1933

1933 saw the first of three successive hot, sunny summers, and indeed was one of the best summers on record. Overall a dry year.

January. Mild during first 10 days with rain and gales. Cold any dry, anticyclonic from the 20-29th. Generally sunny, with less than an inch of rain at Holyhead and Ross-on-Wye.

February. A severe snowfall over Yorkshire and the north of England on the 23-26th; up to 76 cms of level snow (30 inches) recorded in Huddersfield by the evening of the 26th, as some places in the Midlands, Wales, and north had 48 hours of snowfall, accompanied by an easterly gale. Some drifts of 430 cms (14 feet) were recorded on the North Yorkshire Moors and the Yorkshire Dales. Even the south of England had up to 30 cm of snow. Snowfall began in Ireland and Wales, spreading north and east, reaching southern Scotland on the 26th. This was one of the most severe blizzards of the century.

March. Very sunny. There was no cloud cover at all over the country from the 23rd to the 29th. During the last two weeks many places saw 130-140 hours of sunshine.

April The first half was fair and warm. There was a cold, unsettled spell from the 17th to the 22nd. It was a dry month across the south with less than an inch of rain in total in many areas.

May. Warm but cloudy.

June. A warm month overall. The hottest and sunniest Whitsun Bank Holiday (before the date was fixed as the last Monday in May in 1967). The temperature was over 27 C over much of central and east England on the 3rd; on Sunday 4th it was 29.4C over much of the country (in London, Rhyl, Lancaster, Edinburgh, Elgin); and less widespread but hotter still on the 5th, reaching 31.7C in Camden Square. For much of the country it was cloudless from the 1-8th. Then, for most of the second half of the month low pressure gave cool, showery weather with thunder. Some notable thunderstorms on the 19th: lightning deaths around London, and hail four inches deep in Kent.

July. Very warm, sunny and dry. It turned very hot at the end of the month, with 34C recorded on the 27th.

August. Hot, dry, and sunny. Perhaps these two consecutive warm Augusts are part of the basis of the myth of "the long hot summers of the past". 34C (recorded as 93F) was reached in parts on the 6th, and 32C on the 28th. Forest fires were common as a result of the hot dry weather.

September. Very sunny first ten days. 130mm of rain in 4 hours in a thunderstorm at Fleet (Hants.); under 4 miles away only 7mm fell.

October. Mild and dull until the 25th. Very thundery. Flooding in Sussex on the 11th.

November. Rather unsettled, with frequent showers and drizzle. There was a maximum of 19C at Arbroath on the 6th. There was persistent fog in the north on the 26th; there was a maximum of -3C at Renfrew. At the same time, with NE winds, there were wintry showers in the SE.

December. Very cold and frosty south of the Humber, but mild in the north. A dry month, often bright, with some frost, fog, and freezing fog. The maximum in freezing fog was only -5C at Manchester on the 6th. It was severe midmonth, with many rivers freezing around the 10th, and with wintry showers in the east. The maximum in freezing fog was only -5C at Manchester on the 6th.