The weather in June

June was a month of eventful and contrasting weather. The first few days were cloudy in the east but warm and fine in the west. It then became more unsettled in the second week, but with a few warm days. Slow-moving low pressure dominated the middle of the month. The night of 22 to 23 June brought torrential rain and thunderstorms to much of south-east England. After that, the weather started to come more from the Atlantic, as a changeable, westerly weather type developed. This gave all areas a cool and showery end to the month.

Temperatures

The average central England temperature was 15.4C, 0.9C above the 1981-2010 average. The mean temperature in Scotland was 12.7C, 1.3C above average and for Northern Ireland 14.5C, 1.2C above average. This warmth might seem surprising, but the nights were consistently mild in many areas and there were some warm days early in the month, especially in the north and west. The highest day temperature recorded was 27.8C at Porthmadog, Gwynedd, on 5 June. The lowest night minimum recorded was -0.1C at Elphin, Sutherland, on 2 June.

Rainfall

While some places built up large rainfall totals with local flooding, a few places were fairly dry until more general rain came in from the west in the final days of the month. Over England and Wales there was an average of 95mm, 144% of average, but there were large variations from place to place. Many places in England and Wales recorded more than twice the average. Over 130mm fell in central London and in Suffolk. Farnborough, Hampshire, recorded 45mm on the night of 22 June.

Sunshine

Despite the long hours of daylight, June can be a cloudy month. This was exacerbated this year by the slack airflow early in the month, especially in central areas. England and Wales averaged 137 hours of bright sunshine, only 74% of average. A few coastal areas in the north and west were sunnier, with Anglesey, Tiree and, notably, Shetland each having around 200 hours while many inland areas of England had around half of that amount.

Winds

The air pressure pattern over the first three weeks was stagnant with light winds. In the fourth week a more active westerly airflow gave breezy weather, as low pressure systems moved east. Gusts only exceeded 60mph on mountain summits and at the very exposed site at the Needles, Isle of Wight, on 29 June.