How bad was summer 2024?

Thus summer (defined as June, July and August for the purposes of this analysis) has been described as poor by many people - perceived as mostly damp and gloomy punctuated by brief spells of better weather. But, was it that bad? Maybe the stats will paint a different picture …

So, let’s take rainfall and temperature separately, looking at the average maximum of the first and the total for the second during the three months.

The blue column shows the total rainfall in June, July and August this year to be 174.4 mm, below the average Usk total of 196.7 mm (in green) and also below the overall Penallt average (2011 to 2024) of 228.8 mm. Note that this last figure is boosted considerably by the disastrously wet summer of 2012 with its summer rainfall of 537.2 mm. So, overall, it has been a summer somewhat drier than usual, the 10th wettest out of 14 since 2011.

Only three summers have been colder that 2024 however. Penallt averaged a maximum temperature of 20.1°C this year (blue column), 1.5°C below the Usk average (green column) and 0.8°C below the Penallt average (2011 to 2024). Only three summers have been cooler than this since 2011, including the infamous summer of 2012 when the average maximum was only 18.9°C.

So, yes, this summer has been cooler than usual but, at the same time, has been drier. Not so bad after all, perhaps?

Note: The 1981-2010 overall average data for Usk is used above, it being the nearest place (16 km by crow) for which reliable data exist.