1913

There was a notable tornado in October 1913.

January. As a depression moved E into cold air in the south of England on the 11th, 30-40 cm of snow fell in the Midlands and north. A very wet month across most of the UK.

February. A dry month apart from western Scotland and the NW. Much if the east saw less than an inch of rain. Most of the rain there was fell in the first ten days, and it became anticyclonic from the 11th.

March. A wet, unsettled month. Easter was extremely early this year, on 23 March. Unfortunately is was stormy.  There wasa severe gale in Southern England on the 22nd, with part of Worthing Pier blown down. It was the worst storm for eight years at Kew.

April. An unsettled month; twice as much rainfall as usual in Wales and the Pennines. Only NE Scotland saw average rainfall.

May. Cold and unsettled. Over 50 mm of rain on the 8th and 9th in the NE of Britain near a slow-moving front with a depression to the SW; it gave 100mm in places. It was hot during the final week with S and SW winds, with some thunderstorms. On the 27th thunderstorms with damaging hail swept across the Midlands and East Anglia. 60mm hailstones in Castle Hedington (Essex) hurt people and killed rabbits.

June. Wet in NW Scotland but fine, dry, and warm elsewhere It was very dry in Southern England. 88F was recorded (about 31C) at Wantage (Oxon.) on the 17th.

July. On the 10th lightning during a severe thunderstorm in London killed a 3-year-old boy. There were 15 hours of heavy rain in the London area on St Swithin's Day (15th): after this, there was rain on only 9 of the 40 following days. In Scotland it was one of the driest Julys of the century. Across the country it was the driest month of the year.

August. Very dry overall, if cool and cloudy. There were thunderstorms in Yorkshire on the 30th, and the 31st was very wet.

September. Thundery midmonth. On the 16th, there were heavy thunderstorms around Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Then on the 17th about 150 mm of rain fell at Doncaster in a storm. It was fine and very warm at the end: 28C at Whitby on the 27th.

October. The month was very warm and thundery. There was a thundery start to the month. There were 79 mm of rain in Boston (Lincs.) on the 5th. It then turned unsettled. The month was however most notable for an extraordinary tornado associated with severe thunderstorm that moved from east Devon via Wales up to Lancashire on the 27th. Much damage was done. Roofs were lifted several miles. A hayrick weighing several tons was carried for a mile. Near Pontypridd half a ton of brick chimney was carried several hundred yards. The death toll was six (at Edwardsville, Glamorgan, Wales) with over a hundred injured. It was associated with a thunderstorm that was seven miles wide, although the tornado was only about a hundred yards wide, as measured by the swarth it cut through trees at Church Stretton. The death toll is Britain's highest for a tornado. Overall wetter than average in the SE, but dry in the north of England and most of Scotland.

November. Warm Warm (8.4C CET). The first half of the month was very thundery. It was sunnier than average too; dry in the east but wet elsewhere, and very wet in the NW, Wales, and especially NW Scotland. It was particularly dry in NE England. Whitby, Alnwick and Durham all recorded less than half an inch of rain all month. It was sunny in most places. 18C was recorded in Oundle on the 4th and 18.5 in Tavistock on the 12th and Ashburton on the 29th. The temperature didn't fall below 12.8C (55F) in Penzance on the night of the 9th-10th.

December. Generally mild and dry but dull. There were severe gales on the night of the 3rd, with a gust of 75 mph at Birmingham and 82 mph at Southport. Heavy snow fell in Yorkshire on the 5th. The end of the month was colder.