1900

1900 had a dry spring and a warm and sunny summer with some notable thunderstorms.

January. The century (for those of us who like to define it as when the numbers change) started off with a very wet, mild, changeable month.

February. Some heavy rainfall in the south.

March. Very dry.

April. Dry and fairly warm. After am unsettled start, it became quite sunny and warm.

May. Fine first half, cool second half.

June. Some severe thunderstorms with notable hail this month. It reacbed 31C in London on the 11th, but there were some severe thunderstorms across the Midlands in the 11-12th, with damaging hail. Many people were hurt by large hailstones at Gorebridge (Lothian) on the 12th.

July. Warm and sunny - the 11th= hottest of the 1900s. The temperature exceeded 32C (90F) daily from the 16-19th. There were some notable thunderstorms, however, particularly in the north on the 12th. This led to the "Ilkley floods" in Yorkshire: 110mm of rain in 24 hours on the 12th led to severe flooding; 94mm of the rain fell in 75 minutes. Many homes and bridges were destroyed, and the flood left a thick layer of mud. It was 35.1C in Cambridge on the 20th, the highest temperature of the year (and indeed from at least 1875 to 1906). The fine weather broke down with a series of thunderstorms between the 26th and 28th.

August.

September. Mostly dry and warm in the south, but more changeable in the north. On the 16th, it was 28C in London.

October. Some very well spells. The 28-29th was a wet weekend in the NE with flooding in the Newcastle area after about 75 mm of rain.

November.

December. The first winter of the century (no pedants, please; see above) starts off with a warm one: 7.2.