Some days last month almost felt like summer! In some parts of the UK at least. However, the good weather never lasted long enough to let either heat or pollution to build up. This meant that for most of the UK it was the coldest August in ten years, and there were only 3 days with any significant pollution. The main patch of good weather came right at the start of the month, although even this was patchy in many places, particularly the northwest of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. High pressure over central Europe meant that the south of England got reasonably consistent fine weather, with sunshine and light breezes from the continent leading to build ups of ozone in the afternoons on the 1st, 5th and 11th.
Whilst the UK suffered from somewhat uninspiring weather, at times it seemed like we were the only ones not to be baking, burning and choking in the sun. The Mediterranean was particularly badly hit with widespread problems with smoke pollution in addition to the more immediately hazardous fires. Apart from the widely reported fires in Greece, Algeria and Sicily also suffered from widespread fires and smoke as well as many places in South America, particularly the Amazon; Montana, Idaho and Southern California in the US; and also in Eastern China.
Back in the UK, although we rarely suffer from wild fires, even smoke from bonfires should have been rare this summer. New waste management legislation was passed last year making it illegal to dispose of domestic waste "in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health", and thus effectively outlawing most bonfires.
