The anti-2023

[LetItSnow!]

Reviving this. Since @Summer8906 mentioned anti-seasonal years being flipped, here's 1974 flipped using my "special methodology". I'm just flipping the Met Office Monthly Weather Report and the C.E.T./rainfall as well as inversed 500mb height anomalies.

The anti-1974 (or 4971!):

January: Cold and anticyclonic. The month was mostly, dry and with high pressure. Freezing fog became widespread on some days, particularly the 8th and the 12th when cold air aloft combined with high pressure readings led to a spectacular Hoar frost. Winds were often light and blew from the north and east with no great gales during the month. Nonetheless, the month started mild with the 1st being bright, sunny and mild with a false sense of spring. Temperatures anomalies saw the biggest departure from normal in the south-east where temperatures ranged from 2.5°C to 5°C below normal, meanwhile across Scotland frosts weren't as frequent due to milder air making inroads at times. The mid-month period was very cold across the country and notably so in the south-east with temperatures falling below -10°C on several nights peaking on the 17th as temperatures fell around the -15°C mark in sheltered areas. It was driest January across Scotland in almost 50 years and in 14 years for the UK as a whole. Parts of central Scotland saw less than 30% of the average rainfall. Meanwhile, some northern, eastern and southern England were rather "wet" due to persistent, though mostly light snowfalls. The 6th to the 11th was particularly snowy with the south coast seeing significant accumulations on the 8th leading to people being trapped in their cars with main routes becoming impassible. Further heavy snowfall, this time focused on East Anglia gave some significant totals on the 17th and 18th. It tended to be dull in most places though not exceptionally so and there were no extended gloomy periods. It was sunny in western Scotland. (0.3 / 53mm)

February: Dry, cold and anticyclonic. High pressure dominated until the 17th but more unsettled weather took place for a time after that. When high pressure dominated, the weather was mostly settled, frosty and foggy with frequent but light snowfalls. Some days were pleasant in sunny spells but nights were cold. After this it became windy and showery with these being of hail, sleet and snow. Pressure was particularly high from the 6th to 12th and this created disruption due to thick freezing fog. Temperatures were below average everywhere though it was less cold in the west than the east with temperatures ranging from 1°C to 4°C below normal. The 21st was a freezing cold day with a notably cold airmass from the east giving the coldest day of the century across the south. It was very dry with large parts of the south only having a quarter or so the normal rainfall. The month was mostly bone dry up until the 17th apart from light snow showers. Snowfall became more widespread and heavier thereafter. Sunshine followed the same pattern as January and was mostly dull but sunny in parts of Scotland. (2.0 / 36mm)

March: Sunny but unsettled with infrequent settled periods. The first half of the month was rather mild but it became colder later. Wet and windy weather dominated, especially in the third week. Eastern and southern areas were often dull after the 21st. Winds were often strong to gale force in the first half but became more easterly in the second-half. A taste of spring from the 9th to the 11th with temperatures into the mid-teens widely. Colder in the second half with some particularly raw daytime highs. The closing days were particularly cold with temperatures falling into double digits in places. Some isolated parts were dry but most areas were wet. Most areas were sunny. (5.5 / 93mm)

April: Extremely wet. Dull in the west, sunny in the east. Low pressure was over the country for virtually the entire month bar some higher pressure in the south on the 27th and 28th. The first ten days saw lots of cloudy, wet weather with low temperatures by day but mild minima, though parts of the east that were sheltered from the westerlies were sunnier. Winds were often quite strong and mainly from the west, though some days in the south were sheltered from this at times. Rainfall was around double the average in every region, though anomalies were extreme in parts of the north-west and across East Anglia where anomalies exceeded 400% in places. Much of northern England/Scotland saw rainfall every day of the month. The 11th and 12th were the only mostly dry days of the month. It was mostly dull to very dull, but isolated eastern coastal districts enjoyed a sunny April. (8.0 / 160mm)

May: Unsettled. Dry in some western areas but exceptionally wet in the east. Despite pressure being relatively high, several very wet spells that occured throughout the month made it very wet overall. Winds were mostly westerly but turned easterly in the final ten days. There were no strong gales but it was rarely settled. The first half was very warm at times. The 8th was the warmest day so early in the year for almost 40 years with temperatures widely into the mid/upper 20s. Another notably warm day on the 12th. Temperatures plummeted in the second half and there were air frosts as far south as East Anglia by the 18th. Away from Northern Ireland, western Scotland, western parts of Wales and the south-west which were dry, everywhere else was wet. It was particularly wet across East Anglia and north-eastern coastal regions. Tynemouth had its wettest May for 48 years and the usually dry East Anglia saw totals of over 100mm, even more notable for following an extremely wet April. Where it was dry it tended to be sunny but most places were dull. There were some long dull spells mid-month and towards the closing days, mostly in the east. (11.8 / 116mm)

