August 2026 Commentary

Following on to the very hot and very dry weather that had prevailed since the middle of June, the first half of August was again very hot, climaxing with three days, the 12th, 13th and 14th having temperatures reaching well over the 30 degree mark.

There was also no rain recorded until the middle of the month when there were signs of rain in the air on the 16th and 17th with, at last, a decent downpour on the 18th. Fortunately the expected monsoonal amounts didn't materialise.

The second half of August still produced warm to hot days with intermittent rain and then there were useful amounts on most days during the last week.

The temperature figures for the whole of August produced an average of 21.2C which equalled the figure for 2007, the highest figure over the last twenty years in Cerne Abbas, and it was just above the figure for 2022.

The total rainfall figure for August was 59.2mm which is still below the month's average.

The fact that the local area has received reasonable amounts of rainfall since the drought means that the fields around have quickly changed to a more suitable colour for the time of year. There had been the fear that the drought would end with huge downpours and perhaps local flooding.

The combined temperature figures for the summer months of June, July and August show that Cerne Abbas experienced its hottest summer by some way with an average of 21.4C .The previous hottest over the last twenty years was last year's figure of 19.9C.

Although the very lengthy drought was a major characteristic of this summer, the rain in early June and later August produced a total of 149.1mm. which is well above the total of 67.6 mm which was all we received during the summer of 2022.

Philip Spray