1980

There was a very poor summer in 1980: wet and stormy.

January. On the cool side.

February. Quite mild, but not remarkably so. The month had a cold frost start, with some snow, particularly in the north and midlands on 1, 2 and 3rd. It then became particularly mild from the 8th to the 23rd, with southerly or southwesterly winds, although it was dull. London saw 15C on the 15th.

March. A cold, dull, wet month, which was sometimes stormy. There was some snow midmonth, accompanied by strong, biting easterlies on the 19th. 20 cm of snow closed Aberdeen airport on the 17th.

April. Only 0.9mm rain in Manchester - the driest on record in North Wales and parts of the NW of England. Overall pretty average temperatures.

May. An average month in many respects covering some interesting extremes. It had a dull beginning and end, yet the period 9-19th was virtually cloudless across much of the country. Humidity of only 8% at Glasgow on the 17th. Prestwick had its sunniest May on record. the overall CET temperature however worked out to be almost exactly average.

June. The wettest of the twentieth century in Scotland. There was a major outbreak of thunderstorms in the north and west on the 5th. Deaths by lightning; tornado at Nairn wrecked a caravan site. 67mm of rain in two hours caused flooding at Darwen (Lancs.). More storms on the 14th: 24 mm of rain in 10 minutes at Sudbury. Widespread storms every afternoon from the 22nd-26th. On the 25th hail lay to a depth of 25cm in Sevenoaks; the temperature fell to 7C; rainfall was 116 mm in 105 minutes.

July. The 1st was one of the coldest July days ever, with maxima of around 10C along the east coast, and only 12C along the south coast. Overall a cold month (14.7C); it was dull and wet in the first three weeks, with a thundery, warmer last week. 77mm of rain fell in the Eastbourne area in east Sussex on the 7th causing flooding. 98mm of rain fell at Brixworth (Northants.) on the 26th.

August. Close to average temperatures, mainly unsettled, and rather dull. 97 mm of rain fell in 45 minutes at Orra Beg, Antrim, on the 1st - one of the highest hourly rainfall rates on record. The downpour was very local.

September. Warm overall; at 14.7C CET, the warmest since 1961, and we would have to wait until 1998 for one warmer. There was a great deal of sunny, dry weather in the SE, although it was wet in the NW. There was a severe gale in the north on the 12th.

October. Cold and wet after a fine start in the south, although Lerwick reported a gust of 103mph on the 1st. The maximum was only 7C in parts of the Midlands on the 10th.

November. The month started fine and warm, with 14C at Cape Wrath in northern Scotland at the start of the month. Cold continental air pushed east on the 2-3rd; the cold front between the cold and warm air masses gave some very heavy rain in places. It was very cold in the south by the 5th, with maxima close to freezing on the 5th and 6th. There was a notable very early snowfall in the Channel Islands: on the 6th the maximum in Jersey was only 1C, with a cold east wind; that morning there was 6 cm of snow cover on the island. Snow fell extensively in the southeast on the 6th and 7th: this is a noticeable early fall. The second week was less cold, but with some sharp frosts and freezing fog in the southwest; -7 at Bodmin Moor on the 11th. Very mild midmonth, with minima above 10C. More snow showers on northerlies near the end of the month as it turned cold again. Birmingham recorded 1046.5 mbar on the 30th, the highest reading in Britain for 16 years. With light winds there were some severe frosts.

December. Cold first half, mild second half. Dry in the south.

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