By Mike Trigger

August was much warmer and sunnier than average and very dry.

Low pressure moved across northern Scotland early in the month but the associated weather fronts which crossed the area on the 3rd and 4th failed to produce much rain. High pressure then built in from the west across southern England bringing largely warm and sunny weather, leading to an especially warm spell between the 10th and 14th. Between the 15th and 18th low pressure moved close to SW England bringing thundery rain across the district. The showery nature of the rain meant that totals were varied across the district but most places saw their wettest day of the month on the 17th. The weather remained slightly unsettled through to the 25th but weak weather systems gave little in the way of rain and settled weather returned as higher pressure developed during the last week of the month.

Rainfall has been well below average since April and followed a drier than average Winter resulting in a declaration of drought across SW England.

In terms of statistics:

The average temperature for the month was around 19 Celsius which was a degree or two above the thirty year average. The warmest day was on the 11th when most places got close to or exceeded 30 Celsius. Coastal areas where a little cooler though still above 25 Celsius. There were only a few days when temperatures did not reach 20 Celsius and afternoon temperatures reached at least 25 Celsius on 6 days at the coast and as many as 20 days inland. The temperature reached 30 Celsius in inland parts for several days between the 10th and 14th. The coldest morning, with a temperature between 7 and 11 Celsius, was on the 6th for most parts but a few places had similar values on the 26th.

Average rainfall is around 55mm in August but across the district totals ranged from only 10mm near the river Teign to 15mm to 20mm near Dawlish and around 25mm closer to the river Exe. There were between 22 and 28 days with no recorded rain.

Sunshine at around 260 hours was about 20% above average for August.

The sea temperature at the Dawlish wave buoy varied between 19 and 21 Celsius during the month.