July on the hot side

Overusing your air conditioner may have been excusable last month as the average temperature rose past the norm for July.

With the highest temperature reaching 38.3°C on the 24th, the Met Office said this was 6°C over the climatic norm of the last 30 years. It was 4.4°C lower than the record high of 42.7°C registered in July 1988. The mean air temperature for the month was 26.7°C, which exceeded the climate norm by 0.8°C.

Thermometers sank to 19.9°C, on July 3 and 30, still higher than the record low and decisively chilly 13.9°C registered on the night of July 2, 1923.

The average sea temperature rose to 25.3°C, 1.2°C higher than the average value.

Wind speed was also higher than usual when a northwest by west wind reached 39 knots on July 24, five knots over the average.

When it came to humidity, air moisture, at 68 per cent, was one per cent lower than the average.