June saw the continuation of the weather being somewhat polarised and indeed there was nothing at all average about June. Low pressure dominated throughout and hence it was very wet, at 148.6 mm the wettest month of the year so far and it was cold, without the slightest hint of any warmth and it couldn't even manage two good days to rub together!
Both nationally and locally the coldest June since 1991 and at some sites also the wettest June on record, although here at Maulds Meaburn June of 2007 (152.0 mm) was slightly wetter.
Making comparisons with the Met' office site at Newton Rigg (Penrith) from 1961, using the averages for the standard period 1971-2000 (mean temperature of 12.8°c and 56 mm of rain), 46 Junes have been warmer, only 4 have been colder, with 1 having the same mean temperature. 1972 at 10.6°c was the coldest with 1992 at 15.0°c being the warmest (not 1976). In the same period no Junes have been wetter - Newton Rigg having 144.6 mm of rain in 2007.
It was also very dull and with an average of 92% cloud cover at the morning observations, the dullest on my records and this helps explain the fact that whilst June was cold, the night-time minimum temperatures just about came up to average due to that excessive cloud cover trapping any heat in. However, that cloud cover allowed little sun during day-time to warm things up and hence the mean maximum temperature was greatly suppressed at just 15.55°c (average would be 17.2°c).
The month started under the influence of a weak ridge of High pressure (HP) until the 5th, which extended down from Iceland and gave settled but cool and cloudy conditions. Day-time temperatures were on the low side with an easterly wind dominant and the 3rd was especially poor at just 10.1°c (50.2°f) and easily the month's coldest day.
The 4th was the best day of the Jubilee weekend, but started with the month's lowest temperature of 0.7°c (33.3°f) and a ground frost of -1.4°c. But a decent sunny day followed although a northerly wind maintained the cool theme and the Maulds Meaburn fete enjoyed excellent weather. The 5th saw another slight ground frost and after a cloudy and dull day the first rain of the month arrived in the evening.
The rain overnight into the 6th amounted to 4.4 mm. This was brought on an occluded front from a large area of Low pressure (LP) (999 Mb) to our south west and that slowly trundled north east with the rain continuing through the day.
One of the themes of the month was low pressure systems that were 'uncharacteristically deep for the time of year' and the first of these arrived on the 7th. This LP (983.7 Mb) was deepening as it made slow progress over the UK and which gave 13.5 mm on the 7th with a further 9.6 mm on the 10th and marked a couple of poor days.
LP sat to our south for the 10-11th and whilst the south of the country was getting truly soaked we had two quiet, but cloudy days. Then 12-14th saw us sit in a slack pressure gradient and the days offered some brightness, although still cloudy and temperatures were barely respectable at 15-16°c.
Another of those unseasonal depressions (997.2 Mb) came our way for the 15-16th bringing 20.3 mm of rain over the two days, with the 16th the worst of the two days.
We then entered a slightly more subdued few days as first a weak ridge of HP built from Biscay for the 18th, although a trough line brought some rain in the late evening. The 19th became a decent day after a cloudy start and that weak ridge of HP returned to give a cold start to the 20th with a ground frost of -0.2°c (my latest recorded spring/summer ground frost). The 20th peaked at 19.4°c and was a reasonable day - but now to the month's end it all became very unsettled and very wet.
LP had building to our south west and rain was the theme for the 21st-24th; terrible weather for the mid-summer days. On the 21st multiple areas of LP moved up from the south west and occluded fronts followed trough lines, with the process repeated on the 22nd. On the 23rd, whilst the LP was now east of Scotland and weakening it still brought more rain. Totals of 22.2 mm (21st) and 21.3 mm (22nd, which was distinctly chilly at just 12.6°c - that's some 5°c down on average June maximum temperatures) even at that stage made June the wettest month of the year to date.
The main thrust of rain though for the 22nd-23rd was further west with Blencathra recording 93.8 mm and Keswick 88.6 mm.
The 25-26th did see another ridge of HP calm things down but the days were cloudy and then the 27-29th saw warm fronts lying over the north of the UK that drew up warm, humid and moist air from Spain/North Africa.
The 27th was to be the only day of the month to attain 20°c, and at 20.0°c (68°F) dead, it only just made it! But it was overcast, gloomy and very humid day and not at all pleasant or comfortable and was a sign of things to come.
The 28th started with a slight deposit of Saharan sand that had fallen in light rain overnight and which also had a (high) minimum temperature of 13.6°c (56.5°F). With weather fronts in the Atlantic progressing east and which would then 'collide' with the warm and humid air sat over us, all the classic ingredients were in place for a thunder storm.
The storm, accompanied with thunder and lightning, arrived locally at 1335 hrs and by 1455 Hrs had deposited 29.6 mm of rain and at its greatest intensity the rain rate was 169.4 mm/per hour, just breaking the record for this site. However, this is not the greatest fall in a short time at this site as 30 mm fell in just one hour on the 11th June 2007 and even the final total of 30.2 mm of rain on the 28th is far from being in the top ten of wettest days recorded in the six years of rainfall records at this site. But its impact was immediate with some local roads flooded and damage caused.
The 29-30th remained unsettled with LP still dominant, although north west of Scotland it had trailing occluded fronts that brought more rain and whilst the 29th was still humid a wind built and the 30th saw a return to fresher conditions but with a succession of showers blowing through.
Rainfall totalled 148.6 mm for the month, with rain recorded on 20 days of which 17 were 'Wet days' (1.0mm +).
The Mean Temperature for the month was 11.81°c+ -- The Mean Max' was 15.55°c -- The Mean Min' 8.06°c.
We had 0 Air Frosts in the month (year 39) -- Grass frosts totalled 3 (year 87).
The 1 foot soil temp ranged from a low of 13.6°c on the 4th and 6th to a high of 15.4°c on the 2nd and 28-29th -- with a monthly mean of 14.3°c
The 1 meter soil temp ranged from a low of 11.7°c on the 8th to a high of 12.8°c on the 30th -- with a monthly mean of 12.0°c
COMPARISONS:-
* June 2012 rainfall was 198% of the June average for 2007 - 2011
* June 2012 was 0.48°c colder than June 2011 -- 1.98°c colder June May 2010 -- 1.62°c colder than 2009
* April/May/June 2011 was TEMP' 11.01°c -- RAIN 222.1 mm
* April/May/June 2010 was TEMP' 10.33°c -- RAIN 65.8 mm
* April/May/June 2009 was TEMP' 10.85°c -- RAIN 151.2 mm
* April/May/June 2008 was TEMP' -- RAIN 170.4 mm
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* 2012 To date TEMP' 7.20°c -- RAIN 491.0 mm
* 2011 Jan - June TEMP' 7.68°c -- RAIN 599.3 mm
* 2010 Jan - June TEMP' 6.28°c -- RAIN 206.4 mm
* 2009 Jan - June TEMP' 7.61°c -- RAIN 450.5 mm
* 2008 Jan - June TEMP' -- RAIN 621.1 mm
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+ Met office figures for June -- NW England/N. Wales had a mean temp' of 12.4°c, this being -0.2°c colder than the reference period 1971-2000 (-0.3°c colder than reference period 1961-90)