Royston (Iceni) Weather Station

Daily Weather Observations - June 2006

June in Royston was a month of extremes, very warm, very dry and very sunny!

Although it was the warmest June since 2003 only, the mean daily maximum temperature was, in fact, the highest in June since the memorable hot June in 1976.

However, the mean daily maximum temperature of 22.8°C (2.9°C above the 30 Year (1976/2005) average) in June this year was 1.6°C below the equivalent 1976 value. In 1976 the day maximum temperature reached or exceeded 30°C every day for a 16 day consecutive period from 23^rd June, but the hot spell this year at the end of June and beginning of July could not compete with this phenomenal sequence.

The highest temperature recorded in June was 29.8°C on 12^th, but at the other end of the scale the day maximum temperature on 26^th only reached 15.4°C. The lowest night minimum temperature of the month of 5.1°C occurred on 1^st, whilst the lowest grass minimum temperature of 2.4°C also occurred on this date.

The mean night minimum temperature in June was 12.1°C, which is 1.5°C above average. This value has been exceeded on only 2 occasions since 1972, the highest mean minimum temperature having been 12.4°C in 2003. June was the 3^rd warmer than average month in succession after the period of 5 colder than average months from November 2005 to March 2006.

The mean earth temperature at 30 cms depth as observed at 0900 GMT daily was 18.3°C. The earth temperature peaked at 20.2°C on 13^th and recorded its lowest value of 14.6°C on both 1^st and 2^nd.

The very dry June did not help the water supply situation at all and at the mid point of the year the total rainfall of 209.2 millimetres was 23% short of the 30 Year (1971/2000) average. The June contribution to this figure was 24.3 millimetres, which is 48% of the 1971/2000 June average for Royston.

The number of "rain days" (0.2 millimetres or more) was 8, whilst on 4 of these days the rainfall exceeded 1.0 millimetre. The wettest day of the month was 13^th with 18.6 millimetres rainfall (77% of the month’s total!). Thunder was heard on just 1 day (13^th) in June. Rainfall duration in the month was 15.4 hours. It was the driest June since 2001.

The exceptionally high sunshine in June meant that it was not only the sunniest June since at least 1997, but also the sunniest month of any name over this period. Total sunshine in the month was 258.5 hours which is 144% of the 1971/2000 average. The sunniest day of the month was 9^th with 16.0 hours bright sunshine.

No day in June was completely sunless, although 26^th came very close with only 1 minute sunshine!

June was a relatively calm month and the maximum wind gust speed recorded in the month was 35 mph (on 21^st). The highest daily (00/00 GMT) mean wind speed in June was 7.5 mph on 21^st, whilst the lowest daily mean wind speed was 0.1 mph on both 2^nd and 27^th.

The analysis of wind directions as observed daily at 0900 GMT was NORTH 2 days, NE 6, E 0, SE 7, S 2, SW 4, W 6, NW 3 and CALM 0.

The mean air pressure in June reduced to mean sea-level was 1018.8 mB, which is approximately 2 mB above average. The highest and lowest pressure values in June were 1030 mB and 1006 mB on 2^nd and 21^st respectively.

The mean relative humidity in the month was 70.5%, the daily (00/00 GMT) mean ranging from a high of 89.4% on 1^st to a low of 60.4% on 9^th. The absolute lowest relative humidity reading in June was 27% at 1725 GMT on 24^th.

Fog (visibility < 1000 metres @ 0900 GMT) was not observed on any day in June.

Richard Barker

Richard Barker

Met. Observer, Royston (Iceni) Weather Station

6^th July 2006

Boadicea – Queen of the Iceni

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