Overall July was just a fairly average month, quite disappointing at times, but it did finish both much warmer and drier than average - however, and it is a big ''however' the 18-19th experienced significant and record breaking heat.

  It is somewhat curious that the Cumbrian record for the warmest day is 121 years old, it isn't now! July 2022 will always be remembered for these two days, both here in Cumbria and UK wide as 40°c was surpassed for the very first time on these shores.

  High pressure was dominant for much of the month providing for a generally dry month and then after a cool start to the month, increasing warmth, peaking on the 17-20th, but especially the 18-19th. However, in spite of the dryness and warmth sunshine totals fell below average.

  After a damp start on the 1st it was cool and cloudy for the next few days with just the odd spot of rain. It was dry from the 6-20th (and then only with a few spots on the 15th) and became increasingly warmer. After the hot few days it became more seasonal, but with mild nights and with rain on most days and little in the way of sun.

  Low pressure at the month's end brought a wet day on the 30th. There was no thunder and impacts of the weather were limited to the days of the heat-wave when staying indoors with blinds and curtains closed was the best way to cope.

  A slack pressure gradient to start the 1st was quickly replaced by a weak area of low pressure (LP) in the Atlantic that brought spells of rain (7.2 mm) p.m. and overnight into the 2nd. The associated occlusion slowly cleared during the 2nd with the cloud breaking late afternoon to leave a fine end to the day. High pressure (HP) was dominant out in the Atlantic to our SW and would spend the next few days very slowly creeping its way towards us, but in the mean-time a W'ly persisted and this resulted in the days being mainly cloudy and with the occasional spit of rain. Temperatures during the 1st to 5th were between 17-18°c, but lower at 15.6°c on the 4th.

  It now fell dry, warm and mainly sunny as that HP finally became dominant, although not truly until the 10th. During the 7-12th day-time maximums were above 20°c every day with a high of 25.3°c (77.5°f) on the 10th.

  The HP remained over the UK to the 11th and then began a steady journey east. Day-time temperatures slipped to just below the seasonal average, but night-time minima were above average with a minimum of 16.3°c on the 12th notable.

  A weak cold front passed over on the 12th, but behind this a new area of HP in the Atlantic began the same journey as the previous one - but this time things were a little different!

  Once again the HP made a slow journey NE and wasn't truly dominant over the UK until the 16th. These few days were quiet with day-times temperature a little below average, but with mild nights under cloudy skies. The 13-14th both saw decent sunny spells, but a weak frontal system during the 15th brought a cloudy day with a little rain through to 1230h. With the HP dominant on the 16th, little breeze and a good amount of sunshine, temperatures picked up to a maximum of 21.4°c.

  The HP continued its journey east on the 17th, but after a little rain overnight and a cloudy start, the day and with it the temperature, picked up. With a maximum of 25.1°c the 17th was the start of a three day heat-wave.

  Portugal, Spain and France had been enduring a spell of intense heat and now with 'our' HP moving further east it brought a S'ly airflow from those countries and with it ... that heat.

  It would be easy to say that Cumbria avoided the worst of the conditions, these been confined further south and east, but it was very hot. The Cumbrian record for its warmest day (33.3°c from 1901) was about to be broken. The 18th was very hot and sunny with the temperature peaking at 28.5°c (hot, but not extreme even by Cumbrian standards), but the heat was building and come 10h on the 19th the thermometer read a remarkable 29.2°c - and as the recording period for temperature runs from 10-1000Hrs this resulted in that 10h reading being attributed to the 18th.**

  And so the 19th - the temperature had reached 30°c before 1030h and kept on rising. The sun wasn't quiet full, but not entirely hazy and just after 1430h reached its zenith of 34.2°c (93.6°f).

  And then for the next hour it became ... very windy! That heat created convection thermal type conditions bringing dry, convective gusts to 31 Mph.

  Whilst Mauld Meaburn did beat the Cumbrian record, it wasn't the warmest place in Cumbria - the record went to ... Brampton, the new highest temperature being ... 35.4°c (95.7°f).

  Other temperatures from around the county being: Ambleside 32.7°c -- Walney 33.9°c -- St. Bees 31.4°c -- Keswick 34.3°c -- Carlisle 34.5°c -- Warcop 34.6°c -- Shap 32.8°c -- it was just that little bit cooler out on the west coast with the lowest temperature of the day (excluding mountain sites) found at Bridgefoot (32.1°c).

