June 2026 Commentary

After a completely dry second half of May, promptly on the first day of June we received over an inch of rainfall and for the following ten days, there were declining but still substantial amounts of rain.

This rainy spell was linked to a period of below average temperatures until the high pressure air mass from over Europe re-asserted itself and the temperatures increased to unprecedented levels for June. Cerne Abbas missed all the accompanying rain storms that occurred in many parts of the south-west but instead we received several small amounts through the rest of the month.

The two hottest days were the 24th and the 25th when both my neighbour and I measured 36C, not only a record for June but for any month in Cerne Abbas over the last twenty years at least. Temperatures decreased to near normal during the last few days of June but essentially the month was clearly divided between a mild and wet first ten days followed by a hot and dry remaining twenty.

The average temperature for June was 19.6C well above the monthly average over the last decade, but for Cerne Abbas, not "the hottest June ever" as advertised by most news outlets, for our 2023 June figure was 20.4C, nearly one degree warmer. The month's total rainfall of 95mm was above the average June total for the last ten years, though June is one of our driest months most years. This followed three months of below average rainfall.

The hot weather caused the obvious problems for most living locally while the tics, the horse-flies and the very occasional adder made life a little more hazardous for dog-walkers on the land around Giant Hill.

Philip Spray