The final few days of the period saw the 13th just fail to attain 20°c, the first such day since 23rd June and there was also a little rain!

  The 12th had started fine and sunny, but the afternoon began to cloud over and after a brief shower at 1515 hrs, there was a further shower in the evening that saw 0.4 mm in total - drought broken!

  The 13th was overcast throughout and with a band of thundery showers pushing north from east Wales. However, they did not get as far north as expected and we just saw a few showers in the afternoon that gave another 0.4 mm.

  The warm spell then ended with two decent sunny days (14-15th), both just over 22°c and going into the final few days before the schools broke-up for the summer holidays, what would become of the weather?

  16th - 27th    The 16th saw the first notable rain since 19th June, but it wasn't enough and then it turned dry again.

  Cold fronts associated to low pressure (LP) over Iceland moved in from the Atlantic during the 16th, yet there was no organised spell of rain and that what fell came in fits and starts throughout the day, totalling 6.4 mm. It did freshen things up though, a little, and both it and the 17th also saw the temperature struggle to just over 17°c under the overcast skies.

  The following days saw an area of HP over northern Europe sit loosely over the UK bringing a quietness to the weather - dry, reasonably warm at just over 20°c and with cloud clearing later in the day.

  Through the 20-27th it remained warm, becoming hot at the end of the period, but there were now a few days with some rain, starting with 4.5 mm on the 20th and which would only attain 17.2°c. The 20th saw a period of steady rain through the morning and into the afternoon and then the 21st was an overcast day and another that failed to hit 20°c (just one of nine in the entire month).

  From the 22nd we were back above 20°c, but the days were uninspiring and then the 24th recorded a day of fog. The 23rd and 24th had been very mild overnight, staying above 15°c and with a cold front becoming semi-static just to our east, the conditions were humid and cloudy. With the rain (1.8 mm) starting virtually at 10 a.m. the murkiness of the morning saw visibility significantly reduced, all the way down to moderate fog (code 3).

  With HP just managing to hold back LP systems that were building in the Atlantic and with a significant feed of southerly air, the 25/26th saw warm and sunny conditions. The 25th attained 23.3°c, with the 26th going even higher at 27.2°c, but later in the day the humidity and cloud began to build.

  There was a brief spell of thunder at 8 p.m. on the 26th and whilst it became overcast and humid, nothing developed. However, that LP in the Atlantic was inching ever closer, but we still had a large pool of hot air over the UK that was being fed by that SW'ly flow. With a sunny morning and afternoon the temperature rose to a month's high of 28.6°c (83.5°f) and it was uncomfortably hot and humid. Come late afternoon a cold front ahead of the LP had reached the western half of the UK and it became overcast - but whilst we saw some lightning, again there was no storm to accompany it.

  That is unless you lived in the NE of the county which took the full force of a thunderstorm and on the NE coast around Middlesboro' and North Yorks someone had switched a large strobe light on and forgot to switch it off.

  28th - 31st    The month finished under the influence of LP. It was the most unsettled period of the month and with the first notable rain for over a month.

  Overnight into the 28th the cold fronts moved across the UK, the LP staying just off the west coast, which would slowly track north and then be replaced by other LP systems from the SW. There were frequent showers in the early hours of the 28th, giving 9.7 mm (credited back to the 27th) and then it was a day of further frequent and heavy showers.

  However, it was a little bitter sweet in that the really one bad day in the month fell on a Sunday and the dip in temperature was more that noticeable. Whilst the day was a cool one, barely touching 14°c, in those showers it dipped down to 10°c - what difference a day makes! The maximum temperature for the day was actually 17.0°c, recorded just after 10 a.m. that morning.

  The 28th would finish as the month's wettest day with 15.3 mm, topped up with rain that fell overnight into the 29th, the rain continuing through to 1 p.m. before brightening up.

  The last two days of the month saw an improvement to sunny spells and only a brief shower on the 30th, although maintaining a much fresher feel.