August has finished as both the warmest and driest in my records and whilst it didn't hit the high temperatures of July, the heat-wave of the 10-14th was a day longer than that of July's. Notably though the three days of 12-14th all had maxima above 29°c, this being the first time in my records that three successive days have attained this mark.

  Curiously, the mean minimum for the month was exactly on average, but the mean maximum was well above, even higher than that of July and is now the fifth highest in my records.

  August was my driest yet and the eighth driest of any month. We avoided the thunderstorms that had some significant impacts elsewhere in the UK and overall the little rain that did fall was infrequent and light.

  After a cooler start to the month, through to the 6th, the weather settled, becoming dry, sunny and hot. A cooler few days followed the heat-wave after which it became seasonal but erring to the warm side and with a little more rain during the 18th to 23rd.

  The final week of the month fell dry but with some cooler nights. The 26-28th were still pleasantly warm, then dipped below average on the 29th, recovering to just above average for the final two days.

  High pressure (HP) at the beginning of the month was retreating east allowing low pressure (LP) to encroach from the Atlantic and which would influence the weather for the next few days. Day-time temperatures sat just above the average, but especially by night, both the 2nd and 3rd remaining over 15°c. Rain arrived late on the 1st to give 5.7 mm and which would be the month's wettest day, but otherwise any rain or drizzle was light, the 2-3rd and 5th each recording 1.0 mm.

  HP out in the Atlantic had slowly been building and inching its way east, but with a W'ly flow the 5-6th were fairly cool at 17-18°c and under fairly clear skies it was also cool by night. However, these two days were just transitional as that HP would now become dominant with very warm and sunny days to follow.

  Still transitional on the 7th, warmer under a blanket of cloud, but now through to the 14th it would be very sunny and very ... hot.

  The HP would finally find its way over the UK, elongating SW-NE and settled was the theme. The 9th just failed to hit 25°c, but the 10th didn't. The 11th then hit 28.4°c, but then the next three days were remarkable.

  None of the 12-14th may have hit 30°c, but they all attained at least 29°c, the 14th at 29.6°c (85.3°f) the warmest of the three ... this is the first time in my records that three consecutive days have risen above 29°c. It was a five day heat-wave that was hot with wall to wall sun and with the heat lasting well into the night, it felt like a long time.

  This heat-wave finished with three of the days entering my 'top ten' of warmest days with the 14th being the fourth warmest in my records.

  LP over northern France on the 14th now moved north into the UK and the question now became one of if we would catch a thunderstorm or not. There was a little thunder and lightning late evening on the 14th, but the answer would be ... No.

  Cloudy and muggy on the 15-16th, but there was no thunder and with temperatures almost back to the seasonal average. After a brief ridge of HP on the 17th, LP to the south of Iceland controlled the next few days, it becoming cooler with a little rain. Day-time maxima were just above 17°c 18-20th, but the rainfall was really only slight.

  LP remained the principal feature through to the 26th with some showers and/or a little rain, but nothing notable, the most being 5.1 mm 23rd (fell 04-07h 24th). Day-time temperatures were just above the seasonal norm' (19-21°c) and it was also mild at night, a minimum of 16.2°c on the 24th being notable.

  From the 27th HP sat between Iceland and Norway would ridge down over the UK and whilst it wasn't particularly warm, it was dry with sunny intervals.

  MSLP of 1018.1 Mb was +4.0 MB above the local average for the month and overall a mean minimum of 10.49°c and a mean maximum of 21.01°c saw the temperature 1.30°c above the thirteen year average for this site.

  It as become the warmest August recorded at this site, the record commencing in 2009 - the highest maximum temperature recorded during the month being 29.6°c (14th), the lowest minimum 4.6°c (31st).

  Rainfall of 22.7 mm (Maulds Meaburn North 21.1 mm -- Castlehowe Scar 41.1 mm) was 20.6% of average for 2007-21, and which now makes it the driest August recorded at this site (commenced in 2007).

  During the month the following 'days of' were recorded: thunder on one days - the wind speed averaged 5.00 mph, with a maximum gust of 39 mph (2nd).

  We had 0 Air Frosts in the month (year 32)          --          Grass Frosts totalled 0 (year 80).

  The 1 foot soil temp ranged from a low of 16.2°c on the 31st        to      a high of 18.9°c on the 15th     --      with a monthly mean of 17.3°c

  The 1 meter soil temp ranged from a low of 15.0°c on the 8-11th      to      a high of 15.7°c on the 18-19th and 21st     --     with a monthly mean of 15.3°c

   This makes the Jan' to August period of 2022 0.99°c warmer than the average for 2009-21 and with 75.9% of average rainfall for 2008-21

  At the Met' Office site at Shap a mean minimum of 9.1°c and a mean maximum of 19.80°c saw the monthly mean temperature 0.75°c above average and made it the warmest August since 2020. In a record back to 1992 (with three years of no data), six have been warmer and 21 colder.

  Rainfall of 52.4 mm represents 39.3% of its average. It was the driest August since 2003 and in a record that commenced in 1989, three have been drier and thirty have been wetter.

  At Appleby in Westmorland rainfall of 15.4 mm represents 17.9% of its average (1856-2021) and made it the driest since 2003 - in a record that commenced in 1856, five have been drier and 161 have been wetter.

  Only in Cumbria ... whilst some sites in the west of the county recorded over 100mm of rain in a 24Hr period on the 1st, (and still managed to finish drier than average) out in the east of the county some sites struggled to 20mm for the entire month – and one site didn’t even manage that!

  The central eastern portion of the county was notably dry, none more so than Appleby In Westmorland which with just 15.4 mm (17.9% of average) recorded during the entire month.

  This small area of low percentage falls extended out to Warcop and west through Maulds Meaburn to Shap, but had increased upon arrival to just over 40% at Kirkby Thore, Orton and Burnbanks in a circle around Appleby In Westmorland.

  Once again rainfall averages failed to show a geographic pattern, best demonstrated by Brampton (38.6%) and Spadeadam (103.6%) which was just one of two sites that finished with above average totals.

  However, percentage falls were more typically 50-70% with only a few sites venturing higher, mainly found to the west of Keswick.

  Just like July, the month began on a damp note, the 1st being the wettest day of the month at the majority of sites. In some places 'damp' was more akin to 'torrential' with Mickleden, Honister and Ennerdale (Black Sail) (EBS) all recording over 100mm in the 24Hr period.

  August saw EBS complete the triple of:      Wettest site (302.2 mm – being some 70mm ahead of the nearest)      Wettest 24Hr period (149.8 mm – over an inch wetter than the nearest)      Greatest Percentage Fall

  Figures from the Environment Agency’s rainfall sites were, (figure in brackets being the monthly average for 1991-2020)   ‘Data kindly provided by the Hydrometry and Telemetry team of the Environment Agency (Penrith)’:

  Kirkby Thore 31.8 mm -- (76.0 mm)

  Haresceugh Castle (Kirkoswald) 52.3 mm -- (94.4 mm)

  Brothers Water 113.4 mm -- (198.7 mm)

  Orton (Shallowford) 53.2 mm -- (117.2 mm [average for 1967-2021]) - making it the driest since 2003 and since 1967 when the record commenced, 7 have been drier and 48 have been wetter.

  Seathwaite Farm (Borrowdale) 191.6 mm -- (279.3 mm [average for 1845-2021]) - making it the driest since 2003 and since 1845 when the record commenced, 41 have been drier and 136 have been wetter.