THE chilly, final week prevented August from being another record-breaking month for average temperatures, but it was still warm, especially by day, maintaining the mild sequence of months since January.

The mean day-time temperature for the first ten days here at Carlton, near Stokesley, was 25.7C (78F), but for the last seven days was a meagre 15.7C (60F). Saturday the 9th saw the mercury soar to 30C (86F) generally. As far as I know, Carlton was the hot spot in the region. With 31.5C (88.5F), it was the second hottest day in my 20-years of data. This equalled that on the 2nd August 1990 and has only been trumped by the 33.3C (92F) on the 3rd August 1990.

This was well short of the temperatures encountered in parts of southern Britain where the mercury peaked at 38.1C at Gravesend on the Sunday. This beat the UK record of 37.1C (99F) at Cheltenham in August 1990 and surpassed the 100F barrier for the first time at 100.5F. Even this was modest compared to just across the Channel, where 40C (104F) was comfortably and widely exceeded - in reality, I imagine, it was "uncomfortably" exceeded!

Meanwhile, earlier that day, we in the North-East were smashing records in a very different way. There is no need to remind you of the chaos brought to our area when a line of torrential thunderstorms, with marble-sized hail and a strong, gusty wind, drove across our region. Details were extensively covered in the media, including a report in this newspaper to which I contributed. I'll avoid repeating myself, but here are a few further snippets of information. At Carlton, we received an incredible 49mm (almost two inches) of rain in 15 minutes, approaching the monthly average of 64mm (2.5ins).

This put it well into the "very rare fall" category as defined by Bilham's Curves. E G Bilham ranked falls of rain according to the amount and duration into four levels, from "too numerous for discussion" to the very rare one. Those that come into the latter class have a time-span during which they can be expected to recur of more than 160 years, so it was much more than a "once-in-a-lifetime event".

On closer inspection of my rainfall recorder chart, I estimate that most, 45mm (1.8 ins), cascaded down in ten minutes, i.e. at 270mm (nearly 11 inches) per hour. At this rate, had it continued, we would have experienced our annual ration in just 2 hours.

This cloudburst therefore rates as one of the most intense downpours ever recorded in the British Isles. At the top of the list is the 32mm (1.25ins) in five minutes, i.e. 380 mm (15 ins) per hour, at Preston, Lancashire on August 10 1893. This is highly questionable as it was before the existence of recording rain-gauges. The universally accepted record is the 51mm (2.0ins) in 12 minutes, i.e. 255 mm (10 ins) per hour, at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire on June 17 1970.

Contrast these figures with my accumulation overnight on the 7th/8th when 12 hours of drizzle brought a mere 0.4mm (0.015ins). It would take 2 years of this to make up the normal rainfall for one year - what a depressing thought!

After the unsettled spell at the end of July, high pressure built strongly north-east from the Azores across the country. Winds backed from south-west towards the south-east and it became increasingly warm. The heat-wave was interrupted when the breeze switched into the east, bringing low cloud and mist into eastern districts, but only for a couple of days. This was pushed away early on Friday the 8th as the wave of record-breaking hot air came up from France.

A weak front edged into north-west Scotland over the weekend. It made little progress itself, but allowed some very cold air in the upper atmosphere to advance south-eastwards. With the heat below, this triggered the storms that developed over the southern Pennines early that Sunday morning, which then moved north-east across Teesside. The front eventually moved south-east across the region on the Monday bringing periods of rain with a few more rumbles of thunder.

Fresher air followed from the north-west and with the breeze remaining in a westerly quarter for the next ten days or so, temperatures were held nearer to normal values, but there was little if any rain.

After the bank holiday, a northerly flow became established with that significant drop in temperature. These brought overcast skies and occasional patches of mist and drizzle, particularly near the coast, then showers, but it did brighten up towards the final week-end.

The rainfall total crept above the norm here at Carlton, largely contributed to by that storm. Elsewhere it was dry or very dry. The summer was the hottest in my logs by a considerable margin, but with rainfall, in the main, not far short of what is usually expected.

AUGUST TEMPERATURES & RAINFALL at CARLTON-in-CLEVELAND:

Mean max 21.5C, 70.5F, (+1.4C, +2.5F)

Mean min 11.9C, 53.5F, (+0.5C, +1F)

Highest max 31.5C, 88.5F, 9th

Lowest min 5.2C, 41.5F, 31st

Total rainfall 66.2mm, 2.6ins, (+2mm, +0.1ins)

Wettest day 51.8mm, 2.05ins, 10th

No of rain days with 0.2mm (0.01ins) or more: 7 (-6).

Figures in brackets show the difference from the 20-year mean, 1984-2003.