Page 13 - June 2025 Newsletter

cold front (area of low-pressure) in the middle of the month.

What was exceptional was the number of sunshine hours
measured. With 245 hours recorded this was the highest in our
area since 1895, when measurements were first taken.
Furthermore, the 30th was the sunniest April day ever recorded.
There was not a single day when the sun did not shine. Note that
the Ultraviolet Index (UVI) becomes high at this time of the year
even though the days may feel cool. Protection from the sun
between 11 am and 3
pm is essential as
unprotected skin will be
damaged by the UV
content of sunshine
between the months of
April and September,
when the UVI regularly
exceeds three, as shown
on the chart for sunshine and UVI levels.

Where has the rain gone?

We are currently experiencing one of the driest meteorological
spring periods, ie March to May, since records began according to
the Met Office [1]. As I write this article there are still two weeks
until the start of meteorological summer on 1 June, so plenty of
st
time for rainfall especially as school half-terms and a bank
holiday approach! In the light of this announcement by the Met
Office I looked up the rainfall data in Offchurch collected over the
past 28 years, see chart below. If the rainfall for the remainder of
May follows the current trend this will be our driest spring with just
44 mm of rainfall from 1 March to 15 May. However, 2011 will
st
th
run this spring a close second at 52 mm and may still be the driest
if we have more than 8 mm of precipitation in the next two weeks.
Looking across the whole of the UK the rainfall for this spring
needs to be under the 100.7 mm recorded in 1852, which is

13