Rain puts dampener on long, hot summer

A change in the weather brought much-needed rain to a parched Stirling following the driest July in the area for four years.

Friday saw the beginning of a spell of wet weather for the city following a sizzling summer.

Heavy rainfall, as well as thunder and lightning, covered much of the area that day, with further showers on Saturday and Sunday. Between July 1 and last Thursday, just 5.1mm of rain fell on he city.

However, between Thursday and Monday that rose to 36.6mm.

The data was recorded by Twitter feed Stirling Weather which uploads data from an amateur weather station located at King’s Park. July ranks as the driest in several years. Last July the city saw 57.4mm of rain with 75.2mm in 2016, 107.9mm in 2015 and 43.4mm in 2014. Earlier this month the Observer reported that the city recorded 19 consecutive days without rainfall.

The rain gauge must measure at least 0.2mm of rainfall to be recorded as a `rainy day’.

Current forecasts suggests there is little chance of a repeat of the heavy rain which hit the area at the weekend.

Scott McLean, who runs Stirling Weather, said:“The outlook over the next week is looking reasonably dry, some showers at times, especially on Thursday, but it doesn’t look like there will be any further major downpours.

“It’ll be mostly cloudy for the week ahead with some sunny spells and top temperatures in the low 20s.”

The longest spell without a dry day, recorded by Stirling Weather, is 29 consecutive rainfall days, between December 2013 and January 2014.

Stirling Weather updates can be found onTwitter.