Summer 1989: the most underrated summer of the 20th century?

[Summerlover2006]

When you hear about the best summers of the 20th century 1989 is so rarely mentioned and it deserves to be.

July 1989 was the best month of the summer and it was the perfect combination of hot dry and sunny weather. With a CET of 18.2 it was the hottest month since the 1983 and about the same as July 1976 the peak of 34.2 at Heathrow on the 22nd was the hottest day since 1976 the first time 90 degrees had been achieved since 1983 and also the hottest temperature of the decade. The mean maximum of 21.7 at Edinburgh airport was the highest since records began at Heathrow the mean maximum was 25.8

the thing that made this summer so great was that every month of the extended summer had a lot of warm to hot sunny and dry weather unlike a lot of more remembered summers there was not really a bad month of the entire extended summer 

in my option I think the only summers that sound better then 1989 in the 20th century were 11 33 47 59 76 83 and 95 with 89 being better then 90 in my opinion despite the record high temperatures 

some questions for you 

your memories from this summer?

stats you have from this summer?

was it better then the summer of 1990?

 

Edited February 15 by Summerlover2006

[damianslaw]

 Summerlover2006 It was an excellent summer here, as you say, not often mentioned and overshadowed by 76, 95 and 18.. but for consistency and length probably beats all. May featured a very warm spell. September was dry and warm as well. Indeed 1989 with exception of April and to an extent Nov and Dec was exceptionally mild, sunny and overall one of the driest on record.

Summer 1990 was good, but a summer of 2 halves, best conditions came second half July, first half August. I was away first half Aug but remember the first 2 weeks or so of school holidays brought day after day of hot sunny dry weather. 

[SollyOlly]

Good topic, thank you! Yes, it was an epic summer, I was still young and could enjoy the heat, unlike now with my health conditions. I do recall long, hot, sunny periods...and a series of cricket Test matches, Eng/ Aus, at the end of an era for England and the start of an era for Aus (!). Weather wise, I loved it. Purely personally, mostly because it was the summer that I met my then red-hot girlfriend who somehow agreed to become my wife (?!), the summer of 1995 surpassed it. But back in the day when I could enjoy heat, I loved it 1989...1990...1995. Now...sadly, I can't take heat....which is of course more intense now anyway.

[damianslaw]

 SollyOlly Seem to recall most of the heat in the summers mentioned 89, 90 and 95 came from continental high pressure systems overhead, 2018 was the same, whereas alot of heat in last 20 years summers, 2003, 2006, 2019, 2022 have come from southerly plumes with associated humidity.

[Chasbrown]

 Summerlover2006 I can remember landing back at Heathrow during that period. Couldn't believe how hot it was late afternoon. Really stuffy and uncomfortable in the old terminal 2.

[hillbilly]

1989 really was a great summer but personally i would put 1984 ahead of it despite the statistics being slightly the opposite just how it felt at the time.Along with 1983 a trio of great summers.I would put both 1984 and 1989 better than 1990 with 1990 ranking alongside 1983.None of the trio of great 80s summers were  bettered until 2018 except for 1995.The most distinct thing i remember was after almost 5 years of of wet or relatively poor weather from summer 1984 it suddenly switched in April 1989 to dry and the land that summer is something we hadnt seen since 1984.

[Summerlover2006]

 hillbilly I think that’s what made summer 1989 so amazing it came after 4 wet and cool summer it must have been such a good feeling 

[damianslaw]

 hillbilly Yes Winter 88-89 marked a change to a lengthy very dry period all way to Summer 92 by and large with only a few wetter episodes such as Autumn 91. 

Then followed a very wet period until Spring 95... with a record dry Apr-Aug period and the infamous hot late June to late August period.. indeed the April 95 to April 97 is I believe the driest 24 month period on record. Mother nature has a habit of balancing itself out, drought and flood wise!

Edited February 15 by damianslaw

[Harry's House]

1989 certainly had concerns about water shortages owing to drought with the very good summer following a very good May. At Herstmonceux where I worked at the time, there were 130 consecutive days of sunshine from 2nd May to 8th September inclusive.

I took these photographs of the pond at Hailsham on 8th September. 

[cheeky_monkey]

1983 is the most underrated summer of the 20th C end of discussion. 

