Richard2901

Highest for the summer here a woeful 20.2C. That was beaten three times in March from the 25th to 27th while May has recorded the years highest temp so far of 23.4C. I really would not be bothered if the rest of the summer saw nothing warmer so long as we saw plenty of sunshine and an end to the perma cloud and 13C maxes.

The world's worst weather continues. Yet another day of vapid relentless overcast nothingness. This morning and actually a sliver of blue in the sky which came to nothing: The current scene: It's just unreal. The satellite showed plenty of clear breaks in the sky but they just would not move any further south than the Moray Firth. It is like a stagnant area of perma cloud has formed and nothing will shift it. It's driving me round the bend. I have not experienced any direct sunshine at all since last Friday lunchtime. There has just been half an hour since made up of 30 second glimmers now and again. It replaces 5th - 11th June 2012 as the dullest summer week I have experienced. Both these would be record dull weeks for their respective months. The glimmer of hope that next week would see a return to normal westerlies/south westerlies seems to be rapidly dwindling as it's now looking like a pigs breakfast of cool, cloudy north westerlies followed by a washout southerly tracking low than a northerly Summer 2012 truly is giving a whole new meaning to the term "write-off"

Today was yet another day of conditions too dismal, boring and depressing for words. 12 days in a row now of waking up to this: 6 days in a row of it never clearing at all through the entire day A whole week with no sunshine in Edinburgh, one of the most popular destinations for overseas visitors. It's an embarrassment for this country. For years I have had to watch as the weather here slips further and further down the toilet but this month is the absolute limit. Less than 10 hours sun in 12 days and less than 50% of the average sunshine for summer to date. Just how can a summer be this grim? The rain and cold temperatures are bad enough but being constantly plagued by featureless overcast is by far the worst aspect of this awful summer. As far as I’m concerned what we have experienced this month is the worst weather anywhere on the planet. Dire even by Faeroe Islands standards. The only places this sunless are uninhabited islands in the Southern Ocean (Campbell, Macquarie) and the reason they're uninhabited is that weather like this is just not conducive to supporting human life

Another astonishing statistic: Dyce has now racked up 15 sunless days this summer. Only five other post war summers have recorded as much in their entirety and we're not even half way through yet Record was 19 days in 1958 followed by 16 days in 1978 and 2011 with 1963 and 2007 also recording 15. Pretty much a certainty that a new record will be set. Possibly even by the half way point if the horrific forecasts for the next few days are correct

The lack of summer sunshine in this part of the country since August 2006 has been unreal. Only Summer 2009 has achieved anything like close to average sunshine but it was also a very wet summer. This is the dross we've had to endure over the past 6 years: August 2006 - The dullest August since 1979. So bad it pretty much wiped out the sunshine surplus from July so we were one of the few parts of the country to see only average sunshine levels for the summer. http://www.metoffice...y_1971-2000.gif Summer 2007 - Execrable: very cool, very dull and very wet. The worst summer on my index since 1948 and the dullest since 1944 with only 352 hours sun - around 150 below average http://www.metoffice...y_1971-2000.gif Summer 2008 - June was one of the better summer months in recent years. Still wet but managed average sunshine and temperatures. July had a bad first half and decent second half (while I was out of the country). August was diabolical with sunshine the lowest since 1963 although there was one reasonable week (23rd -29th) which made it a better month than June 2007 or summer 2012 to date. Summer 2009 - June rather cool with average sunshine and rainfall. July quite warm and the only summer month in 6 years to manage above average sunshine. Was very wet though. August slightly above average temperatures and average rainfall but 10% below average sunshine. Still that easily made it the best August out of the last 6. Summer 2010 - June dire for the first three weeks, final third was much better but still ended up as the 2nd dullest since 1991 despite being very dry. Nearly the whole country had a good June but we still end up with rubbish here: http://www.metoffice...y_1971-2000.gif July was decent for the first half with the period 22nd June to 13th July constituting the only summer settled spell in the past 6 years (though all the worst weather during that 3 weeks coincided with the weekends as usual). Second half of July was very wet although, unlike this year, there were at least sunny days in between. August was mainly cool, cloudy and wet except for a decent spell from 12th to 22nd. Summer 2011 - Barely any better than 2007. It was unrelentingly cool, dull and wet after a brief heatwave at the start of June. Overall the last 5 summers racked up an incredible 350 hours sunshine deficit between them and so far summer 2012, which is easily the worst, can add another 115 hours to that Even the sunshine figures don't do justice to how bad it's been because of the amount of featureless stratus gloom. It's just about the only type of cloud we ever see in summer now. Certainly good cloud types such as lenticulars are almost never seen any more because the wind never comes from the west or south west. Really can't see July ending up as anything other than the 3rd month out of 4 to see record or near record low sunshine. So far there has not been a single day when I have woken up to anything other than featureless overcast gloom and there has not been one day with any sunshine after 6pm. We've had less than half an hour of sunshine since last Friday. Just the same monotonous grey featureless tripe day in day out and all the satellite shows is endless cloud heading our way. It's too depressing for words. It's a struggle to get out of bed in the mornings knowing you'll be faced with the same old monotone garbage when you look out the window. It's as bad as getting up in the dark in winter but at least then it gets lighter whereas this rot just hangs about the whole day never clearing What really gets to me more than anything is that every single summer sees the worst conditions reserved for the weekend. The last 5 sundays here have produced an aggregate of 2.9 hours sun usually with drizzly rain on and off that doesn't add up to much but makes the day a write-off. Only the last 6 weeks of 2002 are in any way comparable to the unrelenting misery of the past 6 weeks. Only difference being at that time of the year extended sunless spells aren't exactly unusual or at least didn't used to be before they got moved to summer instead

