June 2009 Heatwave

[Lake District Blizzard]

Late June into july 2009 was as far as im aware, the last prolonged and widespread heatwave across the UK and is fast becoming a distant memory.

Locally it was hot from the 23rd june to the 2nd of july, with temperatures between 25c and 28c in june, and 28-30c on the 1st and 2nd of july.

I remember seeing the car thermometer at 30c and warm evenings, and it was quite well publicized at the time in the news and media.

Apart from the odd day in 2010 and 2011 that was hot, this was the last decent hot spell in this area, where there was a run of days with temperatures in the high 20's, and the last time 30c was reached.

Id like to hear anyone else's memories of this fine spell of weather

[MP-R]

Very true, this was an excellent spell of weather - probably the best for widespread heat in summer 2009 as it became confined to the southeast in August after an autumnal July.

Here are the maxima & minima for my location from 23rd June - 02nd July:

23rd: 24.9C / 14.9C - Sunny all day with cumulus build-up during mid-afternoon

24th: 26.0C / 11.0C - Sunny and clear all day; no clouds

25th: 25.9C / 13.4C - Misty start then hazily sunny; convection during the afternoon > thunderstorms locally 6-10pm

26th: 20.5C / 15.3C - Rain after midnight then cloudy, dull and damp all day

27th: 25.4C / 12.0C - Sunny and clear all day; fresher with a slight breeze

28th: 24.9C / 15.3C - Sunny start but increasing high cloud from the S later, increasingly humid

29th: 29.2C / 16.1C - Thunderstorm 6-7am then clearing to become hot, humid and sunny from 10am onwards

30th: 28.4C / 17.6C - Largely sunny, hot and humid with umulus build-up mid-afternoon

01st: 31.8C / 18.1C - Sunny, clear and hot all day (I was at Wimbeldon this day when it was pushing 33C)

02nd: 30.1C / 18.6C - Sunny, hot and humid but hazier than y'day

03rd: 24.3C / 16.4C - Thunderstorm overnight then much fresher with W winds and sunny intervals

04th: 24.4C / 15.2C - Largely sunny and warm with a SW breeze

05th: 23.0C / 15.4C - The start of the monsoon - good convection with torrential downpours during the afternoon

A wonderful spell of weather which ended on the last day of the summer term haha.

[Wilxy]

Lets hope 2012 will be a good year hopefully it will be the year to remember.

[Evening thunder]

The highest temp of that spell here was 'only' 25.0C on 1st July. Much of the hottest weather during that spell had southerly breeze and quite a bit of mid level cloud so was a bit disappointing here.. We did also have 24.7C on the 25th June. Apart from that max temps were generally 21-24C. None the less a pleasant spell of weather though no heatwave here.

The warmest days of the year here were the 1st, 2nd and 3rd June (26.1C on the 1st)

Edited March 5, 2012 by Stormmad26

[I remember Atlantic 252]

exceptionally hot wimbledon, hottest 2 weeks of that summer

[Aaron]

It was a nice spell of weather, but nothing memorable, just what you'd expect at least once a year.

[Alex95]

There was a lot of thunder days around then too, but the heat only got going on the 1st July in Newcastle thanks to North Sea low cloud in the previous days. I had thunder on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th and possibly 7th (I can't remember this one). Also, it was 27°C on the 1st with a dew point of 21°C which is exceptional for my location. The hot weather only lasted for the 1st and 2nd, but after that it was still quite warm for a while.

[conor123]

It was a mixed bag here, a lot of the days were on the cloudy and wet side towards the end of June but there was some decent days during the spell to.

[danm]

I remember this being a great spell of warm/hot and sunny weather.

Here are the maximum temperatures for Heathrow between 23rd June and 5th July 2009:

23rd: 24.7

24th: 25.2

25th: 28

26th: 24

27th: 27

28th: 27.6

29th: 31

30th: 31.2

1st: 30.9

2nd: 30.6

3rd: 26

4th: 26

5th: 25.3

Here is a weather forecast by Rob McElwee (ah how I miss this guy!) from the evening of 29th June 2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RugXQfs7YZA&feature=channel_video_title

Edited March 6, 2012 by danm

[4wd]

We had some good summer days but nothing especially memorable (in fact I had to think hard and look back at records!)

30th June hit 24.9C, 1st of July touched 27C and the 2nd was 24.7C. that was about it really.

27th and 28th of June had heavy rain showers, and on 3rd of July there was 25mm in a very short space of time just after noon

http://weather.westerdale.info/20090703.gif

[I remember Atlantic 252]

I remember this being a great spell of warm/hot and sunny weather.

Here are the maximum temperatures for Heathrow between 23rd June and 5th July 2009:

23rd: 24.7

24th: 25.2

25th: 28

26th: 24

27th: 27

28th: 27.6

29th: 31

30th: 31.2

1st: 30.9

2nd: 30.6

3rd: 26

4th: 26

5th: 25.3

Here is a weather forecast by Rob McElwee (ah how I miss this guy!) from the evening of 29th July 2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RugXQfs7YZA&feature=channel_video_title

29th June, not July,

[danm]

29th June, not July,

Sorry, typo.

[Thundery wintry showers]

July 2009 was probably the most thundery month across the Tyne and Wear area since June 1980. Cleadon had thunder on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 16th, 18th and 24th. The first week was generally warm with plenty of sunshine as well as thundery downpours (a particularly big thunderstorm on the 1st, also some hail on the 5th) but the rest of the month saw progressively more Atlantic influence with temperatures and sunshine amounts dropping close to or just below average. As Alza noted the last week of June was plagued by low cloud off the North Sea.

