July 2017 Commentary

The month of July can be divided fairly clearly into two halves. The first half was basically very warm and dry with just one day of cooler and very wet weather. The second half was much milder overall with rainfall on eleven of the last fourteen days.

Temperatures reached into the early thirties on two days at the end of the first week though not quite competing with the five consecutive very hot days in June. The night-time temperatures were higher throughout the month however without experiencing the uncomfortably close nights of the previous month.

The average temperature for July of 19.5C put it one degree above the average of the last ten years while the rainfall total of 106.3mm was a little above the average but one has to realise that most of this rain had fallen in the second half of the month.

Unfortunately, the wet and cooler weather coincided with the start of the school holidays and the village has been full of soaking families who have bravely tackled the muddy paths up and around the Giant while two consecutive wet Saturdays have ruled out any league cricket.

At this stage of the year, 2017 has been a little drier than average while the temperatures have been a certain amount warmer.

Philip Spray