Predictions that July couldn't be as bad as June have proven correct. July hasn't been as bad as June it has been far worse. Sunshine for the first 10 days of this vile July has totalled just 9.2 hours here. I have been recording sunshine since October 2006 and this is the dullest first 10 days of any month beating the previous lowest total of 11.5 hours for 1st-10th January 2008. Worse still Edinburgh has recorded 1.6 hours sun for July so far which would be a shockingly bad total for 10 days in winter. You'd think the recorder must be at fault but the endless cloud on the satellite images confirms just how dire it has been. There has been no sunshine for 6 days now which must surely be a UK record for July? http://www.weatherca...obsid/3166.html Over the past 5 weeks I have recorded just 78.7 hours sun which equates to a woeful 41% of average. So far outside the range of normal variation it's unreal. There have only been a very small number of summer months as sunless (August 1912, July 1931, August 1963) never mind a full 5 week period. For Eastern Scotland this truly is a run of dismal summers without parallel in recorded history

No more than 2 consecutive dry days here this "summer" 1st & 2nd June, 10th & 11th June and 5th & 6th July. Managed 12 days in May (19th - 30th) and would have had 21 in March (10th-30th) had it not been for an annoying fall of 0.6mm on the 19th.

The latest in a long list of weekend washouts. Constant rain since about 10am that has so far totalled 12.8mm. Temperature more than 5C below average for the umpteenth time this summer. Max was 12.1C but actually below 12C most of the day and just 11.7C currently

The last two days the forecast was for poor weather and it turned out fine. Again the forecast for today was grim but being the weekend it was of course spot on. Pure and utter filth all day long. Windy, wet and only 12C. Light levels typical of mid-winter. On and on this dismal summer marches. Just a joke that no-one finds funny. Heating turned up at full blast again with nothing to look forward to as all that lies ahead is one of the coldest ever July weeks in which temperatures will struggle to even reach 15C

A much better day than forecast with none of the murk of recent days though still too much cloud. It did turn sunny through the afternoon with the temperature climbing to 19.9C to give the warmest day of summer so far. Although no rain was recorded for the first time since 20th June it was not completely dry as there was some very light drizzle. Cloud returned by 6pm and looking increasingly misty and murky. Could well be several days before we see the sun again

Coldest, wettest and dullest summer on record all a real possibility here. Wettest on record is actually least likely as a corollary of the constant suppressed temperatures and sunless skies is that we are seeing little in the way of the heavy convective downpours that were characteristic of summer 1957 our wettest summer on record and most thundery. We are just seeing constant light rain and drizzle which is far worse

