THIS is one of the few occasions when I can agree with the media and the many people who have expressed their disappointment with the weather over the past month. It was dull and distinctly cool.

However we shouldn't forget that, with the climate of recent years, a colder than average month is a rare event. Also, last winter was the sunniest ever recorded in the 100 years or so in which reliable measurements have been taken. It's intriguing how nature manages to even things up, though it is a shame when, for most of us, it's at the wrong time of year.

The poor showing was brought about by the dominance of north to north-easterly winds. This is unusual for July and more typical of a spring month, as reflected in the resulting temperatures too.

During the day, these were 2.5C (4.5F) below the norm, making it both as cool as June and the coldest July in my 17 years of data here at Carlton-in-Cleveland, near Stokesley, though July 1988 was close. For a cold month this was the largest difference from the mean for over four years.

Night-time temperatures held up slightly better due to the persistent cloud blanket. However, when this cleared on a couple of occasions, the mercury plummeted. Overnight on the 16-17, I recorded my lowest ever minimum in July. A slight ground frost would have occurred then and again early on 7th in those hollows prone to them.

July's only redeeming feature was that it was generally quite dry with about three-quarters of the usual rainfall. Those in East Cleveland affected by the torrential downpour and flash flooding, notably at Skinningrove, early on Sunday 2nd, will rightly contest this. Up to 38mm, about 1 ins, of rain fell locally in a few hours - as much as some of us had in the whole month. This deluge had moved up off the East Coast after developing over the hot, near-Continent the day before.

The month began with a southerly flow, but even by the 2nd the wind had backed to bring cool, overcast and misty conditions in from the North Sea. A brief spell of westerlies cleared this away for a few days from 7th, and this process was repeated around the 12th. It wasn't until Tuesday the 18th that temperatures rose above average as a high pressure area promisingly moved north-eastwards over Britain.

Alas, the high soon retreated northwards, allowing north-easterlies once more to blow in round its southern flank by the following weekend. Finally, about the 26th, a depression developed to the south-west of Britain enabling south-westerlies to return. It became reasonably warm for the rest of the month, though with widespread thundery showers.

July temperatures and rainfall at Carlton-in-Cleveland:

Mean maximum: 17.8C, 64F, (-2.6C, -4.7F)

Mean minimum: 10.1C, 50F, (-1.4C, -2.5F)

Highest: 24.3C, 76F, 21st

Lowest: 3.2C, 38F, 17th

Total rainfall: 35mm, 1.4ins, (-12mm, -0.5ins)

Wettest day: 8mm, 0.3ins, 9th;

No of rain days with 0.2mm (0.01ins) or more: 16 (+3).

Figures in brackets show the difference from the 16-year mean, 1984-99.