June: Changeable. Mostly fine but punctuated by some wet spells. Winds were mostly easterly from the 1st to the 11th and were mostly light leading to some beautiful conditions, especially inland and out west with temperatures widely in the mid/upper 20s away from eastern coasts where fog could be hard to clear. The 6th saw a notably high pressure readings. Settled, warm conditions were replaced with cool westerlies mid-month and it became unsettled, wet and windy at times. It became cool mid-month with temperatures pegged back into the mid-teens Celsius in many places and again in the final ten days, though no exceptionally cold weather occured. Rainfall varied somewhat but it was generally wet further north-west and dry further south-east. Sunshine totals weren't exceptional in any regard in most places, with the north-west tending to be dull and further south-east it tended to be sunny. Despite cool and unsettled spells in the second-half at times there were no protracted dull spells and sunshine was never far away. (15.1 / 64mm)

July: Changeable but hot. High pressure was often in the vicinity, but positioned just far north to allow frequent disturbances to the weather, these usually being of a humid and thundery type rather than typical Atlantic dominated weather. Pressure was often weak with little in the way of big low pressure systems. It was a humid month with frequent thunderstorms meaning that it had the unusual distinction of being very warm but wet. Winds mostly blew from the east and were slack leading to slow moving downpours which lead to very high rainfall totals in places. Temperatures ranged from 1°C to 2.5°C above normal. There was  There was a cooler spell around the 8th and again around the 20th but for most areas in the south the temperature exceeded at least 21°C every day of the month and no notably low temperatures occured. The north-west tended to be driest and avoided the brunt of convective activity so it was dry here but it was very wet in parts of East Anglia and the south-east with totals over double the norm. Flash flooding was commonplace. Sunshine was above average in most areas but it tended to be duller in the north and very dull in the north-west. (17.5 / 94mm)

August: Warm and mostly settled but dull. High pressure was in the ascendancy for the most part but low pressure interludes did occur at times though they weren't overly potent. Most of the month was mostly dry but punctuated by normal wet spells at times meaning rain was rather infrequent. For a settled month it was rather breezy at times with winds often from the north and east. It tended to be warmer (relatively) the further north and west whereas some eastern coastal locations were slightly cooler than average. There tended to be a lot of inoffensive weather with pleasant days. There were no notably cool or dull spells and this helped boost the average, but likewise there was little in the way of excessive heat. East Anglia and the southeast were rather wet, but most places were dry. (16.7 / 70mm)

September: Very warm and settled. High pressure dominated all month with very high readings at times. Any troughs were very weak and short lived. The month was mostly dry, settled and mostly very warm/hot at times. Rainfall was scarce and even in the more unsettled spells many places stayed dry. There were some isolated thunderstorms in the south at the end of the month. High pressure built in and by the 2nd it had turned hot with the first week having hot sunshine and very high pressure. The month was warm everywhere, ranging from slightly warmer than average in the far north to as much as 4°C above normal in parts of the south and west. After a cooler phase it turned very warm again during the final two weeks and by the 27th temperatures were back in the upper 20s Celsius across southern England. Plymouth saw no measurable rain all month. Despite the settled weather, parts of Scotland were rather dull, but England was sunny. (15.6 / 27mm)

October: Warm and changeable. It was settled in the south but unsettled in the north. Winds often blew from the south-west and the south-east and were mostly light. Temperatures were above average everywhere but especially so in the south-east where anomalies were as much as 4°C above normal. Except for a few cooler days warmer than average weather persisted the whole month and many parts of the UK failed to record a single frost. It was wet in the north-west but in the south-east corner it was exceptionally dry with less than a third the normal rainfall in parts. It technically was an official drought as some places saw no rainfall for a month. Away from the SE there wet weather at times with unusual intensity aided by very warm air often associated with it, but there was some fine weather inbetween the deluges. The dry conditions were met in some places in the south-east with severe thunderstorms on the 28th. The north-west was very dull due to moisture laden air bringing lots of cloud, but elsewhere it was a sunny October. (12.8 / 105mm)