[Badgers01]

Seem to recall the Azores high was pushed north and often to the west of the uk we had a lot of light nw winds - which brings very settled warm / hot conditions to southern half of England !?

[Weather-history]

 Summerlover2006

Disagree, summer 1989 is frequently quoted often when pairs of great summers are mentioned as examples

1975-76, 1983-84, 1989-90

I remember it well because my  period at high school was sandwiched between two great summers, unfortunately the summers in between were mediocre.

The great summers of the 20th century really depends on locations, some places did better than others.  Summer 1990 is overrated IMO

For my location, they are

1911, 1933, 1947, 1949, 1955, 1959, 1975, 1976, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1995  

1901 was a good summer but who talks about that?  1921 was another but ruined by the August. 

Summer 1925 rarely gets a mentioned 

1933 is mentioned a lot in historical terms as a great summer but who talks about the summers of 1934 and 1935? They were pretty good summers

I think summer 1994 is underrated as with 1996 being overshadowed by 1995.

 

Edited February 17 by Weather-history

[damianslaw]

 Weather-history Summer 94 and 96 were decent but wet at times, notably 1994 with a lot of thunder. We were on the brink of a very hot summer in 1994, Europe experienced one of its hottest. 1996 featured alot of warm dry and sunny weather but coming on the back of 1995 felt underwhelming.

To an extent 1990 was overshadowed by 1989 but it contained record heat, without it, it would probably not be rated that high as with 1996.

 

Edited February 17 by damianslaw

[Summerlover2006]

 damianslaw agreed without the extreme heat 1990 would be forgotten and maybe even known more for its bad weather with that terrible June.

Edited February 17 by Summerlover2006

[Weather-history]

 damianslaw

Regionally, summer 1989 was actually wetter than the summers of  1990, 1991, 1994 and 1996. It was only 6mm drier than summer 1986.

It shows how  many dry/dryish summers there were regionally from 1989 to 1996. Even summer 1993, was not that particularly wet (it was only 5mm wetter than summer 2013). 

[SummerShower]

Yes a great summer, I was only 9 at the time and my interest in weather kicked off around then.

When I think of summer 1989, May definitely forms a part of that.  In fact the only better mays in my lifetime were 1992 and maybe 2020.

There was a lot of thunder as well.  I remember storms that were widespread on 1st, 4th, 22nd, 23rd and 24th May as well as 6/7 July and 14 August.  

There was a week long heatwave around the 3rd week of July which would rival any we get nowadays, save the absolute max was 34.2C.

[Gedmack]

The stand out factor in 1989 was that it was spectacularly sunny from early May to early September. Most heatwave extended  summers have at least one month which spoils the party (most of June in 1995 and all of Sept in 1976) but 1989 the skies were relentlessly blue and that factor, far more than excessive heat, makes a summer feel great. The warmth too was consistent apart from the first third of June when, after a radiant May, cold northerlies set in for 10 days. 1995 high summer in London was much hotter but it didn’t start until mid/late June and was completely over by around August 27th. In terms of longevity, where fine weather dominates for 5 months, the 20th century stand outs are 1949, 59 and 89 (honourable mention to 1911 and 33)

[Summer8906]

Surprised I've missed this one.

I would probably consider this the best summer, and best extended summer, of my lifetime that I can remember. Location NW Sussex.

1976 was probably better according to the records, but while I was around then, I cannot remember it.

I remember the weather suddenly flipping at the very start of May. Most of May was then anticyclonic with a pattern in the first half of warm-ups followed by weak cold fronts, cooldowns then warm-ups again. However from around the 14th to around the 23rd it was particularly sunny and hot. The only thundery activity came on May 24th when my last ever school cross-country run was cancelled as a result of the thunderstorm.

It then became cooler but still sunny for a few days until at least the 28th, before a common spring occurrence - retrogression of the high into the Atlantic and cooler, rather cloudy northerlies.

June started with a further 10 days of cool and rather cloudy weather and there was even some heavy rain at times, but then turned hot and sunny until the 26th. The last 4 days were unsettled, as was July 1st.

