The end of the July 2021 heatwave – Phew!

It’s July 24th 2021 and today is the first day i’ve felt remotely comfortable in my own house for weeks. The heat has been slowly building this month, with incredibly stuffy nights keeping me awake and making me feel progressively tired. Normally our living room is a cool haven, facing North and receiving no direct sunshine, but even this hasn’t …

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Tornado (Funnel Cloud) over Darlington 10th July 2021

Funnel Cloud over Darlington 10th July 2021

There was a lot of hot but turbulent weather early in July 2021 which spawned some thunderstorms and funnel clouds in places. Funnel clouds and tornadoes are rare in the North of England. This shot was taken over Darlington on 10th July. Technically this was not a tornado, as it didn’t touch down on the ground, but it was spectacular …

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August 2020 Weather in Durham : Good start, poor end

Synoptic weather chart for 25th august 2020 showing intense depression

Durham Weather : August 2020 The weather in Durham in August 2020 was disappointing overall after starting out really well. It was typical of the summer really. There were no long settled spells as such at Durham, although some very warm weather was experienced in the south of the country, culminating with 36.4C recorded at Heathrow and Kew Gardens. The …

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An August Deluge – Nearly 1/2” of rain in 10 minutes in Durham!

View of durham cathedral and castle in heavy rain

23rd August 2020. Very heavy rain in Durham This is the scene from the Bandstand by the River Wear in Durham on Sunday 23rd August 2020. The heavy deluge dropped 9 mm of rain in 10 minutes on Durham and its surroundings. That’s a rate of 54 mm per hour, which is a proper downpour by any standards. In the …

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July 2020 Weather in Durham – Disappointingly dull with no real summer weather

Durham Cathedral and the Fulling Mill 31st July 2020

July 2020 – Disappointingly dull with no real summer weather July 2020 can best be described as ‘disappointing’. The hottest part of the year never really got going in Durham. It took until the 12th July for the 20 degC mark to be breached for the first time. When it did, it stayed in the lower 20’s. The only day …

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What is a heatwave and How is it defined?

How is a heatwave defined

You’ll see much talk in the papers over the coming summer months of ‘heatwaves’. The daily rags describe any thing remotely warm as a ‘heatwave’, but is there a strict definition of a heatwave? This Met Office video sheds some light on it. A heatwave is an extended period of hot weather relative to the expected conditions of the area …

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August 2019 Weather in Durham – The Wet Summer Continues

Durham Weather August 2019 Rainfall Summary

After June and July gave us above average rainfall, August continued with the theme. There were brief spells of real warmth, but no real sustained anticyclonic spells. Thunderstorms were quite frequent in the disturbed weather patterns which came mainly from the Atlantic. We were on the North side of the Jet Stream for long periods. The opening week was reasonable, …

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July 2019 Weather in Durham – A real mixture of everything meteorological

Sunshine graphic

The weather of Durham in July 2019 was a real mixture. The first week was very pleasant and dry, with temperatures hovering around the 20-22 degC mark. It got a little warmer toward the middle of the month, as we’d expect, but also slightly more unsettled. A few days peaked at over 25 degC, namely 10th, 11th and 16th. Nothing …

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‘The Great Darkness’ of July 2nd 1968

The article was produced following a bizarre weather event in July 1968. The month was a very active one for thunderstorms and featured one of the greatest falls of Saharan dust in the UK in recent times. From Trevor Harley’s Weather website: July 1968 Generally dull, cool, and wet, especially in the south, but with two exceptional thundery outbreaks. The …

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