Richard2901

Hope to see some more seasonable, frosty/snowy weather over Christmas after enduring 3 horrendous festive periods in a row but based on what 2014 has produced so far I'm not holding out much hope.

An awful end to yet another poor summer. Over an inch of rain in the last 4 days and yesterday, which was supposed to be better, was rubbish with overcast skies until 3pm and yet more rain in the evening. A foul 23 days of measurable rain in August which beat August 2012 to be the wettest summer month in my records. A ghastly month. This summer has seen the same horrendously abnormal patterns that prevailed from 2007 – 2012 putting the North East of Scotland in the firing line for the worst of the weather instead of in the rain shadow. Here I had 203.6mm - wetter than summer 2008 (199.0mm) and 2010 (178.6mm) as well as being duller than 2009. So of the 6 dire summers from 2007-12 it could only be said to be unequivocally better than 2007, 2011 and 2012. In the Moray Firth it must be close to the wettest summer on record with Lossiemouth having 318mm – 181% of average - compared to just 186mm in 2012 and 265mm in 2011. Yet again the weekends have been utterly dire. Even in July most of that month’s rain fell at the weekend. Shockingly there was not a single dry weekend something even 2007 and 2012 managed. Breakdown of average daily sunshine hours by day of the week shows Saturday dullest by far: Mon - 6.21, Tue - 7.43, Wed - 4.86, Thu -4.39, Fri -5.70, Sat -3.73, Sun – 5.71 Breakdown of average daily rainfall in mm by day of the week shows Sunday wettest by far: Mon -2.34, Tue - 0.54, Wed -1.65, Thu -2.71, Fri -1.40, Sat -2.89, Sun - 3.84 8th summer out of 8 that the weekends have been duller than weekdays and 6th out of 8 that they have been wetter. An utterly ridiculous situation that defies any rational explanation. This year it is much worse because of the rubbish Spring as well. I have counted only 6 sunnier than average weekends since the clocks went back in March and only two of those were completely dry. I just can’t put into words how much I have hated 2014. I have never known a year to have an almost complete absence of wind from the SW quarter as this year as had bar a few weeks in March. This combined with the record-breaking low average pressure, the snowless winter and the persistently poor weekend weather has made it a total nightmare without any redeeming qualities.

11 consecutive days without hitting 16C now. Checking records far back as 1961 only August 1986, when it didn't reach 16C at all during the 2nd half, can match such a persistently cool spell

It was sunny here today but the temperatures were dire. A max of only 15.3C. It really has been remarkable how cool the maxima have been despite most days having reasonable amounts of sunshine. Hasn't reached 16C since the 17th and only one day since the 10th has reached the average of 18C. Mean max for August will be about 3C down on July which followed July having almost 100 hours more sun than June. Definitely been an unusual summer for extreme contrasts.

Finally got a notably cold reading last night with a min of 3.0C beating my previous record by 1C. Only 2005 and 2012 recorded lower temperatures in summer and in both cases during the first week of June. In 2006 it took until the first week of November to see such a low temperature. Dyce min of 1.7C was the joint coldest (with 1995) in August since 1986.

Not had any notable cold minima which would be the only possible area of interest from this dreadful cold autumnal spell. Lowest just 6.0C as the wind never lets up which is why it is always the west that records lowest temperatures these days instead of the east. Lowest in my records for August was 4.0C in 2012 with 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2011 also recording below 6C. So far this is the only summer since my records began in 2005 that the temperature has not fallen below 6C. In fact it's also the only one not to record below 5C.

Not turned on yet but I don't know how much longer I can hold off. It really is disgustingly cold and windy for the time of year. Down to only 8.6C outside at 9:15pm. 18.9C indoors.

Of the recent rubbish Augusts 2009, 2010 and 2013 were not that bad here whereas 2008, 2011 and 2012 were utterly dire. 2011 was the worst of that. Just horrendously cool, dull and wet. The last weekend of the month I remember as giving the worst summer weather I can recall. 11C and overcast with 50mph winds. It was like summer in Spitzbergen. August 2014 looks as though it may turn out as bad if not worse than 2011. All there is in the outlook is day after day of cloud, rain and cold winds. A totally unpalatable situation when there’s been just 3 dry days so far. The record number of rain days for August in the 20th Century was 25 in 1917 and 1985. Seems a good chance, in this record-breaking cyclonic year, of beating that to give the most rain days in August since 1890 when there were 27! Sunshine was reasonable up to the 8th but has been horrific since with most days managing just 2-3 hours and yesterday best with only 5.7 hours. This is an absolutely awful summer month that is going to ensure we get a 7th wetter and duller than average summer out of 8. A ridiculously poor run without parallel in modern times.