November: Dry and settled. High pressure dominated the month and while there were unsettled spells, they were mostly short-lived. In a change from the autumn so far, it was quite chilly as winds tended to blow from the east and north though mostly gentle winds. The 11th to the 14th was very foggy with freezing fog in places causing disruption, an abrupt change to the abnormally warm frost-free weather that had dominated so far. Further foggy anticyclonic gloom dominated from the 24th to the 26th. Temperatures didn't stray that far from normal anywhere with anomalies being around 1°C, mostly cold across England but rather mild in the far north. In the south-east that escaped the rainfall in October it topped off an extremely dry autumn as November was very dry. East Anglia and the south-east saw less than half of the average rainfall. Sunshine varied due to the persistance of fog in places, but it tended to be dull in the south in and sunny in the north. Parts of Essex had the dullest November of the century. (5.9 / 65mm)

December: Extremely cold and snowy. Exceptionally cold weather prevailed. Snowfall occured at times, especially in the south and east where falls were significant at times, meanwhile it was very dry in Scotland. Fog often formed inland. Winds were from a northerly or easterly quadrant almost all month. London was inundated with its heaviest snowfall in years on the 11th where rapid falling snow and light winds created a winter wonderland scene quickly. A week of heavy snowfalls created travel mayhem for Christmas as roads were impossible to navigate by the 17th as snowfall made roads dangerous and trees and branches snapped from the weight of the snow. It was the coldest December for 40 years and contrasted with the exceptional warmth of September and October. Severe cold set in on the 20th after a brief thaw mid-month and temperatures fell so low that it was enough to kill some plant life. The temperature didn't get above freezing after the 20th in snow covered parts. While Scotland saw little in the way of disruptive snow, snow was heavy enough to collapse roofs in Kent on the 11th. Sunshine followed the usual pattern in blocked months with Scotland and sheltered western parts being very sunny but the east being very dull. (-0.3 / 109mm)

Annual CET: 9.27°C

Annual rainfall: 996mm

Edited March 7 by LetItSnow!

[LetItSnow!]

Here's an interesting one, the anti-1740. The real 1740 is by far the coldest year ever recorded. Using the C.E.T. and limited data/reports from this year, here's what its anti may look like. I imagine a year in the 2020s or 2030s could read like this, so it's written in the style of that rather than as "anti-1740". The C.E.T.s are not calculated by the opposite anomaly but by each months relative ranking in the C.E.T.

Jan 7.1 Feb 7.3 Mar 6.8 Apr 9.7 May 13.9 Jun 16.0 Jul 16.5 Aug 16.7 Sep 12.8 Oct 14.3 Nov 9.2 Dec 6.0 - 11.36C

This winter was extremely mild. It included a notably mild January and February, both of which were in the 'top-5' of coldest such-named months. Using the CET series, both January and February averaged above 7.0C, the only time this has ever occured. An exceptionally severe south-westerly gale on the 11th of January accomapnied by remarkably mild temperatures in the mid-teens. London saw its most damaging windstorm since 1703. Much of southern England was completely frost free during both January and February. A notably wet January across England & Wales. Heavy rainfall over the winter culminated in severe flooding in March.

Following a warm winter, a notably warm spring. Temperatures on the 16th of May rose to 32C in London, breaking the record for the earliest 90F ever recorded. A very warm June followed.

After a period of unexceptional temperatures from July to September the anomalous warmth returned in October, breaking the record for warmest such-named month by over 1C. Unusually warm from the 9th to the 12th of October with temperatures into the upper 20s.

Alternatively, the C.E.Ts relative to their rankings at the time instead of all time.

Jan 7.5 Feb 8.5 Mar 7.9 Apr 10.5 May 13.8 Jun 17.0 Jul 18.0 Aug 18.0 Sep 11.5 Oct 14.3 Nov 8.6 Dec 7.3 - 11.91C

Edited April 20 by LetItSnow!

[Summer8906]

 LetItSnow! Interesting on the anti-1974, certainly a lot of extremes though the summer anti-1974 does not sound exceptional for dry, sunny weather - an indication that the real summer 1974, despite being cool, wasn't as bad as all that?

[B87]

An anti 1954 or 1958 would be great.

London anti-1954

Av max/rainfall

Jan: 10.9c / 94.1mm

Feb: 11.9c / 38.5mm

Mar: 13.0c / 26.3mm

Apr: 16.8c / 75.5mm

May: 20.0c / 39.2mm

Jun: 24.6c / 23.7mm

Jul: 28.6c / 29.5mm

Aug: 27.0c / 17.9mm

Sep: 22.4c / 41.1mm

Oct: 14.8c / 76.1mm

Nov: 10.9c / 37.7mm

Dec: 7.9c / 67.6mm

 

A very mediterranean precipitation pattern, a dry summer with the hottest July on record. Jan-Sep with above average temperatures. Oct-Dec below average.

