1935

1935 had a lively, thundery summer, and there was a spectacular cold snap in May. Around the world: the lowest temperature recorded in Africa happened on 11 February 1935, when Ilfrane (Morocco, in the Atlas mountains, elevation 1665 m) recorded a minimum of -23.9ºC.

January. Changeable but mainly dry. It was mostly mild but with some frosty, foggy cold snaps. Snow around the 27th.

February. Very mild and wet overall. There was snow between the 20th and 24th in the North.

March. After an unsettled start, it was mainly mild and dry 18-28th. However, there were some cold easterly winds around the 10th, giving some snow - up to 10 cms in parts of the SW.

April. Very wet.

May. There was some notable wintry weather on the 17th (the Silver Jubilee of King George CV) - there were some severe frosts (-8.3C at Rickmansworth) followed by snow, obviously causing much damage to crops, especially in Bucks. and Herts. After a warm start to the month, a cold front moved south on the 16th. Snow fell over the Scotland and the north and west of England; 15 cm on high ground, 10 cm on the Wirral Peninsula, 12 cm in Harrogate and Tiverton, with 60 cm drifts in the Yorkshire Dales. Snow even fell at St Mary's in the Scilly Isles. The winds then changed from northerlies to a less cold easterly. A sunny month in SW Scotland. On the whole it was dry and sunny in parts of the east.

June.A thundery month. The first three weeks were dull, cool, and wet. 75mm of rain fell on Dartmoor on the 6th. Most notable storms were at the end of the month when the weather turned hot. Severe thunderstorms on the 23rd and 25th. There were two main areas of severe storms on the 23rd. 140mm of rain fell around Caernafon in the middle of the night, causing severe flooding. A second storm affected the Aberfeldy area, with 100mm of rain plus causing flooding. Between Aberfeldy and Crieff the River Almond rose abou 12' above average at Conichan Bridge. On the 25th a low of SW England moved north. At Swainswick (near Bath) 153 mm of rain fell in four hours. This led to landslips in the valley, flooding, and bridges being swept away. The Avon rose 150 cms in Bath causing severe flooding.

July. A very dry and sunny month.

August. Fine and warm until all change on the 22nd. On 23 August, 5.1 mm (or as measured, 0.2") of rain fell in one minute at Croyden airport, one of the heaviest rainfall rates recorded in this country. Rickmansworth again had an early slight frost on the night of the 27-28th, recording 31F (-0.6C).

September.Wet at first but settled second week. There were a couple of notable events this month. Severe gales and heavy rain on the 16-17th. Disturbed weather for a while, and then a weak low brought warm, moist air up from France, giving rise to some volent thunderstorms, minor flooding, and particularly large hail ("as big as a fist"; 10cm, at Great Billing) across the Midlands (particularly Northamptonshire, hence the "Great Northamptonshire Hailstorm") on the 22nd. The 210 mile "hailswathe" is the longest recorded in Britain, with most damage between Banbury 40 miles NE to Irthlingborough. Much glass was destroyed. Some hailstones had still not melted at 7 am the next morning.

October. Very wet in Scotland. On the 19th an intense depression passed east north of Scotland. A severe gale killed 11 people; 92 mph was recorded. There was heavy rain too, and the winds turned northerly briefly afterwards to produce a cold snap. The pressure near the centre of the low was 950 mbars.

November. Unsettled and wet.

December. Dense fog over parts of Scotland, particularly around 20-21st. There was a maximum of only -9C at Paisley.