Overrated summers

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Inspired by the Underrated Summers topic created by @Harry233. 

I have always thought summer 2013 is overrated as I only found July to be exceptional. June wasn't much to shout about and was fairly average, whilst August was nice but not exceptionally so.

Whilst it was a good summer, I don't think it deserves all the hype. Though it was excellent compared to the previous 6 summers.

[Metwatch]

I'd say the summers of 2019 and 2021, but only a little overrated.

Both had the warmiest and driest spells in July. Both Augusts poor, though August 2019 did have a bit more warmth and thundery outbreaks it was much wetter. June 2021 was a bit better compared to June 2019 but still nothing great. June 2019 turned drier and warmer in the second half, whereas June 2021 was the opposite. Summer 2021 was drier than 2019, but I think 2021 was pretty decent for the north, much worse further south. Both summers quite forgettable with just a week or 2 blips which makes people remember them more such as the heat in July 2019 or July 2021. Summer 2021 was decent summer for those who hate heat imo.

Edited March 5 by Metwatch

[Weather-history]

It all depends on location as it always does with these type of threads, so you really only can compare to what other people's experiences were from a similar area.  

I do think summer 1990 is overrated, I think the early August heatwave magnifies it. June 1990 was not particular great. 

[Harry233]

 Weather Enthusiast91 I think the only reason summer 2013 is talked about so highly as it was the first summer since 2006 where it was warm for any prolonged time. June 2013 had the lowest minima for me since 1999 and I didn’t reach 23.C that month. It was nonetheless a pleasant month with little rain and reasonable sunshine. July was excellent (mean maxima of 23.0.C) but I do believe it wasn’t overly warm on the east coast particularly in Norfolk and east anglia. However July 2013 still had average rainfall (due to thunderstorms in the final week) and sunshine was only slightly above average the Julys of 2006, 2014, 2018 and 2022 all had much higher sunshine totals. August 2013 was actually my driest August on record, even drier than 2003, it was also the warmest August since 2004 but it was duller than average. I would say summer 2013 while it was a very good summer (it was my driest summer since 2003 and I haven’t had a drier one since) it definitely wasn’t in the same league as 2003, 2006, 2018, 2021 and 2022.

[Methuselah]

 Harry233 Indeed and I have always overrated 1973 -- for the simple reason that it followed '71 and '72. 

[Harry233]

 Metwatch  Metwatch 2021 was definitely a brilliant summer in the north. It never broke any records for heat for me, nor was it exceptionally dry or sunny. I feel like it was just a consistently good summer. We had a very pleasant June (plenty of 20-22.C days with lots of sunshine and little rain). No extreme heat, the highest maximum was only 24.6.C but yet the lowest maximum was 16.1.C which was very high for me. July had an excellent first three weeks but again like June there wasn’t any prolonged heat until midmonth, the warmest July reached was 27.3.C which is slightly above average but again the lowest maximum was 17.6.C which is also very high for July. (We usually have a few days where it’ll fail to reach 15.C). August turned a little bit more unsettled particularly in the first half but after the 17th. The weather here was absolutely glorious and from the 22nd-29th it was pretty much unbroken sunshine once early morning mist and fog burned off. Again for August the highest maximum was 26.2.C but the lowest maximum was 16.8.C. So again nothing below 15.C. 
 

2021 was consistently settled and warm aside from the last week of July and first half of August. It was similar to 2022 in terms of stats but summer 2022 had hotter spells of weather and also had a few more cooler and unsettled periods in July.

[B87]

2013 was a 1 month wonder, but it showed that summer conditions were still possible after the 2007-2012 nightmare period.

2021 was a dull and wet disaster throughout, with the dullest August on record.

1981 is an overrated summer. June and July were exceptionally dull with about 150 sun hour each. The 'sunny' August saw 218 hours, only slightly more than August 2007. Only July and August saw averages above 20c (22.0 and 22.8c, poor). June was very chilly, with an 18.5c avg max. Rainfall was about average.