I was in Exeter during June 2009 and remember one weak overnight thunderstorm, plus a large convective cell on one evening which missed Exeter to the north by a very narrow margin- I can't remember the exact dates though. The winds off the English Channel had an impact with maxima held down at around 23-25C, a bit warmer than Stormmad26 experienced but still cooler than in many other parts of the country.

[95 Degrees]

The highest temp of that spell here was 'only' 25.0C on 1st July. Much of the hottest weather during that spell had southerly breeze and quite a bit of mid level cloud so was a bit disappointing here.. We did also have 24.7C on the 25th June. Apart from that max temps were generally 21-24C. None the less a pleasant spell of weather though no heatwave here.

The warmest days of the year here were the 1st, 2nd and 3rd June (26.1C on the 1st)

You must really suffer from seabreezes there, even here in Brighton & Hove managed 30C on the 2nd, although this is a one in 5 year event so June 2009 was a memorable spell of heat and 2009 was easily the best summer since 2006, even July was interesting with heavy downpours/T-Storms.

[Evening thunder]

Yeah they are pretty common during the summer, you usually need a strong enough offshore breeze to prevent one (they probably funnel up the valley too) I think one aspect of that spell though was some cloud here during the day, and a general southerly flow (when the sky became mainly clear late in the afternoon of the 1st July and the sea breeze dropped a bit it reached 25C). The airmass may have generally been a bit cooler here too. July 2006 was alot better here though sea breezes were also common, none the less there were several days in the high 20's or 30C, though I don't have exact records. The highest temps here (using Exeter Airport data) usually occur with an easterly wind, Late June/early July 1976 reached 33C on two days with many at or above 30C. Sea breezes may have effected some of these though.

Referring to what TWS said, I remember a weak T-storm one night in the late June spell too, with a torrential dowpour and 5 flashes of lightning seen. I also remember a thunderstorm at school earlier in June on the 15th June which I think passed over Exeter before, which frustratingly happened to coincide nicely with my exam! I remember some heavy rain early in the month (6th I think) with a localised storm over Exeter in the morning.

[Scorcher]

Interesting to see 22C being forecasted for Lerwick during that spell- I'd imagine it's rather unusual to see such high temperatures there.

[AderynCoch]

22C is unusually warm for Lerwick. According to Wikipedia (not 100% reliable), the all-time maximum is 23.4C recorded in July 1991.

[damianslaw]

Late June into july 2009 was as far as im aware, the last prolonged and widespread heatwave across the UK and is fast becoming a distant memory.

Locally it was hot from the 23rd june to the 2nd of july, with temperatures between 25c and 28c in june, and 28-30c on the 1st and 2nd of july.

I remember seeing the car thermometer at 30c and warm evenings, and it was quite well publicized at the time in the news and media.

Apart from the odd day in 2010 and 2011 that was hot, this was the last decent hot spell in this area, where there was a run of days with temperatures in the high 20's, and the last time 30c was reached.

Id like to hear anyone else's memories of this fine spell of weather

Completely forgotton about this spell of weather - yes I do remember the warmest weather of a rather dissapointing summer being in late June and early july, though I didn't think we managed 30 degrees - but could be wrong. I was thinking the last time we reached 30 degrees was in July 2006. It was a very sunny spell of weather as well. Some very warm/hot summer spells are simply not remembered due to them happening in rather poor summers overall for lengthy heatwave conditions - this spell being a case in point. Its a similiar story for decent cold spells in winter. I think early feb 2012 will be remembered a bit like spells such as late june 2009/early july - quickly forgotton like the rest of the season they belong too despite being rather good.

[Aaron]

We managed 30C in July 2009

On a side note we reached 31C in Leeds in July 2008, anyone else remember this? 8 days of warm to hot weather late in the month.

Actually July 2008 wasn't too bad here with a mean maximum temperature of 21.7C placing it in the average to slightly above average range

Edited March 6, 2012 by Aaron

[Alex95]

Completely forgotton about this spell of weather - yes I do remember the warmest weather of a rather dissapointing summer being in late June and early july, though I didn't think we managed 30 degrees - but could be wrong. I was thinking the last time we reached 30 degrees was in July 2006. It was a very sunny spell of weather as well. Some very warm/hot summer spells are simply not remembered due to them happening in rather poor summers overall for lengthy heatwave conditions - this spell being a case in point. Its a similiar story for decent cold spells in winter. I think early feb 2012 will be remembered a bit like spells such as late june 2009/early july - quickly forgotton like the rest of the season they belong too despite being rather good.

Carlisle definitely reached around 29-31°C on the 2nd July, but I can't remember the exact figure. I'd imagine the Lake District would have had similar temperatures.

[Scorcher]

22C is unusually warm for Lerwick. According to Wikipedia (not 100% reliable), the all-time maximum is 23.4C recorded in July 1991.

Yes I was looking back at the records and Lerwick even struggled to reach 20C in the notable hot spells of July 2006 and August 2003. For it to reach 22C there in this less memorable spell is even more surprising than I initially thought.

[Slowpoke]

The late September 2011 heatwave was loads better than this.

[danm]

ITN news report from 28th June 2009 on the heatwave:

[danm]

BBC countryfile forecast from 28th June 2009:

[Uncle_Barty]

The spell didn't exceed 80f (26.7c) here at all.. indeed 2009 in total didn't. Since 2006 there has been a lack of very warm days here - just 5 days in the last 5 summers have produced 80f or more.

My wife and I have had 3 July holidays in the UK in that time (Cornwall, Lakes and Guernsey) with a top temperature of just 17c across all three. 17c!

Days over 80f here:

2006 - 9 (all in July)

2007 - NIL

2008 - 1

2009 - NIL

2010 - 3

2011 - 1

Edited March 7, 2012 by Jim_AFCB