The Isle of Wight experienced a very dry and sunny Spring with a bumper 214.5 hours of sunshine recorded in April – but will the good weather continue as we enter the Summer months?
Today marks the first day of Summer – a time when the Island normally comes alive with tourists flocking to our shores and a jam-packed calendar of events is well underway. Things won’t be the same this year due to the coronavirus, but early indications suggest August will not be a washout as in previous years.
According to IW Met Service, the Isle of Wight’s weather forecasters, March saw gusts of up to 62mph being recorded at their Shanklin station with periods of rather wet and cold weather. By mid-March, just as the lockdown was imposed, things settled down with plenty of dry and sunny days. A total of 41.4mm of rainfall was recorded with the wettest day being 4th March.
April was a very dry and sunny month throughout with the Island seeing rainfall on just 6 days with 24 dry days overall. The garden isle saw 214.5 hours of sunshine throughout April, which means it was exceptionally sunny compared with previous years. The temperatures were rather mixed, however, with some very warm days interspersed with cooler outbreaks and occasional frost.
The highest temperature recorded in April was 20.2c with 74.7mm of rainfall. The wettest day was 26th March.
May was another very dry month with just 9 days of rain falling and 22 dry days. The sunshine amounts were somewhat down on April with just 129 hours worth due to some much cloudier weather early in the month. The highest temperature recorded in May was a rather comfortable 24.9c. Just 8.1mm of rainfall was seen last month.
So what does the Summer have in store?
The current weather pattern suggests that after a cooler and slightly more unsettled spell over the coming 10 days, it will gradually settle down again with occasional warmer spells, especially towards the middle of June and into the second half of the month.
July looks like being rather mixed this year with a combination of warm and cool spells. Any heat in July is likely to be rather short-lived with spells of unsettled weather often affecting the Island, although forecasters are not expecting a particularly wet July. Temperatures will be close to average with rainfall slightly below.
August looks like it could be rather more settled than in recent years with a higher likelihood of more prolonged spells of warm weather. Significant heat seems rather unlikely at the moment but some fairly lengthy spells of temperatures in the mid 20’s is possible. Temperatures will be higher than average with rainfall below average.
Seems MORE than coincidence that since factories and planes, along with millions of cars have mostly been mothballed that for ONCE the UK’s weather and skies have been cloudless, morning til dusk clear blue and sunny.
Normally at best all we get is a few hours of blue in the morning, and by the time we are out for a picnic, the clouds gather in.
Nice whilst it lasted anyway. Back to normal it seems in so many ways.
Peace on the roads, less people about, and med type weather soon be a distant but wonderful memory.
Something to tell future Grandchildren about, like the hot Summer of 76, once in a life time event, ne’re to be repeated.
Nights start drawing in, in 20 short days time.
Enjoy the so few sunny days left now.