Edited April 26 by B87

[LetItSnow!]

 B87 I’ll take a look at the Met Office reports and conjure up a anti report 

[Summer8906]

I guess it's time for an update on the anti-2024.

I think I did both Jan and Feb, so to continue with March:

The month started anticyclonic and dry with variable cloud and temps close to normal. A rather cold and dull cyclonic N-ly with a long sea track over the North Sea intervened for a few days around the 8th, before a much drier and anticyclonic NE-ly type set in for the following two weeks. As a result it was sunny, dry, cold by day and extremely cold by night. Places exposed to the east wind had occasional wintry showers and one or two disturbances in the flow produced longer periods of snow, though these soon melted in the increasingly strong sunshine.

For the weekend of the 23rd/24th the high pressure shifted eastwards allowing a cloudy and rather hazy though still dry SE-ly intervene for a couple of days. Temps climbed to near average. Finally a straight anticyclonic type took over for the final week and it was sunny by day with one or two days seeing temps exceed the normal for the first time in the month. Easter Saturday despite being anticyclonic saw a weak frontal system produce extensive drizzle though Easter Sunday produced very stable and anticyclonic conditions with variable cloud.

Overall, cold, dry and sunny.

And, while the month is not over yet, the direction of travel is apparent so April:

The 1st featured a keen easterly wind as the high of late March moved a little north and it was rather dull and cold but also dry. Easterlies and occasional northerlies took hold for the first 10 days and produced distinctly cold conditions both day and night, with conditions very reminiscent of (real) early April 2013. Exposed parts had some further wintry showers but overall it was very sunny. A notable feature was the polar low feature which moved SSW-wards on Saturday 6th producing a spell of heavy snow for most areas, even in the south. That day was also somewhat dull but the sunshine returned on the 7th which melted the snow cover, in the same manner as the similar April (real) 2008 event.

The 11th and 12th saw a low over the continent gain more influence and as a result, while remaining cold, it turned rather showery particularly to the south.

From the 15th a change of type occurred with a large Atlantic low drawing up southerlies. It turned very much warmer with temps around 17C or so widely, but the proximity of the low meant a lot of cloud around, and wavering fronts brought up pulses of occasionally heavy rain. There were drier days too, but they were very dull. It was unseasonably humid and damp. The 20th and 21st were particularly poor with the low centred over the country and extensive heavy rain, though the southerlies kept it mild.

From the 22nd the low withdrew into the Atlantic and a spell of anticyclonic southerlies produced drier and sunnier conditions, with a few showers to the west. Towards the east temps reached the low 20s for the first time in the year.

At the end of the month the southerly flow was cut off and a more general anticyclonic type returned temps to near normal but it remained dry and sunny.

Overall, dry, sunny and somewhat below normal though with a distinct contrast between a very cold first half and somewhat warm second half.

To this point, all four months of anti-2024 have been dry and below normal, and three have been sunny.

Edited April 26 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

 B87 Was Jan 1954 extremely cold?

An average max of 10.9 suggests an exceedingly mild month (around +4 above normal by max) but didn't think Jan 1954 had a -4 anomaly for maxima. I remember going through the 50s winters some time ago and don't remember Jan 1954 being especially cold.

Edited April 26 by Summer8906

[B87]

 LetItSnow! Heathrow anti-1958

Av max/rainfall/sun hours

Jan: 10.0c / 53.3mm / 82.1 hrs

Feb: 9.1c / 31.3mm / 111.9 hrs

Mar: 15.3c / 51.6mm / 143.7 hrs

Apr: 17.7c / 55.1mm / 200.2 hrs

May: 19.5c / 32.3mm / 225.8 hrs

Jun: 23.8c / 21.5mm / 264.6 hrs

Jul: 26.1c / 39.7mm / 245.1 hrs

Aug: 26.0c / 30.4mm / 301.1 hrs

Sep: 20.4c / 15.4mm / 179.4 hrs

Oct: 16.7c / 79.5mm / 136.2 hrs

Nov: 13.3c / 82.5mm / 100.6 hrs

Dec: 9.6c / 29.1mm / 80.4 hrs

 Summer8906 it had an average max of 5.9c in the real world, 2.5c below average. The Jan avg max is 8.4c.

Edited April 26 by B87

[Summer8906]

 B87 was the Jan average max for any 30-year period including 1954 as high as 8.4 though?

8.4 sounds like a climate-change-influenced 1991-2020 value, rather than the typical value for the second half of the 20th century.

[B87]

 Summer8906 I used the current averages to see how an anti-1954 or 1958 would end up today.