The outlook is absolute garbage. Grey, cool and depressing. This is shaping up to be an exceptionally bad August - possibly as dismal as 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2012 - the worst Augusts of the last 30 years here. Already 20% more rain than the monthly average and we're not even half way through. Even worse there have been just 2 dry days so far and mean pressure is running below the record low value of 1003.7mb in 1917. This follows a record low average pressure for the first 7 months of the year. The only saving grace so far has been average sunshine but with each day getting progressively more grey and sunless than the day before this is not going to last. In fact todays vile grey skies and near constant drizzle will push it below average and by this time next week a big deficit should have opened up yet again. I'm only able to write this post because for the 2nd day in a row I'm prevented from going out on my usual lunchtime walk. The weekend was looking better but that is just getting worse and worse with each model run. There really is nothing to look forward to at all just low pressure and predominantly NW'ly winds giving a string of miserable disgusting cool grey wet/drizzly days that would be appalling for October. The last few weeks of the year where it's possible to get warm sunshine are being written off completely. Summer overall has not been good. It's been rubbish. July was good but June and August both awful and overall it will end up the 7th wetter and duller than average summer out of 8. Only July has saved it from being as bad as 2007, 2011 or 2012. I would certainly rate it as worse than 2009 and 2010 maybe even 2008 on account of the revolting weekends which have been terrible. Not one completely dry weekend all summer. 2014 truly has been an "annus horribilis"

Recent August's have been dire for high temperatures here. Since 1998 Dyce has recorded 25C only in the Augusts of 2006 and 2007 but this was achieved in 11 Augusts between 1975 and 1997 including very poor months like August 1987. Also four Septembers since 1998 have reached 25C and a fifth recorded 24.9C. The longest run without reaching 25C in August was 11 years from 1948 to 1958 when the warmest was 24.4C in 1955. It hasn’t even reached 24C in August since 2007 and is not looking likely to do so this year so that would equal the record run from 1948 to 1954. Also looking at the hottest August temperature by decade shows the 2000s had the lowest – even worse than the 1960s but so far this decade is far worse. 1940s: 26.7 (1947) 1950s: 27.2 (1959) 1960s: 26.8 (1964) 1970s: 28.4 (1976) 1980s: 26.8 (1983) 1990s: 29.7 (1995) 2000s: 26.0 (2006) 2010s: 23.7 (2013)

Today is the first time since early May that the sun set is before 9pm here. Certainly noticing the darker nights now especially that the weather has turned.

Couldn't think of anything worse than yet another disgusting mild southerly dross dominated autumn but given the way this year has gone it wouldn't be surprising. Last year September and November were decent but the putrid October spoiled the autumn completely. The vile, cloudy drizzly southerlies and ridiculously mild nights give the most lame and pathetic autumn colours imaginable (as with similarly atrocious autumns of 2006 and 2011) and trees remained green into December. So it is really October that needs to be colder and sunnier with cool nights and frost more like 2003 and 2012 to give a good display of colour. 2012 really was a great autumn. Much welcome after the worst summer on record. It was in fact the only time autumn was sunnier than summer. Every weekend was sunny apart from one (13th/14th Oct) and I really wish this good luck could extend to summer for once. The only bad spell of weather was an easterly in October which largely coincided with me being in the Canaries. I came back on 26th October to an incredible snowfall for the time of year - must have been about 10cm around Laurencekirk - and is easily the most potent northerly since 2010. It didn't last long but exceptional for October.

Against the odds July has managed to be sufficiently sunny to cancel out the dismal June. A respectable 213 hours for July compared to a disgusting 117 hours for June which is close to the greatest margin on record by which July sunshine has exceeded June (98 hours in 1990). A few hours tomorrow would beat the record. July has been by far the best summer month over the past decade. This is the third with over 200 hours sun compared to none at all for June and August. Not unusual for August which rarely reaches that threshold but a disgrace for June. Now down to August to decide the summer. A good August will give a good summer while a poor one would result in yet another bad summer. Not looking at all good at the moment with the next week looking abysmal. Saturday yet again looking a miserable write-off. The weekend weather this year really has been worse than any other year I can recall. Absolutely disgusting especially Saturday which seems to be a write-off 75% of the time. Only 2 of the past 7 Saturdays have managed even 2 hours of sun which would be a disgrace in winter. Thought it wouldn't be possible to get an 8th consecutive summer where the weekend weather is worse than weekday but this is just about the worse of the lot especially given this has been the pattern all year.

