July 1st  An unsettled outlook: After a very average June with figures close to the means for most values, though notably dry and sunny in the SW and wet in central and eastern Scotland, the pattern seems set to change in the next week to a rather unsettled set up, although not a classically mobile one. This may well give the UK one of the cooler Julies of the last decade or so. As high pressure becomes slow moving just about everywhere except over the UK, it looks like cool unsettled pools of upper air will settled across the UK and lead to slow moving areas of low pressure for most parts initially . It will feel particularly poor, not so much because it is unusually poor but because the southerly patterns we have come to expect in recent summers will be absent. In fact it is worth noting that in recent years there have been an increasing number of summer months in which a cyclonic or more N'ly pattern has in fact dominated. Later in the month after about the 15th, high pressure may become a little more dominant however, and brief periods of anticyclonic conditions and then short lived southerly flows will see the temperatures rising to near or a little above average values, although we don't expected any protracted warm spells. Any warmth will be relatively short lived and soon replaced by fresher westerlies.

July 5th: Wll so far its been very average temparture wise, almost spot on the 1971-2000 average across England.  However although sunshine was also about average there has been 220% of the rainfall expected in the first 5 days of July. Given the rest of the week looks unsettled by 10 days in this could increase again. Having said that Scotland is actually doing quite well.  

July 6th: Today was notably unsettled. Across the south on the coast at Newhaven (E Sussex) saw a gust to 58mph (and 60mph yesterday) with heavy showers inland giving quite widespread thunderstorms in central and eastern parts today. Since midday on the 4th to midday today, Cardinham (nr Bodmin, Cornwall) has seen over 60mm of rain fall.

July 15th: Half way through July now and it is turning into one of the coolest on record recently. The average temperature across England is now 1.2C below average with over 250% of the average rainfall and just 86% of expected sunshine in the period. The next week does not look much better and should lead to a further fall in the temperatures (figures courtesy of Philip Eden). 

July 20th: Now 2/3 of the way through July and its still been a cool wet and rather dull month so far. However this looks set to change with a warm period on the way for the next week; temperatures in the south look likely to be above average, with as high as 27-28C possible by midweek. Some thundery weather also seems likely as well with the warmth as the upper air destabilises from the south/SW, though its still too early to say where will see the storms.  

July 26th saw the hottest day of the year so far. The roof on the old London Weather Centre saw 30.9C reached, though this is a non standardised exposure and so will not count for record purposes. The next highest was at Charlwood close to London Gatwick airport with 29.6C
 
July 27th: A breakdown from the very hot weather today with a lot of thunderstorms developing, mainly in a very warm upper plume of air ahead of a cold front, from SE England right up towards Wales. As temperatures near 30C were reached once again with 29.7C at Kew Gardens in SW London the air became 'juicy', a lot of warm moisture contained in its lower layers and primed for storm development. Scattered storms developed initially but an upper trough with deep lifting and upper cooling brought more widespread storms by evening for many along the south coast, central south, Wales and the NW of England. Parts of  Berkshire and Surrey saw about an inch of rain in an hour (25mm) and 3cm hail. The M5 at Smethwick (Brum) also saw 30mm fall in one hour. Houses were struck by lightning in places and set on fire, including one at Kidderminster. Four cars at a car showroom in Wednesbury, caught fire after being hit by lightning and flash flooding in Dudley and Tipton (W Midlands) caused at least one driver to be stranded in his vehicle as thousands of commuters faced problems getting home. Despite the heat recently, temperatures overall in July are still below average.

July 28th Cooler in the west but still a very warm day and hot in places in the east and SE. Cambridge Botanical Gardens recorded the warmest temperature of the day and indeed of July as a whole across the UK with a standardised reading of 30.2C.  

July 31st July ended very slightly cooler than average but a lot wetter and duller.