The 61-90 average, which was one of the colder 20th century averages, was 7.1c for January. The 1900-1930 average high for January at Greenwich was 7.6c.

Edited April 26 by B87

[Summer8906]

 B87 Ah OK. To be honest though perhaps we need to use the anomaly of 1954 with respect to one of the 30-year periods containing it, which would be around -1 assuming 61-90 is similar to 51-80.

So arguably, an anti Jan 1954 should really have a +1 anomaly with respect to whatever time period you want to set it in.

Edited April 26 by Summer8906

[B87]

Created the anti 2008, which was probably the worst individual year since 2000 (even worse than 2021). Even with the colder start to the year, it ends up far superior to the real life 2008, which was a cold, dull and wet mess. July and August actually deliver summer like weather this time, while the decreased sunshine in June doesnt really matter as much once March, April, May, July, August and September actually deliver.

Jan: 6.4c / 48.6mm / 57.6 hrs

Feb: 7.0c / 74.6mm / 19.7 hrs

Mar: 12.8c / 7.8mm / 155.3 hrs

Apr: 16.3c / 21.2mm / 199.1 hrs

May: 17.0c / 27.6mm / 232.1 hrs

Jun: 22.4c / 49.0mm / 189.9 hrs

Jul: 25.0c / 14.8mm / 239.5 hrs

Aug: 25.3c / 41.2mm / 284.7 hrs

Sep: 21.9c / 56.2mm / 191.1 hrs

Oct: 16.6c / 85.2mm / 85.8 hrs

Nov: 12.3c / 74.4mm / 95.1 hrs

Dec: 10.3c / 73.0mm / 40.9 hrs

Edited April 26 by B87

[LetItSnow!]

On 26/04/2024 at 16:44, B87 said:

An anti 1954 or 1958 would be great.

Anti-1958 using reverse coloured maps and Met Office data.

January anti-1958: Changeable. Slightly milder and duller than average; dry. A week of very mild, balmy SW'lies from the 18th to the 25th before a spectacular drop in temperature with winds turning to the north by month's end.

C.E.T.: 4.3 (+0.4) / EWP: 68.6mm (84%) / Sunshine: 96%

February anti-1958: Very dry and very sunny but rather cold. Coldest further south.

C.E.T.: 3.0 (-1.1) / EWP: 29.4mm (45%) / Sunshine: 130%

March anti-1958: Mild, wet and rather dull. Some very warm spring temperatures. Exceptional warm spell mid-month for the time of year mid-month with 23-24C widespread across the London/Home Counties region.

C.E.T.: 7.4 (+1.6) / EWP: 83.2mm (134%) / Sunshine: 97%

April anti-1958: Very wet and rather mild with about average sunshine. Notable warm spell early on culminating on the 5th with temperatures into the low/mid 20s.

C.E.T.: 8.8 (+0.7) / EWP: 108.4mm (184%) / Sunshine: 102%

May anti-1958: Dry and slightly warmer than average. Average sunshine. Rather changeable and cool at times in the first-half but becoming warmer and drier later.

C.E.T.: 11.7 (+0.3) / EWP: 48.1mm (75%) / Sunshine: 100%

June anti-1958: Very dry and very sunny; warm by day but with cool nights so overall near normal temperatures. Exceptionally dry for most of England and Wales but closer to normal rainfall across Scotland.

C.E.T.: 14.3 (+0.1) / EWP: 34.1mm (51%) / Sunshine: 136%

July anti-1958: Changeable but overall dry with near-normal temperatures and sunshine. Particularly dry in NI.

C.E.T.: 16.3 (+0.2) / EWP: 66.5mm (84%) / Sunshine: 103%

August anti-1958: Very sunny and dry but with near-normal temperatures. Generally a lot of usable sunny, warm and dry weather with no great heatwaves.

C.E.T.: 15.8 (-/+) / EWP: 56.9mm (69%) / Sunshine: 138%

September anti-1958: Cold and dry. Generally sunnier in the Midlands and the west but dull in the east.

C.E.T.: 11.9 (-1.6) / EWP: 43.7mm (54%) / Sunshine: 102%

October anti-1958: Wet and on the chilly side. Dry and at first but turning more cold and unsettled as the month progressed. Particularly cold by night, especially from the 20th-23rd.

C.E.T.: 9.6 (-0.6) / EWP: 109.7mm (114%) / Sunshine: 103%

November anti-1958: Wet and stormy but very sunny. The month was remarkably wet across the Lake District region. Rain fell every day across much of southern England in the second-half of the month.

