1931

A June tornado and summer thunderstorms provided some of 1931's entertainment. One of the two worst extended summers on record (see also 1954), being particularly dull and wet.

January. Cold and dry for the first three weeks, with some thick fog at the start, and then mild, unsettled and wet.

February. Heavy snow fell in northern England and the Midlands on the 6th and 7th. Nearly 5 inches of snow was recorded at Harrogate on the morning of the 7th.

March. A very dry and sunny month, with some notable variations in temperature. -17C was recorded at Braemar on the 3rd. Snow in the SE on the 9th; two and a half inches of snow fell in an hour and a half in London. Some roads remained impassable until the 13th.

April. Unsettled and dull.

May. A wet month. A spell of warm weather came to a violent end on the 27th, with severe thunderstorms. There was flooding in Cardiff when 106 mm of rain fell. At Watchett (Somerset) there were huge hailstones to watch cause damage.

June. Unsettled, cloudy and wet for the first three weeks, except for Essex and Kent. There were storms and a damaging tornado in Birmingham on the 14th; 60m of rain in 38 minutes at Cannock. The event began around 2 pm, hitting Sparkbrook and Erdington, with a 750m track damaging houses. One person was killed. Storms were widespread that day; 11 mm of rain was reported in Hereford in 6 minutes, and 60 mm was reported at Stafford in 38 minutes. Fine final week.

July. Dull and wet with average temperatures, helped by some mild nights.

August. A very wet, cold unsettled and thundery month, with some notable heavy downpours. There were thunderstorms over much of England 3-6th. SE Oxford had 50 mm of rain on the 4th; Steeple Langford (Salisbury) had 114mm in 135 minutes; and Petersfield 73 mm in one hour. There were storms over London on the 5th: 85 mm at Chingford, 53mmin 50 minutes at Tottenham, and 26 mm in 22 minutes at Wimbledon in the morning. 48 mm in 75 minutes at Puddletown. More rock 'n' roll on the 8th: 145 mm at Boston, 100 mm of it 150 minutes. There was obviously some local flooding. Boston (Lincs.) had 155 mm (a quarter of its normal yearly rainfall) on the morning of the 8th, 100 mm in two hours. There were more storms on the 14th in London. 40 hours of rain from August 23rd on Jersey. The month was sunny and dry in Western and Northern Scotland, however.

September. Cold and dull. Storms over the first four days led to severe flooding over the midlands and north of England. At Lutterworth 30mm of rain reported in 5 minutes on the 3rd; and another 20mm in 14 minutes the next day. 127mm fell at Castleton (North Yorks.) on the 4th. Flooding of the River Derwent. The month was dry but dull after the 5th.

October. Sunny, dry, and anticylconic but with frost at night: there were some very low minima in the south.

November. A mild, wet, dull month. There was severe flooding in Carmethen on the 4th.

December. A very dry month. The equal record highest maximum for Christmas Eve was set this month, with 15.6C at Aberdeen and Banff in Scotland.