No higher than 20.8C so far this year which is extremely poor. Lowest annual max I have recorded since 2005 was 23.8C in 2010 with 2012 the only other year not to reach 25C. The poor summers of the early 2000s were actually worse than 2007 onwards for lack of high maxima with Dyce managing only 23.0C in 2000 and 23.3C in 2002. Further back 1974 and 1988 both failed to reach 23C and 1963 had the lowest annual max of 22.2C.

So far July has been a big improvement on June here managing 56.2 hours of sun in the first 8 days. However June also got off to a good start and it wasn't until the 12th that the dross set in. Also of note the clear skies are bringing below average minima for the first time since November with a mean min of 9.6C so far (-0.6). Mean max is around average at 18C and once again a notable lack of variation in maxima with all but two days between 17.3C and 19.1C. Yet to see 21C here this year and given that 2007 and 2012 both reached 22-23C in spring this is the latest since 2002. The lack of temperature variation is really astounding. I recorded a greater range in temperature in one week in May 2012 (23.8C from -0.4C on the 20th to 23.4C on the 26th) than I have all of 2014 (23.3C from -2.5C on 24th Jan to 20.8C on 17th June).

Good riddance to June 2014 one of the worst summer months on record. Just hideous with only 117.5 hours sun here - 69% of average and 0.4 hours fewer than November 2013 managed. Yet again we see the familiar 2007-12 scenario of the summer months being gloomier than the traditionally gloomy months 7th dullest June locally since 1881 ahead of only 2007, 1912, 1966, 2012, 1916 and 1954. Worst ever anticyclonic summer month. June 1932 was a similar type month with high pressure to the west but managed 134 hours sun at Craibstone and more dry days. The abysmal run of Junes just goes on and on. June was most commonly the sunniest month of the year here but has not been since 1996. Sunshine has dropped from 190 hours for 1921-50 to 170 hours for 1981-2010 and a disgusting 143 hours for 2007-14

In this relentlessly unsettled year, where even a 1030mb high doesn't give dry weather, I have managed no more than 6 days. This is certainly on track to be a record breaker. I recorded only a 7-day dry spell in 2009 and thought that was bad. I have been unable to find a year in the 20th Century that didn't at least manage an 8-day dry spell. Record droughts for Aberdeen are 34 days from 31st July to 2nd September 1947 and 33 days from 21st Feb to 25th March 1953. I doubt we'll ever see anything like that in this era of relentless unsettled conditions. My own personal record from the past 9 years is just 14 days from 8th to 21st Feb 2008. Would have had 26 days over March/April 2007 but for two intensely irritating falls of 0.2mm which spoiled things.

I'm writing summer off as poor now and with good reason. Good summers don't contain months as dismal as this June. The last fortnight has been grim and depressing with just 35 hours sun. The month to date has managed only 4 hours more sunshine than June 2012 and it's nearly over. We didn't have to put up with this in the worst summers prior to 2007, when we still got varied and changeable weather conditions. Even summers like 1998 seem like a paradise compared to the post-2006 dross. There's no sign of a much needed improvement either. The model output is lamentable. I can't even see one chart, in the reliable timeframe, that would provide any decent weather. No sign of any lengthy sunny spells, no sign of the long-overdue first 21C. Just north to north east winds bringing grey skies, drizzle and sub-15C maxes. By the time this comes to an end, if indeed it does, we'd require the rest of summer to be better than 1976 to cancel out the lack of sunshine to date. Our summer climate truly has changed beyond recognition since 2007. Without wind from the south west quarter we may as well be situated between Shetland and the Faeroes because that is now the summer weather we have to endure

Sounds very similar to what we've been enduring here. It's certainly not been settled at all. It's been absolutely dire since the 12th. Rain or drizzle most days and worse than October levels of sunshine. Basically as bad as 2012. I've not managed more than 6 consecutive dry days so far this year. That is abysmal given that even the worst of years in the past have managed a week and nearly all, until recent years, at least 10 days +. Even with the stream of cloud to the north west cut off today we still managed to be stuck under cloud all day. God knows where it was coming from or why it wouldn't clear. It's beyond a joke. Just shocking that a high pressure dominated month could be so poor. Day after day of overcast and no decent evenings. This month has been vile even compared to what has been the norm over the past 7 years and has an outside chance of finishing duller than November 2013 given the hideous outlook with no sign of any normal westerly synoptics

