June so far: wetter and cooler than average

Update: Provisional Met Office figures for the whole of June are now available at: Met Office confirms wettest June in over a century

The weather for most of the UK has been dominated by cool and unsettled conditions in the first half of June. A succession of frontal low-pressure systems have stalled over or close to the south of the country, bringing large amounts of rainfall in some areas, particularly in Wales and southern England.

Based on provisional mid-month stats, the beginning of June has been significantly wetter than average. The UK as a whole has had 55.5 mm of rain so far this month, 76% of the normal amount of rainfall expected for the month of June. Normally at this point in the month, we would expect to see around 43% of the monthly average.

However, the south of the UK has had considerably more. Thorney Island, Shoreham Airport and Wiggonholt –  three stations in West Sussex – have all set new station records for June, with over 200% of their usual rainfall for June falling already.

Station	Area	Total rainfall(mm)	Average rainfall for June (mm)	% of average so far this month
Thorney Island	West Sussex	113.6	48.5	234.2
Shoreham Airport	West Sussex	122.4	55.7	219.8
Wiggonholt	West Sussex	110	52.9	207.9
St James’s Park	Greater London	102.4	52.3	195.8
Hampstead	Greater London	111.8	58.9	189.9
Middle Wallop	Hampshire	100.6	53.4	188.5
Swanage	Dorset	95.8	51.5	186
Rothamsted	Hertfordshire	109.8	60.4	181.8
Trawsgoed	Dyfed	141.2	78.5	180
Charlwood	Surrey	99	57.2	173.1

Further north, it’s a different story, north-west Scotland in particular has actually been very dry. Resallach, in Sutherland, has only had  1 mm so far, just 0.9% of its average rainfall for June.

Station	Area	Total rainfall(mm)	Average rainfall for June (mm)	% of average
Resallach	Sutherland	1	111.5	0.9
Kinlochewe	Ross & Cromarty	2	103.8	1.9
Aultbea No 2	Ross & Cromarty	2.2	78.8	2.8
South Uist Range	Western Isles	2.8	55.9	5
Harris: Quidnish	Western Isles	3.6	80.2	4.5
Skye: Lusa	Western Isles	3.6	91.1	4
Loch Glascarnoch	Ross & Cromarty	4	82.6	4.8
Fair Isle	Shetland	4.6	46.8	9.8
Stornoway Airport	Western Isles	5.4	63.8	8.5
Dunstaffnage	Argyll	8.6	82.6	10.4

It’s also been cooler than average for many, particularly in the east, as can be seen on the map below. Mean temperatures for the UK so far this month are 1.4 °C below the long-term June average although cloud cover has kept minimum temperatures closer to the seasonal norm, especially in the south-west.

Related articles

• Definitely May-be an average month (metofficenews.wordpress.com)
• April 2012 early statistics – above average rainfall (metofficenews.wordpress.com)
• Updated rainfall totals: over a month’s worth of rain falls in south east (metofficenews.wordpress.com)
• Is this stormy weather unusual for June? (metofficenews.wordpress.com)