  The weather now became more seasonal with day-time maxima hovering around average, but apart from the 27th, night-time minima remained stubbornly above average under cloudy skies that often bore some rain - at least through to the end of the month the majority of the rain that fell did so either in the evening or overnight.

  The temperature had held up on the 20th, but the 21st to 23rd saw maxima just over 17°c before recovering slightly in the days to follow. Whilst HP was still to the fore rain still fell on most days.

  The HP would finally give way on the 30th with LP to the SW of Eire and also east of Iceland would push fronts over the UK and bring 15.9 mm to make it the month's wettest day at Maulds Meaburn (the 1st or 23rd at the majority of sites across the county).

  ** Warm advection - The partial thickness of the atmosphere and wet bulb potential temperatures have increased because we have a southerly airflow transporting this airmass characteristic northwards from the Continent. Partial thickness is the layer mean tropospheric average temperature between 1000hPa and either 850 or 500 hPa. So the average temperature in the first 5000 to 10000 feet. High pressure subsidence can lead to an inversion near the surface so at night one can get elevated heat whilst the valleys are cooler. Valleys get very warm afternoons once the nocturnal inversion breaks.

  MSLP of 1019.7 Mb was +5.2 MB above the local average for the month and overall a mean minimum of 11.74°c and a mean maximum of 20.69°c saw the temperature 1.11°c above the thirteen year average for this site.

  It was the coldest July since 2020 and since the record began in 2009, three have been warmer and ten have been colder - the highest maximum temperature recorded during the month being 34.2°c (19th), the lowest minimum 5.7°c (16th).

  Rainfall of 70.1 mm (Maulds Meaburn North 66.5 mm -- Castlehowe Scar 76.1 mm) was 70.7% of average for 2007-21, making it the wettest July since 2020. In a record that commenced in 2007, five have been drier and ten have been wetter.

  During the month the following was recorded: there were no 'days of' of anything - the wind speed averaged 5.58 mph, with a maximum gust of 40 mph (24th).

  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 15.8°c on the 5th        to      a high of 19.0°c on the 20th     --      with a monthly mean of 17.4°c

  The 1 meter soil temp ranged from a low of 13.5°c on the 1st      to      a high of 15.3°c on the 26-27th     --     with a monthly mean of 14.6°c

   This makes the Jan' to July period of 2022 0.94°c warmer than the average for 2009-21 and with 86.0% of average rainfall for 2008-21

  At the Met' Office site at Shap a mean minimum of 11.0°c and a mean maximum of 20.0°c saw the monthly mean temperature 1.45°c above average and made it the warmest July since 2013. In a record back to 1992 (with one year of no data), two have been warmer and 27 colder.

  Rainfall of 71.4 mm represents 66.9% of its average. It was the wettest July since 2020 and in a record that commenced in 1989, 11 have been drier and 22 have been wetter.

  At Appleby in Westmorland rainfall of 68.8 mm represents 91.7% of its average (1856-2021) and made it the driest since 2018 - in a record that commenced in 1856, 78 have been drier and 88 have been wetter.

  Only one site in the whole county recorded an above average total for July – certainly an anomaly in what was otherwise a dry month across the board.

  Abbeytown (110.5%) in the NW of the county was that exception (although the Met’ Office rainfall map (below) would suggest otherwise) and the percentage fall went all the way down to 49.3% at Sebergham, which in some ways was also an anomaly as all but one other site managed at least 60%.

  There was a marginal tendency to being that little bit drier than average in the NW and NE of the county along with the central portion of the LDNP.

  However, this was as sketchy as to what day of the month would be the wettest, this varying quite widely from site to site and even varied at sites located close together, such as Shap (1st) and Shap village (30th).

  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 49.2 mm -- (64.7 mm)

  Haresceugh Castle (Kirkoswald) 70.2 mm -- (89.1 mm)

  Brothers Water 93.97 mm -- (161.3 mm)

  Orton (Shallowford) 92.6 mm -- (97.5 mm [average for 1967-2021]) - making it the wettest since 2020 and since 1967 when the record commenced, 28 have been drier and 27 have been wetter.

  Seathwaite Farm (Borrowdale) 166.6 mm -- (229.1 mm [average for 1845-2021]) - making it the wettest since 2020 and since 1845 when the record commenced, 53 have been drier and 124 have been wetter.