Horrendous again. Every bit as bad as yesterday and just about every other day of this godforsaken, monotone summer of endless soul-destroying rubbish. Damp, cool, drizzly, foggy, stagnant muck with zero sunshine for the third day on the trot. 14 days of rain in a row and 19 out of 20. It keeps on getting worse in defiance of any remotely reasonable expectation and it is impossible to see when the next dry day might be or even one with any worthwhile amount of sunshine. The outlook is simply the worst I have ever seen in summer with a record-breaking full week of zero sunshine seemingly a real possibility

The photos below tell the story of another unspeakably vile, sunless, depressing murky day I took them on my lunchtime walk which I have been missing most days lately due to the foul weather. Wish I'd missed it again as going out in these hellish conditions does nothing to benefit your health whatsoever. Then again neither does staying stuck indoors all the time either These were taken right on the outskirts of the city. I dread to think how bad it was right down at the coast. Had it not been for the vegetation and trees in leaf they could easily be mistaken for scenes from the bleakest of mid-winter days. Been along time since we had such awful gloom in winter though. Muck has lifted now, well I should say the fog has lifted as there is still plenty of useless muck around in the form of featureless white/grey sky. Not so much as a break in the cloud for 2 days solid now and needless to say temperatures were well below average again

The subarctic summer continues with another day of conditions as repugnant as it's possible to get. Sunless with horrific temperatures, drizzle/light rain and fog. Everything you’d except in a typical day in Tierra del Fuego A max of 12.1C and a good part of the day it was just 11C. Wore my big winter duffel coat to work and central heating is on again. Barely been off for the past 18 months due to the exceptional lack of summer warmth and sunshine. Already I’ve shut the curtains to try and keep the heat in. Just a complete waste of the light evenings This is what this sick joke of a summer has produced so far :- Mean Max: 2.8C below average Days warmer than average: 3/32 Rainfall: 185% of average Days with Rain: 25/32 Sunshine: 58% of average Days with less than 1.5 hour sun (i.e. duller than an average winter day): 18/32 Days with dominant W/WSW/SW wind: 0/32 This is easily the worst start to a summer within living memory. Even summer 2007, at this stage, was over 1C warmer with far more dry days. 1916 is possibly the only other year to have been as comparably cold, dull and wet. Unbelieavbly the outlook is no better possibly even worse. Vile south easterlies bringing more of the same depressing garbage for the rest of the week. then north easterlies promise to deliver a local holiday weekend washout every bit as sunless and miserable as last years

Here are my readings from one of the vilest months on record Mean Max: 13.4 (-2.7) Mean Min: 8.2 (-0.5) Highest Max: 19.0 (30th) Lowest Max: 9.7 (15th & 16th) Highest Min: 12.7 (30th) Lowest Min: 2.7 (3rd) Rainfall: 101.0mm (184%) Rain Days: 23 Wet Days: 15 Wettest Day: 20.0mm (23rd) Sunshine: 104.3hrs (61%) Sunniest Day: 12.3hrs (30th) Only three days reached the long term average max as this graph shows

New month same old rubbish. Grey, cool and drizzly. Just 13.5C and falling. Today is the 16th day out of 17 to record rain Even better days like yesterday - one of only three with above average maxima so far in this non-summer - get spoiled by showers Next week looks awful as well. No improvement in sight and significant improvement is required if 2011 and 2012 are not to go down as the worst pair of successive summers on record. It truly is astonishing. Just 2 summers of unrelentingly abysmal weather: No of weeks with below average maxima: 2011 - 12/13, 2012 - 4/4 No of weeks with below average sunshine: 2011 - 9/13, 2012 - 4/4 No of weeks with above average rainfall: 2011 - 8/13, 2012 - 3/4 All of the past 3 weeks have recorded less than 50% of average sunshine and I wouldn't be surprised if this week does as well

Yet another excruciatingly vile day today. Murk, rain, drizzle and another exceptionally low max of only 11.4C, barely 1C above the record low for this time of year. Also had a diurnal range of just 1C -previously unheard of during summer This is the full list of horrors that June 2012 has produced at Aberdeen Airport, Dyce where records go back to 1941: Mean Max: Lowest on record; previous lowest 1971 Monthly Max: Lowest on record; previous lowest 1971 Sunshine: 2nd Lowest on record or possibly even lowest on record; current lowest 2007 Sunless days: Highest on record; previous highest 2007 Rainfall: 2nd Highest on record; Only 1997 wetter Rain Days: Highest on record; previous highest 2002 It would be hard to imagine a worse summer month. In fact it's hard to comprehend just how a summer month could be this horrible. An absolutely dismal run of Junes we've been enduring since 1997

