1906

1906 saw a wet spring in the N and W, but very dry in the E and S. Excellent late summer, with a record-breaking September heatwave, all rounded off by wonderful Christmas blizzards, make this an excellent year.

January. Very wet - the wettest for nearly 30 years in the south.

February. A heavy snowfall on the 7th caused transport havoc; it led to a railway collision at Arbroath, killing 22. Aberdeen was cut off for 3 days. A violent thunderstorm with hail and strong winds caused much damage in the Midlands and SE.

March. Warm westerlies at first. 19.4C at Norwich, and 19C at Lowestoft, recorded on the 7th: an exceptionally early date for such high readings.

April. Mostly fine and warm first half. It reached 22C in parts of the south on the 13th.

May. Cold and wet. Very wet in central Scotland. There were 65 mm of rain at North Shields on the 19th.

June. Mostly fine. There was 60 mm of rain in 10 hours at Kew on the 28-29th.

July. Hot and fine.

August. A tornado accompanying a thunderstorm killed two people in Guildford on the 2nd. The storms in the south that day were particularly intense. The Great Storm at Little Staughton (North Beds.) gave some hailstones reportedly 5" across, and hailed piled a foot high. The storm approached from the SW and started around 9 pm. An extraordinary late heatwave got going on the 29th with 27C in the Thames Valley. Then it was 31.7C in Maidenhead on the 30th, while Nottingham reached 34.9C on the 31st.

September. Fine, warm, and sunny, with a westerly interlude midmonth. There was an extraordinary heatwave from 31 August to 3 September with 32C+ recorded over most of England for these four days. On the 1st, 35.0C was recorded at New Malden, Colly Weston (on the Northants. and Leics. border), and Maidenhead. The hottest day was the 2nd, with 35.6 C (read as 96F) at Hesley Hall, Bawtry, near Doncaster: this is the September record maximum, and also the latest date on which 35C (95F) has been exceeded. Oddly enough, Bawtry had been the site of the previous year's highest maximum for the country, too. 35C was widely reached. Hawarden (Wales) saw 32.3 C. Incredibly Gordon Castle, near Elgin, north Scotland, also reached 32.2C (90F) that day. It was 29.6C in Edinburgh. These are the two hottest September days of the century. Things cooled down on the 3rd, with the high temperature confined to the southeast: 34.2 was recorded near Bury St Edmunds. The hot weather led to a marked increase in infant mortality due to gastic infections and a high mortality rate among young children. The rest of the month was dry, anticyclonic, and misty.

October. Mild and wet. There was however some snow in Northern Ireland on the 29th.

November. Mild. The temperature reached 19C at Strathpeffer in Easter Ross late in the month. (A more dubious 20C was recorded at Lairg.)

December. An easterly wind set in on the 21st, but turned northerly on Christmas Eve. Low pressure brought heavy snow and widespread disruption to travel, with many places cut off. Powdery snow fell in the Highlands on the 25th. Severe blizzards swept across northern Scotland from the 26th-28th; a foot of snow fell on Wednesday 26th alone, with widespread drifting. A tornado was reported on the Moray Firth. There was a White Christmas across the country except for parts of the southwest coast. Eventually there was a foot of snow in Norfolk and two feet in Aberdeenshire; Aberdeen was cut off several days. At Swarraton (Hants.) a minimum of -16C was recorded. On Boxing Day morning virtually all of Britain was snow covered. The Eliot Junction rail disaster betweenn Carnousite and Arboriath (then Forfarshire, now Angus) occurred on the 28th in the blizzard as two trains collided; 22 people lost their lives.