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Ice In August! The Very Cool, Wet August Of 1956


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Posted
  • Location: Irlam
  • Location: Irlam

Can you imagine if this August went this way?

August 1956 was very cool with a CET of 13.5 and it was also wet with an EWR of 158.6mm

Some notable events of the month were:

5th: 60mm fell during a storm at Swanage in 1 hour.

6th: 45mm fell at Arundel Castle in 18 minutes

Hailstorm left 30cm+ deep in Tunbridge Wells, 81mm fell at Faversham

18th: 50mm+ fell across many western parts and northern parts as a deep low moved through northern England

25th: 75mm+ fell on parts of Somerset.

Low pressures, one after another moved through the UK during the month and there was hardly one day where high pressure had total control over the UK until the very end of the month

Here's some data from the month

Dyce

Mean Max: 14.7 (-2.7) Highest Max: 17.8 Rainfall: 83mm (108%)

Glasgow

Mean Max: 16.1 (-2.4) Highest Max: 18.9 Rainfall: 117mm (127%)

Eskdalemuir

Mean Max: 14.5 (-2.7) Highest Max: 19.4 Rainfall: 226mm (173%)

Tynemouth

Mean Max: 14.6 (-3.0) Highest Max: 20.6 Rainfall: 159mm (227%)

Manchester

Mean Max: 16.9 (-2.5) Highest Max: 21.7 Rainfall: 201mm (240%)

Watnall

Mean Max: 16.9 (-3.4) Highest Max: 20.6 Rainfall: 152mm (214%)

Birmingham

Mean Max: 17.1 (-3.2) Highest Max: 20.0 Rainfall: 112mm (170%)

Kew

Mean Max: 18.2 (-3.3) Highest Max: 21.7 Rainfall: 93mm (163%)

Belfast

Mean Max: 16.1 (-2.1) Highest Max: 20.6 Rainfall: 161mm (171%)

August 1956 was a fairly thundery month over England and Wales

Number of days with thunder

Manchester: 6

Birmingham: 5

Watnall: 7

Ross-on-wye: 7

Kew: 7

But not so over Scotland

Dyce: 0

Glasgow: 0

Stornoway: 0

Not surprising the summer of 1956 made news for all the wrong reasons with film footage of deserted windswept beaches, people struggling to stay upright in the strong winds, children and adults having "hail ball" fights and workmen clearing the hail that struck Tunbridge Wells with shovels.

Across the whole of the UK, September 1956 was warmer than August 1956

DMir_1956_08_07_001_0001.jpg

DMir_1956_08_07_008_0001.jpg

DMir_1956_08_07_009_0001.jpg

Edited by Weather-history
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Posted
  • Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
  • Location: Bratislava, Slovakia

One of the wettest months ever recorded in NW England, with rainfall totals above 200mm widely even in the lower, drier parts of the region. 221.2mm at Bidston is a record for any month in a series dating from 1867 to 2002 (September 1976 was the only other month to surpass 200mm, rather ironic considering what the preceding summer was like). Blackpool recorded 239mm according to Trevor Harley.

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Posted
  • Location: Skirlaugh, East Yorkshire
  • Location: Skirlaugh, East Yorkshire

A similar thing actually happened here on 21st August 2000 when 4 inches of hail lay after a thunderstorm accompanied by a waterspout down the Humber.

http://www.independe...ber-710492.html

It was perhaps the biggest disappointment Ive ever experienced as I wasnt at home at the time, missed the entire thing and the hail had mostly melted by the time I got back. I was absolutely gutted.

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Posted
  • Location: Derbyshire Peak District. 290 mts a.s.l.
  • Weather Preferences: Anything extreme
  • Location: Derbyshire Peak District. 290 mts a.s.l.

Can you imagine if this August went this way?

August 1956 was very cool with a CET of 13.5 and it was also wet with an EWR of 158.6mm

I imagine such things all the time!

Some local rainfall totals for August 1956;

Buxton 271.0 mm

Bleaklow ( Kinder plateau) 338.8 mm

Tideswell 201.9 mm

Bakewell 158.7 mm.

At the southern end of the Peak District August 2004 was wetter than 1956, though nowhere near as cool, but further north 1956 was wetter. Buxton recorded 257.5 mm in 2004, 13.5 mm less than in 1956 whereas Wirksworth in the hills at the very southern tip of the Peak recorded 154.2 mm compared to 230.2 mm in August 2004.

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  • 8 years later...
Posted
  • Location: Cheshire
  • Location: Cheshire

London figures (Brazell):

Mean temp 58.8F (-4.2 below average), highest max 71.4F (8th), lowest max 57.4 (30th), lowest min 44.6 (29th), rainfall 3.68 ins, (164% of average), sunshine 165 hours (88% of average). 

So yes, very cool and wet, and difficult to imagine we shall get anything similar in the present climate.

 

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Posted
  • Location: Islington, C. London.
  • Weather Preferences: Cold winters and cool summers.
  • Location: Islington, C. London.

I do think we are still capable of such a summer month & would love to experience it for sheer interest purposes 

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Posted
  • Location: Basingstoke
  • Weather Preferences: In summer, a decent thunderstorm, and hot weather. In winter, snow or gale
  • Location: Basingstoke
5 minutes ago, LetItSnow! said:

I do think we are still capable of such a summer month & would love to experience it for sheer interest purposes 

In terms of temperature, I think we'd struggle to get as low as 1956 again.. but you never know i guess.  In terms of rainfall, absolutely, I think we could get monthly rainfall records broken, given the warming climate.

June 2012 proved this is still possible

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Posted
  • Location: halifax 125m
  • Weather Preferences: extremes the unusual and interesting facts
  • Location: halifax 125m

A quick look at my nearest Met office station at Bradford  lists Aug 1956 average at 12.65 beaten by a tiny margin by Aug 1986 at 12.60. 1956 was a good margin wetter but sunshine levels were almost identical 113hrs for 1956 and 117 hrs for 1986.I remember 1986 very well,there hasnt been a colder one since.

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Posted
  • Location: Derbyshire Peak District. 290 mts a.s.l.
  • Weather Preferences: Anything extreme
  • Location: Derbyshire Peak District. 290 mts a.s.l.

A look back at local records shows August 1956 as marginally colder than 1986 with Buxton recording a mean temp of 11.6c in 1956 and 11.7c in 1986.

Since I began keeping records in 1963 August 1986 has been in a league of its own with a mean of 11.8c  ( mean max, 14.8c, mean min' 8.9c ). The next coldest have been 1985 and 1993 with a mean of 12.8c.

  The highest maximum in August 1986 was only 18.3c, the lowest highest max' in any summer month although almost equalled by July 1988 with 18.5c. Buxton had a highest max' of 20.0c in August 1956 which would imply a maximum here about the same.

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Posted
  • Location: halifax 125m
  • Weather Preferences: extremes the unusual and interesting facts
  • Location: halifax 125m

Just to note that two years earlier was the worst month in the Manchester summer index,1954.

August that year was not any better at all,although it was aprox a degree warmer,it was wetter and the dullest August of the 20th Century except for 1912.

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  • 2 years later...
Posted
  • Location: Cheshire
  • Location: Cheshire

Philip Eden reported floodwater carrying ice down into the low-lying parts of Tunbridge Wells town centre to a depth of 1 to 1.5 metres. Definitely a case for not relocating the August bank holiday back to the first Monday in August!

Brazell reported London mean temperature of 4.2F below average for the month, with rainfall 164% of average. Unsurprisingly, sunshine totals were 88% of average, bringing to a close a trio of below-average summer months for sunshine.

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