UPDATE: The figures below have now been updated to include data from the 1-31 July 2015.
July 2015 was cool, dull and wet across the UK according to Met Office statistics for 1-31 July.
The month began with a record-breaking heatwave, with hot, humid air moving in from the continent. 36.7 °C was recorded at Heathrow 1 July, the highest recorded temperature in the UK since August 2003.
However the rest of the month has been characterized by cooler and often more unsettled conditions, particularly in the north, as a result of a westerly Atlantic air flow. Rainfall has been above average in most areas, particularly across parts of East Anglia, central and eastern Scotland.
| minimum temperature | mean temperature | sunshine duration | precipitation | ||||||
| Jul 1 – 31 2015 | Act (°C) | Diff from avg (°C) | Act (°C) | Diff from avg (°C) | Act (hrs) | % of avg | Act (mm) | % of avg | |
| UK | 10.3 | -0.6 | 14.4 | -0.7 | 164.8 | 96 | 109.5 | 140 | |
| England | 11.2 | -0.4 | 15.8 | -0.5 | 191.9 | 99 | 82.3 | 131 | |
| Wales | 10.8 | -0.3 | 14.4 | -0.8 | 175.1 | 98 | 112.4 | 121 | |
| Scotland | 8.7 | -0.9 | 12.2 | -1.0 | 125.3 | 89 | 152.4 | 153 | |
| N Ireland | 9.6 | -1.1 | 13.3 | -1.3 | 117.4 | 84 | 116.8 | 144 | |
The south-east has seen some drier and more settled weather with temperatures near average, although there has also been some changeable weather here with over 20mm of rain falling on the 24 July and some cooler temperatures and strong winds on 26 and 27 July.
Elsewhere temperatures have been below average, particularly in the west and north, and it has been a rather dull month with sunshine totals being below average across much of the country.
Data from the Met Office’s UK digitised records dating back to 1910. You can explore our climate data on our website.
Official blog of the Met Office news team 
Reblogged this on the WeatherAction News Blog.
Perhaps a far more accurate headline would have been ‘Cold and in a couple of regions wet July’.
Not that the Met Office are ever going to allow the word ‘cold’ to appear in the title of any article of course.
Hi there,
There was a graphic up on the BBC weather report yesterday evening showing a record low for July of 1°C for southern England. What station was that recorded at and what/where was the previous record?
Thanks
Craig
Hi Craig,
there was an observation at South Newington, Oxfordshire, on 31 July 2015 of 1.1C – which is the closest I can find to the one you describe. We don’t keep specific records for southern England as it’s not one of our defined areas, so it’s hard to say whether this is a record without further information. Can you elaborate any further on the information you saw?
Thanks
Hi there,
Thanks for getting back to me.
The 1°C mention was from the BBC’s John Hammond
I should have tweeted him to ask, but I thought I’d go to the source 🙂
I think South Newington is indeed the one as someone on twitter directed me to it and it seems to fit although other sites were not as close. A WMO site but not official as far as I can tell.
http://www.weathercast.co.uk/world-weather/weather-stations/obsid/99166.html
It does seem to be a place that quite often gets coldest readings (saw it mentioned in relation to cold nights in Nov 14 and Feb 12). Negligible UHI (pop. <300 no heavy industry), lots of open fields but not an obvious frost hollow (land looks fairly flat). Perfect for still nights under clear skies.
I think cold or hot all records deserve scrutiny and context. The context last month being the meridional jetstream bring a bookended month as your more recent post details.
The 31st was clearly a widespread cold night as seen by the min CET (provisional) although there is a similar downward spike just a few days before at some point in the past. Bruce (xmetman) had the anomaly that night as -6.9°C the largest in the series he has for that specific date (linked on his comment).
Thanks again,
Craig