Easily the best day of the month with the sun shining for over 12 hours though even that wasn't enough to get any better than average temps. Max of 17.3C and this followed a very cool min of 4.9C. Now clouded over as we couldn't possibly get 2 nice evenings in a row

Finally after 4 1/2 days the featureless grey tripe cleared away to leave a very pleasant sunny evening. Pity it only looks like being a brief respite. Temperatures around 15C till 8pm but because of all the cloud during the day yet another below average max of 15.6C was recorded. Sunshine: 4.3 hrs.

Groundhog day continues with yet another day of utterly depressing cool, grey, wet filth: Incredulous given how godawful the first half of June was that the second half has been even worse. Just one dry day in ten now and the past 4 days have been repugnant. Had almost a months worth of rain since Thursday and endless grey skies. Unreal how day after day you wake up to dismal grey overcast, check the satellite and see that it's just everywhere with no hope of clearance It's a toss-up between this month and June 2007 as to which has been the most unrelentingly awful month I've experienced. No others come close

We actually saw some sunshine for about 25 minutes that sent the temp soaring to 16.7C - the second highest reading of the month but still below average for this stage of June. Not long before the rain returned and it was coming down in torrents with 6.6mm falling inside 20 minutes at one point and a peak rate of 66.2mm/hr. It's barely let up all evening with the daily total up to 18mm - the wettest day of the year. The misery just goes on and on...

Dreadful with just 69.7 hours (55% of average) and 33.7 hours of that were in the first 4 days. That leaves just 36 hours in the 18 days to 22nd. There have been only 4 completely sunless days but a further 6 with 0.1 hour and one with 0.2 hours. So 11 effectively sunless days and today looks being number 12 which would equal the total number of days with under half-an-hour sunshine recorded during the whole of last winter. June 2007 was even worse with just 47.5 hours up to the 22nd and 88.6 hours in total. This works out at just 17.1% of the possible total - the worst for any month I have recorded followed by August 2008 with 20.4%. This month to date works out at 18.3% of the possible. So the three cloudiest months in my records will end up being summer months. By comparison the lowest percentages for winter months have been 23.8% for Jan (2010), 24.3% for Feb (2011) and 27.7% for Dec (2008)

The foul, depressing horror show just goes on and on Yesterday morning: Yesterday lunchtime: Yesterday evening: This morning; Just the same rank overcast garbage day in day out - all that changes is the shade of grey . In the past after a spell of very wet weather the wind would have returned to the westerly quadrant with brightening skies but now it just stays stuck in the east resulting in the wet weather replaced by fog and murk as illustrated above. Looks like the third sunless washout weekend on the trot with signs already showing for another write-off next weekend. A shocking run last seen in summer 2007 but not during autumn or winter since at least 2002 . All throughout last year I had to endure wet miserable Saturdays like this and can't take any more. There's just no quality of life stuck indoors all the time feeling fed up - it's like serving a life sentence and I just wish I was in a position to be able to emigrate. The only thing helping me get through this nightmare is 15-days in Spain to look forward to at the end of July. Just a joke that even Greenland and Iceland are experiencing warmer, sunnier weather

Filling in the North Sea sounds like the best idea I have ever heard Just wish it were possible as that horrid grey sea is responsible for all of our worst weather. Philip Eden has commented that, without the North Sea, Aberdeen would rank among the driest cities in Europe. It still wouldn't be amongst the sunniest but I reckon we could see around 1800-2000 hours sun annually - similar to Denmark and southern Sweden - compared to only 1400-1500 hours at present. Only downside would be losing the coastline and the 15 miles of unspoilt beach and dunes we have to the north.

Yet another awful sunless day of very cool featureless grey. Mean max currently running at a diabolical 12.7C at Dyce. The record low of 13.5C in 1971 really does stand a good chance of being broken with no sign of any improvement. Records began in 1941. Absolute max a disgusting 16.9C in my garden and 17.5C at Dyce which would again be the coldest on record beating 18.4C in 1971. Not reaching 20C would be notable in June having only happened in 1971, 1990 and 2007 (in the 71-year record).