1984 is another summer that seems to get rave reviews, but looking at Heathrow's stats, none of the months were particularly warm or hot, sunshine was only slightly above average, though it was quite dry. It was comparable to a summer like 2001 or 2005, nothing special.

Summer 2019 is underrated, if anything.

Edited March 6 by B87

[cheeky_monkey]

 Weather-history Italia '90 makes this summer special ..probably why a lot of people remember this as being a good summer.

[Weather-history]

 B87

Not a lot of your post I actually agree with but that  shows how much it is dependent on your location.

Never going to get universal agreement with summer 2021.

Not sure why you say 1981 is overrated, it was never rated that much anyway other than for those thunderstorms. August 1981 is a good example of where rainfall totals are not the best method to determine how good/bad a month was. Most of the rainfall around here for that month fell on one day.    Most of the month had no rain days at all. 
 

Summer 1984 was a really good summer up here.

Summer 2019 was so so. There was about 3 weeks of dry weather here from late June to mid July but mid July-mid August was a washout 

[cheeky_monkey]

1996 is overrated IMO if you like hot weather..90, 94,95 & 97 were better ..for pleasant warm weather that wasn't particularly wet you cant really go wrong with 1996

[B87]

 cheeky_monkey June 1996 was warm, but July and August were pretty average. It was a similar type of summer to 2005.

[Sun Chaser]

Said this in another thread but 2020 overrated by far. People associate it with the stunning spring but in reality from June 3rd the weather was almost entirely unsettled and cloudy for the whole summer with two very short heat spikes in between.

[LetItSnow!]

 Sun Chaser Espexially for the north of England/Scotland where July in particular onwards it was just cool and unsettled for most of the summer with little to no impact from the heat spikes really. I don’t even think August 2020 was even that warmer than average in Scotland, at least not by the modern averages. I think daytime maximums were depressed. 

[Harry233]

 LetItSnow! Yeah you are right. August 2020 for me had lower than average maximum temperatures (18.7.C compared to a usual of 19.5.C). The only heat we had all the summer was the first two days of June, about five days towards the end of the June, one day in July and then a week in August. Even by Scottish standards that is really bad. The June heatwave had a maximum of 25.8.C on the 27th. July 31st reached 26.0.C and August 12th reached 26.7.C. Even on July 31st the weather was quite cloudy and it was a very windy day so it didn’t even feel very warm. Definitely a very poor summer for Scotland 2020. That second half of August is probably the worst spell of summer weather I can ever remember.

[BruenSryan]

I've said to death about how much of an atrocity 2020 was for here in the east of Ireland and people don't give it enough flak. Spring is a completely separate season so has no bearing on my opinion of that summer.

I'll do a hot take and say 2022, see what I did there. It was a better than average summer here for sure with the most wonderful August in many many years. However, June and July were too westerly and fed in a lot of cloud to call it a legendary summer. I've seen some people here say it's better than 2018, definitely not. June 2018 was one of the best summer months of all-time in Dublin and July was fantastic too, at least for a good part of it whilst August was mediocre but not completely terrible. After all, the summer index showed it was the 15th best summer here since 1942 so there were at least 14 summers better - that is at least on a statistical means. 

Not saying 2022 was a bad summer, not at all.. but it was a bit over-praised in this location, especially July. 

[SummerShower]

I would say 2013 is a bit overrated if I had to pick one.  The June I felt was very cool indeed, nowhere in the UK reached 27C until the 30th.  It was also very cloudy although fairly dry.  August was average but had good weather at times, iirc the week of 19th to 23rd was good but that was the only settled period.  July of course needs no explanation, but this month  was summer essentially.

The reason I think people rate it highly is either because of the delayed spring that year, or the fact it followed 6 poor summers (or 4 poor and 2 'ok ish' summers).

[Harry233]

 SummerShower I agree with you about 2013. It was my driest summer on record but in terms of sunshine it was pretty much bang average. July was very sunny but 2006, 2014, 2018, 2021 and 2022 were all sunnier for me. June was average but August was quite dull. June actually had my lowest minima since 1999 and there hasn’t been a June with cooler minima since. Nonetheless it was still a very good summer. June was quite pleasant with most days being partly cloudy and even August despite being dull was often quite warm and rarely rained. Had it not been for that spell in July I would say it would’ve been a bang average summer. I think East Anglia even in July was still quite cool sometimes.