Another awful weekend here with more of the same as been suffered for the past 11 days. The summer solstice weekend truly is the most consistently poor of the whole year. Since 2005 only 2009 has been dry and sunny the rest have been almost completely overcast, like this one, rendering the extra daylight completely useless. Just when is this boring anticylconic gloom going to end? 2nd only to early June 2007 as the worst summer high pressure I can recall. Since the 12th it's been as depressing as 2012 with just 26 hours sunshine compared to 73.8 hours in the first 11 days. It's hard to distinguish one day from another - just the same cloudy rubbish day in day out. The only difference is the drizzle has pepped up over the last few days giving 1mm. An abysmal summer month

Not really anything to do with latitude but more the position of the high. Stuck out to the west it is just allowing endless cloud to spew over the top of it and down the eastern side of the UK. We just never seem to get favourable summer synoptics any more. This part of the country seems to come out with below average sunshine all the time except last summer and even then the surplus was smaller than in most other parts.

Seems a certainty that June here will yet again end up below average for sunshine. The latest in a hideous run stretching back to 1997 with only 2003 and 2013 even being passable. If next week is as bad as this week, and current output suggests it will be, then it'll likely end up ranking as one of the dullest on record. Following on from a very dull May this is very depressing as it means what should be the two best months of the year have been a write-off. I've been checking the records to see other years in which both May and June were exceptionally poor and it turns out that there have been only four years since 1900 in which both months have averaged below 5 hours of sun per day: 1932, 1944, 1965 and 1993. Not only are these some of the worst extended summers on record but some of the dullest years overall. 2014 will join them if we get less than 53 hours sun in the next 11 days which seems a cert based on the dismal performance of the past 8 days

Seem to be heading towards another desperately poor June. 125% of average rain for the first half of June here and just 87% of average sunshine. The latter looks set to get even worse with a grim outlook for the whole of next week. The latest excruciatingly dull spell from this excruciating year. Very similar to the unpleasant dull high pressure from 6th to 20th June 2010 but at least that high sunk southwards to deliver a fine spell in the final third whereas this looks like moving further north west introducing northerlies and more rotten cloudy weather. As sick as I was of unsettled weather I would far rather see a continuation of what prevailed up to the 11th. At least there was warm sunshine between the rain/showers. The last 4 days have been utterly vile with almost incessant overcast. In the past this would have been noteworthy for June but in this era of record-breaking awful summers, where 10+ days in a row of overcast are far from unknown, it is the norm. You could not make this dismal year up. 6 months of suffering dull southerlies giving endless gloom and now it reaches summer when southerlies would bring sunshine, we suffer cool cloudy northerlies. The poor spring makes it all the more depressing this year. May managed a woeful 152 hours of sun and I wonder if this will be beaten at all this year. It is feeling very much like 1993, a consistently awful year where July was the sunniest month with a similar lousy total. In addition this is also looking like the third successive June to struggle to reach 20C. It wasn’t reached at all in 2012, only on the 30th last year and has only just been reached this year but the warmest day remains 16th May with 20.2C and looks like doing so for some time. Absolutely pathetic. I really do wonder given the complete lack of extremes if this year will end up with both the lowest maximum and highest minimum on record. Minima continue close to record breaking for the fourth successive month. At 10.6C the mean minimum is currently over 2C above average. The only other Junes to finish with a double digit mean min were 2003 and 1966, the latter a rare example from the past of the repellent type of month that has been so commonplace over the past 15 years, especially so this year – very dull and wet with very mild nights and average day temperatures.

Yet another dire start to summer with above average rainfall, below average sunshine and wind almost exclusively from the easterly half of the compass as it has been pretty much all year Now into the third consecutive day of disgusting overcast. With little hope of a clearance and more of the same tomorrow this will be the umpteenth revolting grey sunless weekend this year. It really is a sick joke that in this abysmal record-breakingly cyclonic year we finally get high pressure and this is the rubbish it is producing. The next week looks horrible with very little sunshine just lots of cloud to add significantly to the 500-hour summer sunshine deficit since 2007 http://www.niederschlagsradar.de/niederschlagsprognose.aspx?type=4&continent=europa Totally and utterly depressing. This year is worse than 1993 for consistently awful weather. Simply vile

Awful start to summer. Only four dry days so far in June and day after day it is 19C and sunny when stuck at work, degenerating into 14C, cloud and rain/showers by evening. How on earth we can be the only part of the country plagued by showers on this set-up I don't know. It should be the Western Isles getting this. Be as well getting dark at 4pm because the light nights are being completely wasted. Next few days just more of the same. We could get close to the average monthly rain total by mid-month and further north Kinloss has comfortably exceeded its full monthly average rain total already so well on track to be another ridiculously wet summer month in NE Scotland