August 1893 was a hot and very thundery month. The CET for the month was 17.4°C. This nowadays is about 1 to 1.5°C above average but back then, it would have been more than 2.5°C above average.
It was the perfect setup for some thundery conditions with a big block of high pressure to the south of Greenland ridging through much of the UK and into Europe whilst a thundery trough laid out in the Atlantic close to Ireland dragging up a hot and very unstable southeasterly flow for much of the month. Kind of the dream month for thunderstorm enthusiasts.
The maximum temperature for August 1893 in the UK was 33.9°C at Stamford. According to ECA&D, the maximum temperature for Phoenix Park in August 1893 was 27.8°C on the 15th and it had a run of 20°C+ days from the 7th-20th August 1893 (14 consecutive days).
Now onto the real interest of this month, the thunderstorms!
Though this is of huge controversy for many years among the people for being inaccurate, Sydney Wilson reports that she observed a 5-minute rainfall of 31.7mm in a thunderstorm in Preston, Lancashire on 10th August 1893. Without thinking of the controversy, this to this day is the highest 5-minute rainfall total on record in either the UK or Ireland. This would have led to very severe flash flooding (understatement - it would be that bad). This kind of rainfall is the equivalent to an hourly rainfall rate of 380mm (15 inches)! Carlton-in-Cleveland in North Yorkshire on 10th August 2003 (exactly 110 years later) recorded up to 30mm in 5-minutes during another thunderstorm which is the highest 5-minute rainfall total on record in the UK if the Preston one of August 1893 was unreliable. Very fascinating how two severe thunderstorms of similar strength occurred on the exact same date 110 years apart (kind of like the Dublin deluge on 11 June 1993 and thunderstorm on 11 June 1963). Along with the flooding on 10 August 1893, manhole covers were forced six feet in the air.
Other reports from August 1893.
8th August
Carrablagh: Thunder and lightning in the SE about 8Pm and in the SW about 9pm gradually increasing and approaching; about midnight a great fall of rain took place; about 12.45am, the storms met and the display was most magnificent; about 1am the thunder and lightning were continuous.
9th August
Slough: Lightning all night
Oxford: Heavy thunder and almost continuous lightning at night.
Banbury: Vivid lightning most of the night.
Alderbury: Continuous lightning at night.
Shirenewton Hall: There were 11,540 flashes of lightning between east and north from 9pm till 2am on 10th.
Lisburn: Very severe thunderstorm, said to be the most severe for a considerable number of years.
Belfast: Thunder and lightning, the most vivif and continuous for many years
Ballymena: Great thunderstorm, unprecedented for many years.
10th August
Walthamstow: Thunderstorm in the early morning; in one minute 70 flashes of lightning were counted. Bishop's Hill: Very severe thunderstorm early with almost incessant lightning of all colours.
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