C.E.T.: 6.4 (-/+) / EWP: 153.5mm (165%) / Sunshine: 133%

December anti-1958: Dry, sunny and slightly cooler than average. Unsettled at first but becoming anticyclonic.

C.E.T.: 4.1 (-0.4) / EWP: 67.3mm (78%) / Sunshine: 132%

Annual C.E.T. - 9.47C (-0.03)

Annual EWP - 869.4mm (94%)

Edited May 7 by LetItSnow!

[Summer8906]

 LetItSnow! That shows what a poor year the real 1958 was!

April was presumably good, October ok, and January had some wintry interludes but that was about it. November 1958 was presumably very dry but very dull - in other words, classically Novemberish.

Looks like summer 1958 (the real one), while wet and dull, was not especially cool. So it would have probably fitted quite well into recent summers!

The good April and poor summer was of course very typical of the 2007-2021 period, also.

The 1954-59 period certainly had some "notable" summers. Three very poor ones (1954, 1956, 1958), two very good ones (1955 and 1959) and one with a very good June but very poor July and August (1957, aka the 20th-century version of 2023).

Edited May 8 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow!]

On 26/04/2024 at 16:44, B87 said:

anti 1954

My anti-1954 adjusted for the modern day climate. Temperature anomalies are against the 1991-2020 average.

January: A rather mild, dull and rather wet southwesterly month but with a colder and dryer spell from the 14th to the 20th.

CET: 5.2 (+0.5) / EWP: 99.0mm (121%) / Sunshine: 89%

February: Mild, dry and sunny. An exceptionally mild first week with high pressure to the south bringing balmy south-westerly winds; spring sunshine in the south with temperatures in the mid/upper teens, but some heavy rain and strong winds in the north-west. Tending to become more anticyclonic afterward.

CET: 5.9 (+0.9) / EWP: 45.6mm (69%) / Sunshine: 118%

March: Changeable but overall fairly average temperatures and dry. Some northerly topplers bringing the average down.

CET: 6.2 (-0.5) / EWP: 44.0mm (71%) / Sunshine: 99%

April: Very wet and dull with near normal temperatures due to high minima and no particualrly high maxima. Many places saw rain fall every day from the 6th to the 27th in some form.

CET: 8.9 (-0.1) / EWP: 100.1mm (170%) / Sunshine: 86%

May: Dry, sunny and rather warm though rather changeable.

CET: 12.5 (+0.6) / EWP: 45.4mm (71%) / Sunshine: 124%

June: Hot, dry and sunny.

CET: 16.5 (+1.8) / EWP: 38.3mm (57%) / Sunshine: 132%

July: Very hot and exceptionally sunny but not exceptionally dry, suggesting a thundery month.

CET: 18.8 (+1.9) / EWP: 66.9mm (57%) / Sunshine: 142%

August: Hot, sunny and dry. The 16th to the 24th saw virtually unbroken sunshine across the whole UK.

CET: 18.1 (+1.6) / EWP: 43.8mm (53%) / Sunshine: 141%

September: Rather warm but quite dull overall. Notably dry further north-west but rather wet in the east and south-east.

CET: 14.7 (+0.5) / EWP: 59.6mm (77%) / Sunshine: 91%

October: Very cold but sunny and dry, notably so in parts of Scotland.

CET: 8.7 (-2.2) / EWP: 72.6mm (76%) / Sunshine: 115%

November: A dry, chilly and anticyclonic month. Particularly dry in the south-west.

CET: 6.0 (-1.5) / EWP: 42.3mm (46%) / Sunshine: 112%

November: A rather cold and sunny month but with some big falls of snow, particularly across the south-east on the 8th and in the north-west on the 17th into the 18th.

CET: 2.4 (-2.4) / EWP: 70.8mm (82%) / Sunshine: 109%

 

Annual CET: 10.33 (+0.09) / EWP: 730.8mm (79%) / Sunshine: 113%

Summer would be the hottest on record, +0.1C above 1976. Would be 12th driest year on record.

Non AGW version (Using opposite ranks):

 4.0 - 5.3 - 5.0 - 8.3 - 11.3 - 15.3  -18.2  -16.9  - 14.1  - 7.5 - 5.3 - 1.2 / 9.37C

 

Edited Monday at 18:08 by LetItSnow!

[Summer8906]

 LetItSnow! From May to December anti-1954 sounds very good indeed in the main... a sign of how awful the final two-thirds of the real 1954 were!

[LetItSnow!]

What about the anti-1912? 1912 is the dullest year on record so I imagine this would, for many, be a corker.

CBA with the anomaly maps this time.

