Sheffield weather: July was the driest in England since 1935 - but how much rainfall did Sheffield see?

Provisional statistics from the Met Office have shown that July was the driest in England for over 85 years, with some areas of the country seeing the driest July on record.

Dominated by high pressure for much of the month, the UK saw just 56 per cent, or 46.3mm, of its average July rainfall. Rainfall, as usual, was not distributed evenly across the UK, and England saw the least, seeing just 35 per cent, or 23.1mm, of its average rainfall for the month.

On top of being the driest July since 1935, it was also a record-breaking month for much of the UK, including Sheffield. The extreme heatwave on July 18 and 19 saw the UK exceed temperatures of 40C.

Sheffield’s temperature record was broken during the heatwave, reaching a high of 39C on Tuesday, July 19.

The record breaking heatwave in the UK was not the only heat reported in the month, with warm periods either side of the heatwave also reported. The average maximum temperatures for July sit in the top ten for England at 23.5C, which was 2.3C higher than the average in many areas.

But just how much rainfall did Sheffield see throughout the month of July?

For Sheffield, unlike many parts of the UK, the average rainfall is not thought to have been the lowest since 1935.

The weather station at Weston Park, whilst only covering one area of the city, gives an insight into the rainfall Sheffield saw for July.

Sheffield’s average rainfall for July is 57mm, however, this July saw rainfall of 28.8mm – making the month an especially dry one for Sheffield at more than half the average rainfall in July.

In contrast to parts of England, this was not the driest in over 85 years, and in fact was the driest in just the last four years.

The month of July in 2018 saw rainfall of 22.0mm, over 6mm less than the July of 2022.

The city’s driest July on record, according to Weston Park’s weather station, was 1911 with 3.9mm of rainfall.

These local figures of the Weston Park area show that this July, whilst a very dry month, is not especially dry compared to many parts of England.