Retrospectives

Sunny Septembers in the last century

The thirties were not especially good for fine September months and we have to wait until 1941 during the Second World war when there was a decent September and a long drought in Kent for 50 days ending on September 17th. However, 1949 excelled itself and was the warmest of the century by a long way (16.3C CET) and the last time 90F was reached this month in East Anglia on the 5th. The fifties are not remembered for fine warm September's and we have to wait until 1961 for another decent September.1964 too was very warm and sunny, in fact the last time we had an exceptionally sunny September (more than 150% of the England and Wales average). Then follows a long period when generally Autumn always seem to get well started by early September; the September's of my youth when we were quite happy to get back to school. as the weather was basically guarenteed to be 'rubbish' after the first week.

Finally 1991 was warm and sunny again with a heatwave at the start of the month. 29.8C was reached near Peterborough (Marholm) on the 1st, the highest September maxima since 1973, so you can see that the intervening September's weren't up to much. In many places it was the warmest September since 1959. More very average September's followed but 1999 was better at 15.6C, the second warmest of the century (after 1949); also sunny with a heatwave at the start of the month. 30.4C was reported at Gravesend on the 11th.

We have seen some very good September's however so far this century, it must be said. For example, 2002 was a very anticyclonic month: warm and very dry, the warmest day was the 13th, with 26C at Bournemouth, though this is nothing exceptional. It was particularly dry in Scotland and the SW; Plymouth only had 4 mm of rain, and Aberdeen 16 mm - both local records. The following year, 2003 was the sunniest September since 1964, as well as being a dry month, There was also a notable late heatwave, from the 13th to the 22nd, particularly in the southeast, peaking with 28.4C at Gravesend on the 17th  2006 was an exceptional September as well and with a CET of 16.6 remains the warmest on record. It was very dry, sunny and warm overall and reached 30.2C at Heathrow on the 11th. It reached 29.0C at Sutton Bonington (East Midlands) on the 21st, the highest temperature so late in the year since 1985. The following year 2007 was set fair too; mostly anticyclonic and settled, particularly the first three weeks, though it wasn't especially warm it's true but it was dry with rainfall just 50% of the average. 

So, all in all we have had some very decent September weather in the last decade. It it too much to ask that the pattern will continue? Probably!

Kind thanks are again due to Dr Trevor Harley and his excellent site 'British Weather' for the use of some of the data used in this article http://www.personal.dundee.ac.uk/~taharley/britweather.html