THANKFULLY, although not a great month, August did show a vast improvement compared to July. It was on the warm side, quite dry and reasonably sunny.

There were no hot days but neither were there any cool ones, though it may have felt cold at times in the often fresh wind.

Indeed, lowest maxima and minima during the month were among the highest measured in August over the past two or three decades.

It was widely the mildest August since 2004. The last very warm one, more than 1C (2F) above the norm, was 12 years ago. An exception to this was on the east coast.

For my colleague, Trevor Goodall at Whitby, this August was the third warmest in his 32-year log. This arose because the month was dominated by south-westerlies that were, on occasions, unseasonably strong. Even when they weren’t, the winds were brisk enough to prevent the formation of sea breezes, which, as we all know, make it distinctly chilly on the coast usually in summer.

The changeable regime that featured for most of the season was brought by a succession of depressions heading north-east over the Atlantic.

Whereas in July, they largely swung across the British Isles, during August they were directed chiefly to the north of Scotland.

Consequently, associated fronts weakened as they traversed the country every few days. By the time they reached us, the rain on them tended to be much less intense than in July. Showers between were lighter and not so plentiful as well.

The range of rainfall totals that added up across Britain was huge. Places in Dumfries and Galloway experienced their wettest August on record with about 400mm (16ins), over three times their average. Parts of the South- East had barely 15mm (0.6ins), a quarter of their typical ration.

Being in the middle, but also sheltered by the Pennines, our accumulations were in the order of threequarters of the mean. They dwindled close to a third in Whitby, where it was the second driest August in my friend’s data.

Despite this, we actually had about four more days with rain than expected. Perhaps this helped to give the impression it was wetter than it was – but at least it was completely dry on half a dozen days.

A couple of locations in the far west of Scotland had rain every day from July 15 to the end of August. This is probably the first instance since observations began that the St Swithin’s Day legend has held true anywhere in the UK.

Temperatures over the summer in our region were around 0.5C (1F) above normal and, not surprisingly in view of the previous two, it was the mildest since 2006. It was the sunniest since then, too, but was, of course, the third consecutive extremely wet summer.

With the variable nature of the downpours in them, all three vied for top spot in the North-East. Here at Carlton, near Stokesley, with 312mm (12.3ins), it was my third wettest summer after those of 2007 (340mm, 13.4ins) and 2004 (313mm, 12.2ins) and the fourth of any season, with autumn 2000 amassing most rain, 388mm (15.3ins). There was 284mm (11.2ins) last summer – my average is 193mm (7.6ins).

August figures at Carlton in Cleveland: Mean max: 20.3C, 68.5F (+0.2C, 0.5F) Mean min: 12.8C, 55F (+1.2C, 2F) Highest max: 25.3C, 77.5F, 19th Lowest min: 9.0C, 48F, 8th Total rainfall: 56mm, 2.2ins (15mm, 0.6ins) Wettest day: 13mm, 0.5ins, 31st No of rain days, with 0.2mm (0.01ins) or more: 17 (+4) (Figures in brackets show the difference from the 26-year mean, 1983-2008).