1922

1922 saw a notable hot spell in May and the coldest July of the century. The extended summer promised much at the beginning, but was ultimately very disappointing. The summer was the second coldest of the century (average 13.7C). July and August were the coldest since 1695. The first Wimbledon tennis tournament at the new Church Road venue suffered greatly. 1922 was a cool year overall, with the driest autumn on record.

January. There was a warm January day in London (approximately 16.0C on the 9th at Kensington). It was a very wet month.

February. Mainly mild with S and SW winds. 17C was recorded in Lincoln and Colwyn Bay on the 25th.

March. A severe gale battered the south coast on the 8th. The first three weeks of the month were mild but it turned colder in the final week, with hail, sleet and snow. A dry month but wet in the SW and South Wales.

April. Cold, dull, and unsettled, with snow. The only warm day was Good Friday, the 14th.

May. A cool, showery start. There was then a fine spell from the 6th to the 8th, with 80F (27C) recorded in London on the 8th. It turned colder from the 10th. There was frost on the 13th in an unusually cold week midmonth; -4C was recorded at Benson (Oxford). There were 150mm of rain in Argyll 14-15th. The month ended with an exceptional hot spell in late May: 32.8C in London (Camden) on the 22nd, but the period 21-24th was generally very hot (Camden reaching 30.6, 32.8, 31.7, and 32.2 on these days). In fact this is the earliest date in the year on which that year's highest temperature was attained in this century, the earliest date which 90F has been reached, and the 22nd was the equal hottest May day of the century (with 1944). It is also one of those three occasions when the hottest day of the year was in May. The great heat was confined to East Anglia and the southeast of England. The heat led to violent thunderstorms on the 24-25th: large hailstones at Wensleydale; much glass broken at Tonbridge. At Tunbridge Wells the hailstones averaged the size of "pigeon eggs" and dented cars, smashed windows, and brought down tree branches. It was a very dry month in some places: only 11mm at Ross-on-Wye.

June. The early heatwave ended on the 1st. Generally a dry, sunny month, but with cooler, unsettled spells 14-15th, and from the 24th on. The temperature at Kew was 76F on the 12th but only 53F on the 14th. Only half an inch of rain fell at Shrewsbury all month.

July. The coldest of the twentieth century (13.7C CET). Also very wet in places, particularly the south; there was a total of 185 mm of rain in Norwich. It was windy at the start of the month. There was a wet start to the month, with 62 mm of rain falling at Newbury being the heaviest fall in heavy rain that affected the south. 69 mm of rain fell at Norwich on the 15th alone. 74 mm of rain fell at Coventry on the 22nd. A dull month too; yuk.

August. Changeable, dull, and cool. It was very wet over the Bank Holiday weekend of the 6-7th: 125 mm of rain at Worksop over 28 hours. Later 93mm at Blaenau Ffestiniog on the 16th; later 95 mm at St. Annes-on-sea (Lancs.). There was a moderately warm and settled spell from the 17-21, with 25C (77F) recorded on the 21st at Jersey, and 76F on the mainland on the 20th and 21st. It then turned colder and more unsettled again. Drier than average in the east, with Walton-on-the-Naze seeing under an inch of rain.

September. Dull and cool but dry in Scotland and the SE. There were some severe thunderstorms at the start of the month: 75 mm fell at Blackpool early on the morning of the 1st. From the 3rd to the 11th it was quiet, dry, warm but most cloudy with fog at night. It then turned cold and showery with NW winds until the 16th. There were then three fine days before it turned cold and showery again. A large and deep low hit the NW and N on the 19th. London had half an inch of rain and Aberystwyth had an inch and a half of rain. There was flooding in Wales. A humid SW wind on the 21st with sunshine gave temperatures of 21.7C (71F) in London, Yarmouth, and Cromer. It was cooler further north, and the rest of the month was cool and unsettled. Newcastle, Hexham, and the Yorkshire Dales recorded twice the average rainfall, although the SE was drier than usual.

October.  A very dry month. In parts of what are now the West Midlands it was the driest recorded. It was very dry in the NW, and no rain fell on the Isle of Wight from the 5th to the 26th. Only 3.8 mm of rain fell in Wirral all month, and only 7 mm in Liverpool. After a mild first week it became cold. It was continuously sunny from the 11-16th. There was even snow in London and the SW on the 29th. It was a very sunny month in the NE, and in southern and eastern Scotland.

November. On the whole, a quiet month with much fog. Unsettled for the first ten days but with no heavy rain. Dry afterwards, many places recording no rain between the 11th and 25th. The BBC made its first radio broadcast, with the first ever weather forecast (read both fast and slow) on 14 November: there was continuing fog and smog, and it was cold.  There was dense fog in London on the 20th and on the 21st. Only 7.5 mm of rain fell at Kelso in the Borders all month.

December. A mild month, and sunny in the east. There was severe flooding in South Wales, with 200mm early in the month. Generally it was dry, settled, and anticyclonic in England until the 18th, after which it was unsettled and stormy, with thunderstorms in the final week.