For meteorologists, the year is split up into the following seasons:
- Spring – March to May
- Summer – June to August
- Autumn – September to November
- Winter December to February
So, at midnight on August 31st, the Summer of 2014 came to an end, but what sort of Summer did we have?
Pond on a summer morning (Photo credit: Alan Rowley Photos)
The temperature over the Summer averaged 15.5°C, 0.4°C cooler than the warmest recorded so far in the five years that the Bracken House weather station has been in operation. The warmest Summer so far was in 2013. The coldest Summer was in 2012 when the average temperature was only 14.5°C. The highest temperature recorded in Summer 2014 was 27.6°C, and the coldest temperature was 5.3°C. The average high temperature was 20.2°C, 0.5°C below the record set in 2013. The average low temperature was 11.1°C, equal to the mean low for Summer.
Rainfall in Summer 2014 was 118.2 millimetres, well down on the high of 299.8 millimetres set in 2012. The average rainfall amount in Summer is 166.2 millimetres.
Although the maximum wind speed in the Summer months was set this year at 34.5 mph, the wind speeds for the season were slightly below average at 3.0 mph, compared to the average of 3.4 mph. This was the lowest average wind speed recorded in the summer months at this station.
So to summarise, Summer 2014 was slightly warmer, less windy and drier than average.
