A wet month throughout Courier Country
Last month was Dundee's second wettest July in more than 50 years, statistics have revealed.
- By James Williamson
- Published in the Courier : 03.08.10
- Published online : 03.08.10 @ 11.48am
A month of downpours, washouts and dreary wet weather saw floods, gales and seemingly ceaseless rain hit the city during what was supposed to be the height of summer.
Figures from the Scottish Crop Research Institute showed 144.3mm of rain fell last month at their Invergowrie base. That's almost three times the average July rainfall.
Records at the SCRI began in 1954 and show that only July 1998, when a total of 161.3mm of rain fell, was wetter than last month.
However, despite all the grey clouds, the total hours of sunshine were only down slightly at 172. The average figure is almost 183.
Both the highest and the lowest temperatures — 22.4C and 7.9C — came on July 25, while the average temperature was just above the norm at 15.2C.
A spokesman for the Met Office said all areas of Tayside and Fife had seen a soaking high summer.
Perth had to contend with the worst floods in recent memory, while shopkeepers in Dundee and Arbroath also woke to find flooded basements and stockrooms following heavy rains.
Trees and telegraph poles were brought down in gales and hammering rain and during the heaviest downpours the region's rivers were on flood alert.
In Fife, the total of 141mm was two-and-a-half times the average for July, making the month the fourth wettest on record, while in Angus 150mm of rain fell.
Perthshire, with 193mm, had its third-wettest July on record.
A spokesman for the Met Office offered little comfort for those hoping to see the sun over the next month, saying, "We'll see some bands of rain pushing in towards the end of this week."
Photo courtesy of Stewart Lloyd-Jones.
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