1924

A wet day in August 1924 enlivens this otherwise unremarkable year. Overall it was dull and wet. The shipping forecast was first transmitted on BBC Radio on 1 January 1924.

January. Warm and unsettled. Mainly rather wet.

February. A cool and dry month; it was dull up to the final week. Only 0.29 inches of rain recorded in Totnes between 25th January and 29th February, and 0.27 inches at Ross on Wye. There were gales on the 29th, when a 73 mph gust was recorded at Fleetwood.

March. Cold first few days, then dry and sunny but cool.

April. Cloudy and cool, but with a warm and sunny Easter. Lucky Farnborough reached 24C on the 21st, whereas on the 5th it had only reached 3C.

May. Changeable, and very thundery in the final two weeks. 123 mm of rain fell in 24 hours at Ludlow on the 31st.

June. Dull everywhere and quite dry apart from the west. The third week however was fine.

July. There were 13.5 hours of sunshine on St Swithin's Day (15th): it then rained on 30 of the next 40 days. There were some violent storms: 103 mm of rain fell at Wisley on the 22nd; the same day 28 mm of rani fell in 20 minutes at South Kensington, with large hail and ball lightning.

August. Dull, cool and wet. There was 238.8 mm of rain (and hail) at Cannington and Brymore (Somerset) on the 18th, with 215 mm of it in just 5 hours overnight. This is the record daily rainfall for August.

September. A very wet, very windy, but quite warm month. At Southport in the early hours of the 21st a storm with an average windspeed of 65 mph was recorded for two hours, and a gust of 87 mph was recorded at Fleetwood.

October. Warm and unsettled. It was wet in the East Midlands and in the south. 83 mm of rain in 24 hours at Falmouth on the 7th, with widespread gales. There was a warm spell 13th and 14th, and 23C was recorded in Colwyn Bay and Weston-super-mare on the 13th.

November 1924 Warm and dry in the north but dull everywhere. There was a gale on the night of the 26-27 th, with 57 mph recorded at Kew and 68 mph at Shoeburyness.

December. Overall mild and wet with fog and mist. It was a particularly mild month in Scotland, and wetter than average everywhere apart from NE England. On the 11th the country was divided into two: in the area from the east of Dorset to the Wash it was calm, cold, and foggy; to the west and north there was a stiff, mild SW wind. The maximum that day was 1C in London and Yarmouth, but but 10C in Scarborough and Llandudno - a striking front.