London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Chelsea 1956
Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health for the year 1956
This page requires JavaScript
- 24 -
METEOROLOGY - 1956 The following table gives brief details of temperatures, rainfall and sunshine recorded during the year, and has been compiled from information supplied by the Director of the Meteorological Office, based on data obtained at Kew Observatory,
| Daily Temperature of the Air | Total Rainfall (inches) | Total Sunshine (hours) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarter | Average of Highest | Average of Lowest | Average of Mean | ||
| March | 44.6° | 34.2° | 39.4° | 3.67 | 257.1 |
| June | 60.9° | 45.1° | 53.0° | 3.02 | 549.7 |
| September | 66.5° | 54.0° | 60.2° | 11.61 | 438.9 |
| December | 50.9° | 41.2° | 46.0° | 4.60 | 188.0 |
| TOTALS: | 22.90 | 1433.7 | |||
As compared with 1955, there was an excess of 8.74 inches of rain,
and a deficiency of 439 hours of sunshine during the September quarter,
which was notable for exceptional thundery conditions.
The highest and lowest temperatures recorded during each month of the year were as follows:-
| Highest | Lowest | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | (26th) | 53.8° | (31st) | 22.8° |
| February | (28th) | 53.6° | ( 2nd) | 17.1° |
| March | (26th) | 61.7° | ( 9 th) | 27.9° |
| April | (10th) | 64.6° | (16th) | 31.1° |
| May | (28th) | 76.3° | (19th) | 37.2° |
| June | (25th) | 74.8° | (15th) | 44.6° |
| July | (27th) | 81.7° | (22nd) | 48.6° |
| August | ( 8th) | 71.4° | (29th) | 44.6° |
| September | (23rd) | 75.2° | ( 1st) | 48.7° |
| October | (16th) | 62.6° | (26th) | 33.8° |
| November | ( 8th) | 56.3° | (23rd) | 24.8° |
| December | (12th) | 55.6° | (27th) | 29.3° |
NOTE: All temperatures shown are Fahrenheit readings.
Quarterly averages for south-eastern England as compared with normal anticipations.
| Rainfall | Sunshine | |
|---|---|---|
| March | 96% | 116% |
| June | 68% | 99% |
| September | 150% | 85% |
| December | 68% | 89% |