June 2011 day by day

June 7th: The first week saw temperatures a degree above average overall across England but the second week looks rather cool for most and so is likely to bring temperatures back to near or below average again. Today was cool and showery overall with thunderstorms in places.

June 8th: A showery day for many with thunderstorms in places; there was a tornado near Eglington in Northern Ireland. Farmworkers heard a loud bang and as their cows stampeded they saw a tornado going down through the field. The roof from the shed was hurled into the air, along with  roof trusses, blocks and other debris. The eyewitness Mr Kelly said no-one was hurt but they were "totally scared" by their experience. Along with this several funnel clouds were spotted as well by observers in the area, as well as one near Monkton nr Prestwick, Ayrshire.

June 10th: more showery weather has brought thunderstorms and -locally- funnel clouds and tornadoes across the UK. One was spotted off the coast in Brighton on the morning of the 9th. Technically, as it was out at sea, it should perhaps better be known as a waterspout, although there's a lot of heated debate on this term on the weather forums! A funnel cloud was seen at Basildon (Essex) on the 10th.

June 11th- a third of the way through June and the chillier days & nights have brought the Hadley CET back to +0.2C above the average. It has been cold by night in places recently as well. Altnaharra (Sutherland)  fell to -1.9C yesterday morning and Leuchars fell to -5C on the grass last night. Further heavy showers and thunderstorms developed today with 1cm diameter hail reported in places such as Newchapel (Staffs) but it was decidedly chilly in many parts by day as well; Liscombe on Exmoor was just 8C at 1600 today, cold even by winter standards.

June 15th Half way through June and it's been fairly lacklustre recently for many. Though Norwich (Norfolk) reached 23.6C today, it has been cool recently overall with the CET down to 13.3C or 0.4C below average. However, the average sunshine across England and Wales is still up at about 120% of what we would expect, so actually this is generally still better than our average June so far! We have probably been rather spoilt by the warm sunny April and early May. It looks cool and rather unsettled for the next week for nearly all areas though, with a return to more 'summerlike' conditions only expected in the last week of June, at present.

June 17th: A rather deep low for June developed in the SW approaches today and ran across the south of the UK. Most  of the strong winds associated with it moved to the outh across NW France where Penmarch Point in Brittany recorded a gust of 69mph. However, it was very wet in places with some large rainfall totals in the south & west of the UK helping to alleviate the issues with rainfall shortages and dry ground in the south. In particular West Freugh (Dumfries & Galloway) saw an 25mm in the 12Z hours to 18Z on the 17th and 51mm in the 48 hours to 06Z on the 18th and in the south Bournenouth (Dorset) and Herstmonceux (East Sussex) saw 24mm. There were also a number of thunderstorms as well that developed in heavy showers following the main rain bands.  

June 20th: Still a rather unsettled and cool looking for the next few days though it does look like settling down by the weekend at least for a few days with the possibility then of a warm thundery plume following this as we go into next week. However despite what it may feel it's not been a chilly month overall so far, with the CET temperature only 0.5C below the average.

June 24th saw a cold night at Altnaharra (Sutherland) where it fell to just 1.1C and the grass minima was -2C. Even at Bournemouth (Dorset) it fell to just 1C.   

June 25th: as we enter the last week of June it looks set to be warmer for a few days, even hot in places locally, reaching 29-30C before soon fallimng back to average during the rest of this week after a short lived thundery breakdown from the west. The high temperatures may be enough to lift the June mean temperatures back to average with sunshine actually ending up rather above average for many, it's not been that bad overall this June despite the public perception that it's been quite poor; we were simply rather spoilt by April and early May!  A much milder night than the 24th, at St Catherine's Point on the Isle of Wight the temperature didn't drop below 14C.

June 27th-28th: An interesting few days weatherwise as a very warm plume of air originating from Iberia pushed north across the UK, though it didn't really reach the far north. Some very high temperatures were reported in parts of the east and SE with Gravesend (Kent) reaching 33.1C on the 27th, one of the hottest days in June for 5 years. There were problems with overhead power cables overheating on the East Anglian rail line from London due to the heat. Scattered thunderstorms broke out in places as a result of the high temperatures and were especially intense around the Newcastle area in the late afternoon. Overnight scattered storms continued and temperatures didn't fall below 18-19C in parts of the east & south east. Some early high temperatures were then reported in parts of the south east (Manston & Dover, Langdon Bay in Kent reached 27C) before a cold front pushed slowly east across the east & SE in the afternoon. This initiated some very thundery weather in the warm humid air ahead of the front with some severe storms reported in places, heavy rain and & hail. Lightning started a number of fires in properties, it hit the Airport control tower at Gatwick disrupting flights and Southern railway services were disrupted on the Brighton main line due to lightning strikes affecting signalling equipment.