Warm and sunny weather then returned on July 2nd and for a couple of days there was low humidity and moderate temps, just marginally above normal. In an unusual turn of events (but one repeated in both 1993 and 1997 in May) a warm front moved westwards later in the week, introducing humid, cloudy, thundery weather. There was one day with isolated thundery showers but then on (I think) the evening of Friday 7th there was more intense thundery activity after dark, towards midnight. Sat 8th was dull with low cloud and extremely humid and I heard distant thunder again - was very reminiscent of thundery spells in the mountains in Alpine regions.

Weather then settled down again and partly cloudy, warm conditions quickly transitioned into hot and sunny, remaining until around the 23rd.

(I was then in France until August 6th but by all accounts warm or hot weather continued, but with rather higher cloud amounts albeit still fairly sunny).

I returned on August 6th to warm, bright weather but with As cloud. A somewhat unsettled interlude followed for about a week with cloudier skies and occasional light rain but it had turned warmer and sunny by the weekend of the 18th/19th and most of the rest of the month remained that way albeit with occasional cloudy days.

September was dry and mild albeit without heatwaves, and sometimes on the cloudy side. Again there was a short moderately unsettled period just before mid-month.

Overall I would probably consider 1989 better even than 1995, as all three months had lengthy spells of warm, sunny weather whereas in 1995 we had to wait until around June 21st for the best of the weather, and there was a fairly lengthy more changeable spell from July 10th-19th in 1995.

Top three summers in my remembered lifetime would probably be 1) 1989 2) 1995 3) 1983, though 1976 would probably top all of them.

 

Edited May 5 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

On 17/02/2024 at 19:15, Summerlover2006 said:

agreed without the extreme heat 1990 would be forgotten and maybe even known more for its bad weather with that terrible June.

Disagree with that one. June was bad (cool and cloudy, but not that wet) here but from not long into July a hot and sunny spell started which was even more pronounced than any of the individual spells in 1989 for longevity. If I remember right it was literally warm to hot, and sunny, here almost every day from around July 10 to August 10. I distinctly recall one single day at the end of July, the final Monday if I remember right, when it was cloudy and how strange it felt after weeks of hot sunshine. It was a very Mediterranean period and, with May and July 1989 and August 1995, was almost certainly one of the sunniest ever months I've experienced in the UK.

Rest of August had somewhat higher cloud amounts as the high slipped south but aside from a short wet spell just after mid month, it was mostly warm and bright.

I'd actually class 1990 alongside 1989 as an underrated summer. June was poor but July spectacularly warm and sunny, and August warm and sunny also.

With talk of GW becoming a big issue at the time, and with three extremely mild winters on the trot, it did seem like we might be changing into a different regime.

Edited May 5 by Summer8906

[cheeky_monkey]

On 05/05/2024 at 05:55, Summer8906 said:

Top three summers in my remembered lifetime would probably be 1) 1989 2) 1995 3) 1983, though 1976 would probably top all of them.

I'm a little perplexed as to why 1989 is considered an underrated summer..rating my top 5 summers of my lifetime before i moved to Canada would look like this:

1. 1995 - Stats wise there is little to choose between 95 & 76 but 95 was different gravy and gets my number 1 by a country mile over anything else

2. 1976 - Although i just about remember 76 i do remember the heat and the endless drought ..what makes it really stand out was the garbage summers that followed.

3. 1983 - Probably the best July of my lifetime extremely sunny and dry ..August was none too shabby either

4. 1989 - Similar to 1983 although more thundery esp. Mid June to Mid July ...heat was more oppressive than 1983 why it comes lower.

5.  1990 - This was a tough one you could easily go for 94, 03 or 06 here but I'm going for 1990 due to what was going on in my life at that time.

Edited May 6 by cheeky_monkey

[Summer8906]

 cheeky_monkey Would generally agree. I'd actually rate 1989 as even above 1995, due to each month having long sunny, anticyclonic spells (July 1995 was somewhat changeable at times albeit warm and sunny overall) and I would also agree with the high placing of 1990 (which is very much an underrated summer).

For the good summers I can remember experiencing in full, more or less, in this country (1983-2018) I'd probably rate them in this order.

1. 1989

2. 1995

3. 1983

4. 2003

5. 1990 (gets points for being back-loaded)

6. 2006 (loses points for being front-loaded)

7. 2018 (loses points for being front-loaded)

8. 1984 (consistently good, if not spectacular)

9. 1994 (loses points for being front-loaded)

10. 2013 (some way behind the others)

 

Edited May 6 by Summer8906