°C. During the 20th century there were only 15 warmer Julys, three had the same mean temperature, and the other 82 were cooler; however, five of the last 12 Julys were warmer.

Much of July's rain fell during the periods 4th-6th and the 17th-19th when serious flooding ensued in several parts of the country. Averaged over England and Wales the total monthly rainfall was 69.5mm, exactly equalling the long-term average, but thanks to several recent dry ones this made it the wettest July since 1993. The equivalent figure for Scotland was 69.8mm (1% below normal) and for Northern Ireland 59.0mm (17% below). At a more parochial level there were wide variations. Thanks to a torrential downpour on the 4th which contributed over half the month's total, in Cardiff collected 138mm during July, some 80% above the local average. By contrast, in Dishforth in North Yorkshire recorded just 16.6mm, nearly 70% below the average there.

Sunshine was in short supply during the first three weeks of July, but the long sunny days towards the end of the month successfully balanced the equation. Averaged over England and Wales the sun shone for 206 hours during the month which is 8% above the long-term mean. The figures for Scotland were 132 hours and 16% below, and for Northern Ireland 152 hours and 8% above.