Electricity North West weather watch – July

However, in the middle of the warmer weather Storm Hector made an appearance which impacted 6,000 customers due to strong winds and flying debris.

Our engineers worked tirelessly to restore power quickly and you can catch-up on our response here. 

It’s not just high winds that can cause damage to our network, the rising temperatures also caused an increase in faults on the network last week and engineers also had to remove power supplies for a short time due to the fires at Winter Hill and Saddleworth Moor. We were on hand to support both Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service in offering our vans to transport water and we had engineers onsite liasing with all emergency services on the ground to ensure the power supply remains safe and resilient. 

Now let's look ahead and see if the sunshine will remain from MeteoGroup senior meteorologist Paul Mott.    

A look back

June ended up being exceptionally dry over England and Wales, with temperatures soaring towards the end of the month. We take a closer look at how the weather shaped-up in the North West and whether we can expect more dry weather through July.

Through June, rainfall amounts averaged over England and Wales were only 24% of the seasonal norm, making it one of the driest Junes on record. Furthermore, parts of southeast England experienced barely any rainfall at all, with only a trace of rain falling in some spots. Meanwhile, the North West received about 47% of its normal rainfall.

However, looking more closely, rainfall amounts varied considerably across the North West. 95mm of rain fell through the month at Shap in Cumbria, making it actually slightly wetter than normal for June. Further south, the Manchester area received only 5 to 10mm of rain. Through the last nine days of the month, there was no measurable rainfall anywhere in the North West. Furthermore, strong sunshine and low humidity combined with a moderate breeze promoted very dry conditions on the ground. Indeed, weather conditions would have helped to exacerbate a wildfire that occurred on Saddleworth Moor towards the end of the month, drying out both the vegetation and the peaty soil beneath it.

June was a warm month too with average daytime maximum of 21C across the region, about 2.5C above the seasonal norm. Meanwhile, the nights were relatively cool. Indeed, night time temperatures fell to around 11C on average, which is close to normal for June. Most places experienced their highest temperatures of the year so far towards the end of June with 30C recorded in a number of locations from Tuesday 26^th until Thursday 28^th. Indeed, Keswick in Cumbria reached a high of 30.6 C on Thursday 28^th, making it one of the hottest locations in the region.

A look ahead

Looking forward at the prospects for the rest of July some clues may be derived by looking at what happened after similarly dry Junes, including the very dry Junes of 1976 and 1995. Indeed, if we look at the ten driest Junes on record over England and Wales since 1950, we find that in nine out of the ten years, July also ended up being drier than normal. Therefore, the chances of having a wet July this year appear quite slim.

Furthermore, latest indications are for this July to be hot at times with temperatures above the seasonal average. Indeed, there does appear to be an elevated risk of heatwave conditions through the coming month over the UK.

One piece of good news for those that do not enjoy hot and dry weather: In the majority of years that experienced very dry Junes it eventually turned much wetter by September.

In the event of an unexpected power cut you can contact Electricity North West 24/7 on the free national number 105 or call 0800 195 4141 or let us know on Twitter  or Facebook.

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