With only two hours of August left and no sign of a dramatic change in the weather before midnight, here are the preliminary results of my weather calculations for the month...176mm of rain fell in Dundee this month. Given that the total annual rainfall is around 750mm, this means that slightly under one quarter of the annual rainfall fell in just one month! The long term average for Dundee in August is 55mm and so August this year in Dundee was three times wetter than usual. I can certainly believe that. However, 170 of the 176 mm had fallen by the 27th of the month. What happened on the 28th? We went back to school!
Something else happened on the 28th. The sun shone and the temperature rose! The same happened on the 29th. In fact, the two warmest days of the month were Thursday at 21.5 degrees and Friday at 20.9 degrees. And what happened on those days? Yes, we were back at school!! Mindyou, we weren't the hottest ... by a long way. According to the BBC weather report on Thursday it was really sweltering in Windsor..
However, before we start feeling sorry for ourselves, let us spare a thought for the people of the Caribbean and the Gulf Coast of the USA, who are now in the hurricane season and have either already felt the fury of Hurricane Gustav or are waiting for the storm to strike. In particular, we should remember the people of New Orleans, many newly returned to the city after the ravages of Katrina three years ago, who are now being evacuated again.
There is a good animated guide here which explains how hurricanes form and below, an image courtesy of the Met Office at 7pm this evening showing Gustav approaching the Gulf coast...
Meanwhile, the population of New Orleans prepare for Gustav's arrival
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