1942

1942 was distinguished by September's record low. It was the third in a series of severe winters, which, in combination with the War, led to severe hardship; both January and February were very cold. There was snow cover for more than 50 days in northern Britain. Even at Canterbury there was snow cover for 43 days during the 41-42 winter.

January. The eighth coldest January of the century - note that there was this run of consecutive cold Januarys in the early war years. There was a great snowstorm across much of Britain on the 19th, causing widespread disruption. The monthe was very dull: Scarborough only had 8 hours sunshine all month.

February. Very cold (+0.1); the tenth coldest since 1659, and the eighth coldest of the twentieth century. Dull, particularly in East Anglia, where it barely averaged an hour of sunshine a day. There was no rain in Teignmouth after the 7th and it was notably dry in SW England and South Wales. There were 14 inches of snow in Harrogate and 10 inches in Bingley on the 3rd.

March. It was a month with some extraordinary variations in temperature. There was a maximum on the 6th of only -3C in Birmingham. On the 8th it was -18C at Braemar, but on the 19th it was13C at Croydon. On the 22nd, a maximum of 3C was widely reported, but on the 25th, 18C was reported at south Farnborough. There was some snow, heavy in places, in the north in the first week. It was a dull month, with only 26 hours of sunshine in the first three weeks at Ross-on-Wye.

April. A very sunny month. There was a relative humidity of only 10% at Kew on the 15th, the second lowest reading on record. Warm: the first in a run of above average Aprils th took us to 1949. The final week, from the 24th to the 30th was extremely sunny and there was no rain recorded in much of England between the 10th April and 9th May. The UK saw an average of 205 hours of sun, a record until 2015.

May. Fine, dry and sunny first nine days, but then generally wet and unsettled.

June. Very dry. It began very hot with 30C recorded on the 5th, but then turned cooler, with snow on the Scottish mountains on the 12th. Generally fine and sunny in the south. There were only 4mm of rain at Edgbaston all month. 90F was recorded at Camden on the 6th. There was no rain at Abergavenny.

July. Cool and unsettled.

August. 34C at Sprowston (Norfolk) on the 27th, and 32C on the 28th in parts of England. 90 mm of rain fell at Burnham-on-sea (Somerset) on the 29th.

September. Unsettled and very wet in Scotland. Quite warm in England, and drier than average in the Midlands and south. The record September low of -6.7C (read as 20F) was set at Dalwhinnie on the morning of the 26th.

October. Mild but dull.

November. Very dry.

December. The start of a run of foggy Christmases, with foggy Christmas Eve and Day and Boxing Day.