Record breaking Peterborough weather gives way to cooler conditions

The summer-like weather has been causing problems for farmers across the region as they try to deal with bone dry soil.

Trev Robbins-Pratt, from Peterborough Weather Watch, said the spring had been a record breaking one in Peterborough.
He said: “At only 0.2mm of ‘rain’ recorded, it is indeed not only the driest May I have recorded, with my data going back to 2006, it is my driest ever month. The second driest May was recorded back in 2010 and my driest ever month before May was the 1.4mm recorded June 2018. 
“My May mean temperature  was 14.1°C which slots into second place temperature wise in my data series, which only goes back to 2006. 
“The highest mean with me is 14.8°C in 2009. 
The average Maximum temperature was 19.9°C which again slots into second place, again behind May 2009 at 20.1°C. 
“The second half of May certainly a warm couple of weeks. The highest temperature I recorded was 28°C on the 20th, which is my third warmest May day.  
“The highest May day temperature with me is 29°C in 2010.  
“As for Spring 2020 (March 1-May 31), it is the second driest in my data with a total of 50.5mm of rain, which is around 42% of my spring average.  Spring 2011 is the driest in my data when only 30.2mm was recorded. 
“The reason for the warm and dry May was largely due to a relatively weak jet (stream) which allowed high pressure to become the dominant feature on our weather, keeping the Atlantic conveyor belt of low pressure and associated rain bearing fronts at bay.”