The Cold Surge Of 30th June 1995

[Weather-history]

Anyone remember this event? It was gloriously sunny and hot that Friday in Manchester. The sun was really blazing down and the maximum that day was 29C. By evening, the temperature had markedly drop even though it was still sunny and it felt notably chilly with that breeze. The maximum the following day was 19C.

The temperature dropped over 10C in two hours in some places.

John Kettley did the forecast that evening and talked about the drop in temperature.

Temperature table given by Kettley

Heathrow 32C

Doncaster 31C

Salisbury 30C

Birmingham 30C

Bristol 30C

Manchester 29C

Cardiff 28C

Plymouth 28C

Norwich 28C

Belfast 20C

Glasgow 19C

Aberdeen 16C

Newcastle 14C

[Phil UK]

I do vaguely remember it. I recall the 'Summer' of that year beginning in mid April, May was very warm and predominantly sunny, especially the first week or so. June was hot and on occasions unsettled but I do as I say vaguely remember the end of June/early July becoming cooler after a hot spell in the last three, maybe four days of June that year.

But the rest of July and into August was hot and unsettled with some thundery outbreaks, especially over the Midlands.

Phil.

[Terminal Moraine]

I also vaguely remembered this. Looking back in my records the max' on June 30th was 27.4c ( still the hottest June day since 1976 here ) and on the 1st of July it was just 14.7c, a fall of 12.7c. The 1st was also the coolest day of the month in July 1995.

[The PIT]

Was that the brief gusts from the east and the sudden fall of temp ????

[Terminal Moraine]

Was that the brief gusts from the east and the sudden fall of temp ????

That's about right, Pit. The 30th June began with a light SW breeze which persisted until mid-afternoon with hot sunshine. The cold front arrived here around 1600 b.s.t, the wind veered NE and increased to f4-5 and the temp' fell from the day's max' of 27.4c around 1400 g.m.t to 18.1c at 1800 g.m.t.

July 1st was cloudy with a f4 NE wind, veering E by late afternoon, and it took until the 5th for temperatures to get back into the 20s.

[Summer of 95]

I do vaguely remember it. I recall the 'Summer' of that year beginning in mid April, May was very warm and predominantly sunny, especially the first week or so. June was hot and on occasions unsettled but I do as I say vaguely remember the end of June/early July becoming cooler after a hot spell in the last three, maybe four days of June that year.

But the rest of July and into August was hot and unsettled with some thundery outbreaks, especially over the Midlands.

Phil.

The first week of May was hot, then it went cold for a few weeks (frost and snow in mid-May) before summer started for good on June 21st. There were some thundery outbreaks (notably 10-11 July) here, but for the most part July and August were far from unsettled (there were thunderstorms around 1-2 August, and an isolated outbreak of showers on Aug 12th, but these were the only rainfalls of note between 21 June and the last week of August).

As for June 30, it was a hot day here, with temps nudging 30C. It stayed warm into the evening, however Sat 1st July was a memorably (because it was summer 1995) dreary and dull day, with 8/8 cloud and maxes struggling to reach 20. It didn't rain at all though. On the Sunday and Monday the sun broke through to restart the summer, as it were.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I do vaguely remember it. I recall the 'Summer' of that year beginning in mid April, May was very warm and predominantly sunny, especially the first week or so. June was hot and on occasions unsettled but I do as I say vaguely remember the end of June/early July becoming cooler after a hot spell in the last three, maybe four days of June that year.

But the rest of July and into August was hot and unsettled with some thundery outbreaks, especially over the Midlands.

Phil.

Your recollections for June-August sound like you're confusing the summers of 1995 and 1996.

[Phil UK]

Wrong, Ian.

I distinctly remember it because of a family mourning. (I lost my Dad to cancer, ironically when the warm and sunny weather began nationwide 25th April 1995. Funeral on 4th May) April started unusually warm and sunny and well into the beginning of May. After that, was warm, but unsettled. June if I remember correctly was quite hot but then a cold plume followed I think around about early July, then unsetttled and occasionally wet and thundery there after that.

Of course I am speaking solely for the Midlands, not necessarily UK wide.

Phil.

[Thundery wintry showers]

The recollection of July as being warm with thundery outbreaks may be correct, but August 1995 was definitely a hot dry sunny month in the Midlands- very occasional thundery outbreaks perhaps, but it didn't even come close to falling into the "unsettled" category. June 1995 had a cool first half and warm second half.

[Markh737]

Saturday July 1st 1995 was a dull grey day, I recall it well as I was out photographing a special train in the York and Harrogate areas and it was so dark at 5pm I couldnt believe it! It remained dry though. Of course, by August things had recovered enough for my first serious sunburn for some time

Mark

[Weather-history]

http://youtu.be/iG42YwdJsHc

[I remember Atlantic 252]

I remember friday 30th june 95, felt like hottest day ever at the time, 31C max, and yeah, cooler on 1st July

[Thundery wintry showers]

Those old pressure charts bring back a lot of memories, e.g. the thunder symbols aligned with the front over central Europe on that last chart.

The temperature plunge affected Tyne and Wear too, but it started on the previous day, with a temperature drop on the evening of the 29th after what had been the hottest day of the month. The 30th (as indicated by John Kettley) had persistent low cloud off the North Sea, hence only 14C at Newcastle, after 24C the previous day. Further south the temperature plunge was rather more marked.