1936

1936 saw some spectacular summer thunderstorms.

January. Wet, except in the north-west, and mostly mild, although there was a cold, wintry spell from 12th to 23rd.

February. Cold and wet.

March. Very dull and dry; mild during the second half.

April. Cold with northerly winds for the first three weeks, then milder after the 24th. Dry in SE England and SW Scotland.

May. Mostly warm sunny, and dry, with mainly easterly or southeasterly winds. It was 26C in places midmonth. There was a severe thunderstorm, with large hailstones, at Dunstable on the 6th.

June. There was a quiet start to the month. Cool and unsettled first half; it became much warmer in the second half. There were some very low minima on the 1st, with some very late frosts. There were some violent thunderstorms mid-month, starting off in the southeast on the night of the 17th. Widespread severe storms up to the 21st; continuous thunder and lightning at Bridgewater for 12 hours. Two thunderstorms a day at Farnborough from the 18-20th; the last one was accompanied by strong winds and gave 24mm of rain and hail in 48 minutes. Widespread hail damage to crops in the St. Albans area on the 21st; hailstones exceeded 2 cs in diameter. The temperature fell from 30C to 18C in 6 minutes, and there was 112 mm of rain. 102 mm of rain at Nuneaton. 30C in London on the 20th. There were more severe thunderstorms at the end of the month; flooding around Bristol, and 76mm of rain in one hour at Bodmin.

July. Cool and very wet: the wettest of the century over England and Wales (e.g. Cambridge had 350% of the normal amount, and rain fell on every day of the month near Bristol). It was the wettest on record in Northern Ireland until 2023. It was also very windy, with some gales in the south. A thundery month: there were ten thunder days at Wakefieldhern Ireland. A vigorous depression on the 3rd gave heavy rain across the south, causing local flooding and damage to crops. Some localised downpours on the 3r6th; 7 7mm at Fordham (Cambs.). On the 7th there were 78 mm at Northwood (Middsx), most of it in about half an hour. Severe thunderstorms on the evening and night of the 9-10th across the south, London, East Anglia, and Midlands. 60mm in Norwich, with very frequent lightning, and 72mm at Erpingham. 46 mm in 75 minutes at Sprowston. Heavy hail did much damage: 300 ducks were killed by hail near Thetford (Norfolk). Flooding. 57mm of rain in 80 minutes at Eastbourne. The month continued unsettled. On the 17th Auchnafree (near Perth) had 74 mm of rain, most of it in one hours. There was a notable gale in the south with gusts of over 60mph on the 18th. In contrast, Shetland had a very sunny month

August. Dry, and very dry on the south coast; less than 6 mm of rain fell at Torquay. Also a sunny month, particularly in the second half. The first half was quite cool, although it became warm from the 23rd. The UK's record daily temperature range (until May 1978) was set on the 29th at the famous frost hollow of Rickmansworth: from an overnight minimum of +1.1C to an afternoon maximum of 29.4 (a 28.3C range, or 51F as it was recorded then).

September. Mainly dull and wet.

October. Anticyclonic first half. Windy after the 14th. On the night of the 26th a tramcar was blown off its rails in Glasgow.

November. A dull month. There were notable smogs in Manchester and Birmingham. Between 19th and 28th there was almost continuous thick fog at Manchester, with visibility under 200m, and under 5m at times on the 28th. Everything became coated with a thick, wet, slime of soot. There was a prolonged fog in Birmingham from 21-26th. However, a sunshine recorder 24m above ground level recorded 3.8 hours of sunshine.

December. Very sunny, with average temperatures and rainfall. It was mild between the 17th and 21st with temperatures up to 15C.