January: A dry and very sunny month with frequent northwesterlies. I imagine quite a lot of cold zonality but often dry, especially in the south.

CET: 3.5 (-0.4) / EWP: 53.8mm (66%) / Sunshine: 131%

February: A mild and wet start with balmy south-westerly winds but quickly turning drier and colder. Frequent northerlies and north-easterlies. "Wet" in the south-east but drier elsewhere. Very sunny.

CET: 2.5 (-1.6) / EWP: 60.9mm (93%) / Sunshine: 121%

March: A very cold but extremely dry and rather sunny month. A near permanent anticyclone all month with winds often from an easterly or north-easterly direction. I imagine it would be duller further south though with occasional snow grains.

CET: 4.5 (-1.3) / EWP: 15.8mm (26%) / Sunshine: 110%

April: Extremely wet, rather cool and very dull. Frequent easterlies in the first half before becoming more westerly and milder later. The wettest April on record for the south-east.

CET: 7.2 (-0.9) / EWP: 142.4mm (241%) / Sunshine: 80%

May: Near-normal rainfall and temperatures but sunny.

CET: 11.0 (-0.4) / EWP: 68.0mm (106%) / Sunshine: 116%

June: Warm, very dry and very sunny. Very warm first half with a slightly more changeable second half with some northerlies but very little in the way of rain. Probably a month with very warm days but near normal/rather cool minima.

CET: 14.8 (+0.6) / EWP: 22.2mm (33%) / Sunshine: 134%

July: On the warm side and sunny but rather changeable. A hot and humid start then thundery for a time before altnernating spells of high pressure and low pressure but without any long, dull spells. High pressure and hot easterlies returning by month's end.

CET: 16.6 (+0.5) / EWP: 61.8mm (78%) / Sunshine: 125%

August: The hottest, driest and sunniest August on record. Virtually rainless almost everywhere apart from some isolated storms on the 11th, 22nd and 31st. Permanent baking hot winds from the south and east. London failed to record a maxima lower than 22C all month.

CET: 19.5 (+3.7) / EWP: 8.3mm (10%) / Sunshine: 169%

September: Rather warm and sunny but very wet. Remaining very warm in the first-half but much cooler with frequent north-westerlies in the second half. Severe thunderstorms as low pressure finally encroaches from the south-west on the 2nd, breaking the drought, then dry and hot for another couple of days before low presure takes over by the 7th though remaining humid with winds from the south/south-west until the 12th. Then cool to very cool for the remainer of the month with frequent westerlies/northwesterlies.

CET: 14.7 (+1.2) / EWP: 110.7mm (137%) / Sunshine: 106%

October: A very changeable month with near-normal stats masking some large variations. Generally unsettled in the first half, starting mild, then a colder spell from the north mid-month, but then becoming anticyclonic in the second half with pleasant days but cool nights.

CET: 10.1 (-0.1) / EWP: 95.6mm (100%) / Sunshine: 95%

November: Extremely sunny, the sunniest November on record, but rather wet. Average temperatures. 

CET: 6.5 (+0.1) / EWP: 98.7mm (106%) / Sunshine: 137%

December: After the sunniest November, the sunniest December. Cold with some severe snowfall over the south-west.

CET: 1.9 (-2.6) / EWP: 52.4mm (59%) / Sunshine: 171%

Annual: 

CET: 9.4 (-0.1C) / EWP: 790.6mm (86%) / Sunshine: 124%

Would rank 35th driest year and beat 2003 as sunniest.

Edited Wednesday at 21:03 by LetItSnow!

[Summer8906]

 LetItSnow! Looks like real 1912 was a simply dire year to live through, and not just the notoriously bad summer.

Interesting that real April 1912 was evidently very good though - the whole profile reminds me of many recent years!

Real September 1912 also looks OK.

Edited yesterday at 08:26 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow!]

What about the anti-2011? 2011 is infamous for being all out of season, so perhaps the antithesis would be better?

Same as last time. Creative liberties taken.

January: Dull, cool and dry - though very sunny in the south-east where it was also driest.

CET: 3.4 (-0.5) / EWP: 67.7mm (83%) / Sunshine: 86%

February: Very cold - particularly cold across England & Wales - but also sunny. Very dry in the north-west but closer to normal totals further south and rather wet in parts of the south-west, though much of this precipitation fell as snow. Exceptionally sunny in Scotland but rather dull across the south-east into East Anglia.

CET: 0.9 (-3.2) / EWP: 45.4mm (69%) / Sunshine: 121%

March: Very cold, very wet and very dull with a lot of heavy snowfall. Particularly wet across the Midlands. Only north-east Scotland escaped the worst where it was rather dry and sunny, though still cold.

