Isle of Harry

That long week heatwave at the end of July 1868

Summer 2007 was worst in my opinion than 2012. I just remember summer 2007 (my GCSE year) constantly raining and never stopping. Our school hall flooded! Temperatures were struggling to get into the low 20's throughout June and July although there was a slight warm period at the start of August but that was it. I just hope 2019 isn't going this way as it certainly has the same vibe to it. 2012 was horrendously wet but days were more warmer and summery than 2007 when it was clearer I seem to remember.

Try to find some reports on the 1800 drought from local newspapers at the time. Proved difficult but managed to find 4 quotes all from August 1800. I have also found an image of the Drought effects and it's extent from the Old World Drought Atlas.

Interesting information there! I was only 5/6 years old during the 95/96 very hot and dry summers so I don't really remember much This 1800 summer heatwave pretty much kicked of series of very hot and dry summers especially 1801, 1805, 1806,1807 and 1808. A decade very much in contrast to the wet and fairly cool summers of the 1790's. As you can see in the table below average summer temperatures rose over 1 degree between the 1790's and 1800's.

Around 219 years ago, back in 1800, May opened up with a pleasant burst of early summer-heat but June began cooler and was dull with cloudy and wet conditions and perhaps the locals were gearing up for another typical British summer - but what was coming up was nothing short than extraordinary. From the 23rd June to 23rd August no rain fell - it was hot, dry and clear with blue skies for practically two months (62 days - just under 9 weeks) . Temperatures in July remained in the mid to upper 20's every day and were sunny and clear. The high amount of heat and the dryness of the atmosphere would probably have made conditions very oppressive in London at that time, the jet streams most likely parking anticyclonic pressure over Great Britain and staying there for weeks on end, dragging up tropical air from the equator in a ''Spanish plume'' effect maybe? There was no relief from this heatwave from July into August as temperatures soared into the low 30's (maybe higher?), even the nights were very warm and humid with 25C recorded just before midnight on the 2nd August. The long heatwave and the general sultriness continued till the 23rd August when finally some showery weather returned with some relief but what an incredible Summer this was and totally the opposite of the fairly cool and wet summer of 1799. Data is from B.W Cary's stand in Central London - so there may have been different conditions in the North or out to the far west but It's probably a clear indication of what was going on in the southeast. I'd imagine though the heatwave probably did effect large areas of the country regardless.

Only 4 days of rain so far this month. Could all change by next week.

Very warm and muggy night so far in Thanet.

January, February, end of March and so far this month have all been much drier than usual. Only the first two weeks of March were incessantly wet which took the month as a whole to above average rainfall, in fact it was the wettest March for a well over a decade. All this is setting up nicely for the ''1912'' wet summer to make up for the dry first half!

It snowed mid-month in London before temperatures rose to 26C ten days later. Oh my!

Heavy fog across our Island of Thanet today - really dark and gloomy you'd think it was midwinter.

Sounds like March but just in reverse order. Dry spell first followed by storms.

So far this March is going the same way as March 2017 as in not one daytime maximum falling below 10C in Thanet (a big change from last year mind you). Nights have been more cooler on average than March 2017 though.

Summer 2017 was dreadful overall here - a very wet July and August with temperatures struggling to get above 25C throughout. August ended in a washout with temperatures no higher than 15C, it was very poor. June was alright, much drier but lacked any sun. May 2017 was decent and warmish I recall. The Spring was very warm that year too. I was in Berlin, August 2016 and it was absolutely sweltering, it was above 30C for 5 whole days in the last week, although it became very cool when the Sun went down. I think the maxima may have even hit 39C/40C. Meanwhile in the UK it was boring, dull and cooler.

In Broadstairs, the high yesterday was 12C - that coastal influence is still very strong, although in direct sunlight it does feel much warmer. Hoping for higher temps this week so we can join the party. Locally it's been a strange month as we recorded higher February temperatures back in 2017 (16C) and 2012 (15C). The high so far this month is 13C. Nothing extraordinary is happening on the Kent Coast, it's sunny and dry but temperatures aren't matching the rest of the country.