The month of July 2006 started very warm indeed as southerly winds brought a continental flow up across the UK. Even on the 1st it reached 30.5C at Pershore (Worcs) and by the 2nd London's Heathrow airport saw temperatures climb to 32.3C. The 3rd and 4th were again hot with 31.4C and 31.3C reported respectively at Heathrow; even further north 30C was reached locally in Manchester on the 5th. By the 6th the heat had moved further north as Aboyne in Aberdeenshire saw 27.5C reached.

From the 2nd however it also became very unsettled as thundery weather developed in places in response to increasingly unstable air moving in from the south aloft. By 00Z on the 3rd a thundery trough lay over the SW, Wales and up into the NW of England, (see chart at http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/2006/brack/bracka20060703.gif ) and thunderstorms moved across Devon and other parts of the SW overnight in the early hours of the 3rd, cutting power supplies to many homes. Storms also affected Stoke on Trent, where lightning struck and badly injured two people.

Later on in the day parts of Lancashire and Greater Manchester were affected by storms and there was localised flash flooding reported in Irlam, Wigan, Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Rochdale (Lancs) where as much as 31.8mm of rain fell in one hour.

By midnight on the 4th a complex & increasingly thundery low sat to the south of the UK with a very warm easterly flow to its north. (see http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/2006/brack/bracka20060704.gif )

Further storms developed during the day on the 4th. In the south a boy was hit by lightning in Croydon (S London). Flooding left roads in Northamptonshire gridlocked and in Cosford (Shropshire) sixy houses were flooded. 26mm fell in as little as 20min at Luton (Beds) and there was 1-2cm hail reported that stripped trees of leaves and foliage. By early on the 5th of July little had changed with low pressure still to the south of the UK and a stagnating warm air mass to its north aloft over England and Wales (see http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/2006/brack/bracka20060705.gif ). Early in the morning thunderstorms affected parts of the south coast near Eastbourne and Shoreham giving locally very heavy rain and some flash flooding in places. These moved north during the morning affect many parts of the SE, London and central southern England as they did so and further storms were reported in the E Midlands as well.

On the afternoon of the 5th a report of about 125mm of rain falling in about an hour or so was received from Great Chesterfield (just off the M11 near Bishops Stortford) in Essex (yet to be substantiated) and 43mm in an hour nearby at Great Dunmow .Eye witness reports talked of large volumes of water lifting manhole covers off and spurting 3 ft in the air during the torrential rainstorm. Other storms affected parts of North Wales and the Chester area during the afternoon. Later on in the evening parts of Worcester saw a severe storm for a time when at least 70 homes were flooded and fire crews dealt with nearly 200 calls in a short period.

Further severe storms affected the S Midlands overnight on the 6th with 57.4mm at Brize Norton (Oxon). Lightning cut power in places such as Wroughton (Wilts), Tewkesbury, Fairford and to a water pumping station causing supplies in Hasfield and Corse to dry up. Parts of Swindon were flooded and schools were closed in Bristol as a result of flooding.

Further, more isolated storms, also occurred later on in the evening across the eastern UK but generally by the end of the 6th much fresher drier weather had replaced the unstable air, which had moved east into the near continent.

By the end of the first week temperatures had been more than 5C above average across central England and sunshine 170% of the average in much of central, SE and southern England but rainfall was at 135% of average in the SE due to the localised heavy falls. All in all the first week of July 2006 certainly produced some memorable weather for many, both in terms of its heat, electrical activity and the deluges of localised rainfall.