CET: 3.9 (-1.9) / EWP: 107.1mm (173%) / Sunshine: 77%

April: Extremely cold, beating the previous coldest of April 1837 by a fair margin. Extremely wet and dull as well though western Scotland was rather dry and less notably dull. A remarkable snowstorm across many parts of northern England on the 5th-6th as unseasonably cold air from the north-east met low pressure.

CET: 4.1 (-4.0) / EWP: 113.9mm (193%) / Sunshine: 67%

May: Cold - especially in the east - and generally wet and dull but with some regional variation. The east was very wet, particularly the south-east, whereas the north-west and western Scotland was very dry. Sunshine followed a similar pattern being dull most places but sunny in the west of Scotland and generally sunnier in the west as a whole. It topped off the fourth coldest spring on record.

CET: 10.3 (-1.1) / EWP: 79.4mm (124%) / Sunshine: 95%

June: Warm and dry. It was particularly dry across central southern areas on the south coast meanwhile rather wetter in the Midlands due to a thundery spell. It was very sunny across western Scotland but rather dull across England. Similarly it was warmer in the west than in the east.

CET: 15.0 (+0.8) / EWP: 44.7mm (67%) / Sunshine: 100%

July: Changeable and rather wet with overall average temperatures. Rather warm and sunny in the south but cool and dull in the north. It was notably wet around south Wales down through Somerset due to a thundery spell.

CET: 16.4 (+0.3) / EWP: 91.7mm (116%) / Sunshine: 98%

August: Sunny and dry but with average temperatures. It was notably dry and sunny in Scotland, meanwhile parts of the Midlands were rather cool. Many places were on the dry side but it was very dry in eastern Scotland the north-east as well as central southern areas but very wet in the west Midlands and parts of north Wales. It generally was warmer and drier in the west.

CET: 15.7 (-0.1) / EWP: 70.2mm (85%) / Sunshine: 135%

September: Cold, wet and dull away from western Scotland where it was sunny and dry. Generally very wet and dull in the east but drier and sunnier in the west. Cold everywhere. There was a notable northerly blast at month's end that brought an exceptionally cold spell with wintry showers over the high ground of Scotland and an air frost to many places.

CET: 11.5 (-2.0) / EWP: 104.1mm (129%) / Sunshine: 95%

October: Very cold. Very wet across much of England, particualrly the south-east, but dry in the north-west. Sunshine followed the same pattern where it was exceptionally sunny in western Scotland but extremely dull in East Anglia in particular. An exceptionally cold start to the month as an unusually frigid airmass from the north-east gave outbreaks of heavy snow in places from the 1st to the 3rd with a widespread air frost with temperatures going down to record levels for early October.

CET: 7.1 (-3.1) / EWP: 127.8mm (133%) / Sunshine: 97%

November: Extremely cold - the second coldest on record. Wet, but a lot of it falling as snow, particularly in the north. Particularly wet on the east coast but very dry in western Scotland once again. This finished off the coldest autumn on record, beating the previous record by 0.5C.

CET: 2.4 (-4.0) / EWP: 121.2mm (129%) / Sunshine: 98%

December: Quite cold though nearer normal across Scotland. Dry away from eastern coastal areas. Very sunny in the west but very dull in the east. It was particularly cold in the central south into south-west region.

CET: 3.3 (-1.2) / EWP: 57.8mm (65%) / Sunshine: 100%

Annual: A back-loaded winter with a fair bit of snow in the east but dry elsewhere followed by what would perhaps be the worst spring ever recorded. The summer would be mixed and not particularly anything to write home about and then the coldest autumn ever with a particularly dull, wet miserable theme in the south-east

CET: 7.8 (-1.7) / EWP: 1031.0mm (111%) / Sunshine: 97%

I'm not quite sure this year would be better at all...

[B87]

 LetItSnow! Wouldn't July and August be very warm, sunny months?

They were cool, cloudy months in real life.

[LetItSnow!]

 B87 I’m now using the opposite ranking  within the CET and the UKP. The sunshine totals though are just a simple opposite though sometimes with slight modification. Historically the summer of 2011 is not overly cool. Indeed many an old 30 year average August 2011 would have been slightly warmer than average. I was looking at Met Office anomaly maps for the sunshine as well as Starlings Roost

[B87]

 LetItSnow! Both July and August were cool by day and night, and duller than the average of the time (81-10). 

[LetItSnow!]

 B87 This time I didn’t make it an AGW version lol. And to be fair I did make August sunny. Ask me more questions when I’m of a right mind in the afternoon