[Weather-history]

 Harry233

For the NW Eng/N Wales region, summer 2013  was the sunniest summer since 1995.

That is a surprising stat  that  it came ahead of summers,  2003 and 2006 for sunshine 

[danm]

On 09/03/2024 at 23:46, Sun Chaser said:

Said this in another thread but 2020 overrated by far. People associate it with the stunning spring but in reality from June 3rd the weather was almost entirely unsettled and cloudy for the whole summer with two very short heat spikes in between.

I think it may have been you I had this chat with in the underrated thread. Totally dependent on location, as ever. 2020 had a long spell of well above average temperatures from mid July to mid August, plus a short heatwave at the end of June, plus a fabulous Spring and excellent September to bookend it. For the SE at least, I appreciate. But yes, the rest of that Summer wasn't great. A poor start to June and a poor end to August. 

For London, the period from 12th July to 13th August 2020 averaged 27.1c, with 7 days exceeding 30c. Not just exceeding 30c, smashing the 30c barrier: 37.8c, 36.4c, 33.4c, 33.8c, 35.5c, 35.7c, 35.4c. There were a further 11 days between 25c to 29c, so the 27.1c wasn't just the result of a couple of heat spikes, but a lengthy period of above average temperatures. 

[Sun Chaser]

 danm Crazy how our summer 2020 experiences differed just 200 miles apart or so. That period was pretty good I would agree, but there's been better since - we exceeded 25c 9 times, the same number of days that didn't reach 20c in that period. Compare that to say, the same period in 2021 which saw us exceed 25c 10 times!

I think my main issue with the summer was the first half. Starting June 3rd we had 20 days in a row failing to reach 21c, a 3 day heat spike, then another 15 days in a row failing to reach 20c - not my idea of a good summer and felt extra depressing after the beautiful spring we had. Then after the heat in August we had a very wet and horrible three weeks. September was nice though!

Obviously very location specific but I'll never ever be a fan of SE-centric summers in the past having lived in the SW for most of my life.

[danm]

 Sun Chaser It's totally location dependent, I get that. Just as many in Scotland and the W/NW talk about how good a Summer 2021 was for their location, it was largely pants for here barring a few hot days in July. 

Even for 2020 - I would by no means compare it to the great Summers of 2018 or 2022, it doesn't come close. I'd call it a typically mixed British Summer - periods of cool and wet, periods of warmth and periods where it was hot and Sunny. For the SE, the period where it was hot and sunny was pretty exceptional for it's intensity, plus the overall peak Summer period producing the goods. I think most of us would prefer our best Summer weather to be between mid July to mid August rather than it being front loaded like 2023 or back loaded. 

Edited March 11 by danm

[cheeky_monkey]

 B87 Euro 96 that June plus i got married at the end of the summer..so i tend to remember 1996 better than say 2005

[Weather-history]

Summer 2020 was a really poor summer up here. Anyone remember Storm Francis at the end of August 2020?

It was a very dull and the 4th wettest summer on record for the region. 

[Metwatch]

Main reason I kind of like summer 2020 is the thunderstorm frequency early - mid June, nothing has really come close, only June 2023 but even then still not that close. June 2020 was decent overall as a month, with a lot of those thunderstorms following some warm sunshine.

Always find that summer nostalgic following the amazing spring and the lockdown, I look back at it fondly. Even missing the final third of July - first 2 thirds of August, still wasn't that bad, with just the first half of July not the best, but even then some nice days mixed in, most notably the 17th and 19th. That July was much drier than July 2023 too.

Edited March 11 by Metwatch

[LetItSnow!]

 Weather-history Extra kick in the face seeing how summer 2019 was about the second wettest ever. I was in the north-west in August 2019 and I remember it being mostly very wet and unsettled but with a brief, tame warm and sunny spell at some point in the second half. Tame to my southern senses but it only got somewhere around the 25-27C mark.