cheese

No, it isn't. 20-24C is the perfect evening temperature for normal people. I've never met another living soul away from this forum who thinks 10-13C is an acceptable temperature range for the middle of summer.

Only in winter. Most of us want warm weather in summer. A northerly in July is not useful - better to have these synoptics when it actually matters, in January.

I've been thinking that although the last very warm August was 12 years ago, August has still managed to be the warmest month of the year a fair number of times since then - in 2012, 2009, 2007, 2005 (only just), 2004, for example. Maybe this year will repeat that. All of those August's were actually around or slightly above average too.

People are being very melodramatic on here today, aren't they? Might as well wait and see what August has in store since the rest of July is looking rather rubbish.

No heating on here, though it did feel a tad chilly in my bedroom this morning as I got out of bed with no clothes on.. I left a small bedroom window open.

July's been fine until the past 2 days or so. Might even end up below average! All in all, summer 2015 has been decent IMO, but looks set to deteriorate.

Most people don't care about that though - and most of us will be very happy with the prospect of a hot, sunny August, even if you're more concerned about your scented flowers blooming. And statistically the 1st week of August is the warmest of time of the year so the hottest weather in early August is pretty much par the course..?

I meant 2012 - my mistake.

Did someone say May was a reliable month? It was dreadful this year, last year, 2013 and 2012. I don't remember the last time May was 'nice' - 2012 came closest with that end-of-month settled spell but it was largely terrible. 2008 was the last really good one perhaps? April, on the other hand, has been consistently great. No complaints. And August continues to get a bad rep just because it hasn't been very hot in recent years, ignoring two very nice months in 2012 and 2013. I remember both here nearly always within the 21-25C range and only a few days below that. What more do people want? 1995 revisited?

Why doesn't Heathrow hold the UK temperature record then, if passing airliners have such a massive impact on temperature readings? Previously it was Cheltenham, and now it's some rural area of Kent, that, as far as I'm aware, has no influence from airliners. Heck, Heathrow doesn't even hold the London record - that honour goes to Kew Gardens. What about London City Airport? That's reasonably busy. London Weather Centre is also situated on a rooftop in central London, so would be an obvious candidate for artificially boosted temperatures given the amount of concrete and tarmac. What about Gravesend and Northolt? What's their excuse for regularly appearing in the UK's hottest?

It does happen from time to time. There was a gust of 99mph (sustained speed of 61mph) in Leeds in February 1990, probably caused by something similar.

I don't remember it settling. We also had snow in October 2013 but it only lasted for like 5 minutes at 3am in the morning. Did settle on the wheelie bin lids though.

That was July 2006, as I said - and it's a park on the edge of Leeds, not an open field. The grass here now is green. It was browning/yellowing off in June but has become green again. I did see some leaves that were yellow and falling but I'm not sure if that's related to low rainfall or insects.

Max/min temps for here so far in July.. 1st: 33.1/15.6 2nd: 25.2/13.5 3rd: 25.1/10.9 4th: 26.3/13.9 5th: 23.3/11.1 6th: 18.6/13.5 7th: 21.0/13.6 8th: 17.4/11.3 9th: 19.3//10.1 10th: 26.9/11.1 11th: 21.3/15.6 12th: 21.0/14.4 13th: 19.5/14.2 14th: 21.9/14.4 So temperature wise, no complaints at all from me. Pretty much what you would expect - barring the first day which was ridiculous. Some cooler days mixed in - but that's normal summer variation. Rainfall-wise, 31mm up to the 14th is quite wet, and July is already wetter than all months of the year except May so far, despite there being 15 or so days left. We've had thunder on 4-5 days this July, and some heavy downpours which didn't last very long. Sunshine - no major complaints. Nothing very sunny or very cloudy. PS - I think SE England must have a different soil or grass type to up here. No matter how warm or dry it is, the grass never goes fully brown or yellow. Not even in 2006, or 2003 - and this is one of the driest places in the country. These were the scenes in July 2006: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wec/210285954/in/photolist-98fY5M-98hY5h-7KVN2N-hmd9B-jpvhx-jpB8y-hmdqc-hmcTa-hmdA5-hme59-hmdKW-hmdVC-4UzBtH-4Eqk6b-iLS3q-jzLJD-jz6U6-jz9JP-jzLHq-jzLGZ-jz9An-jz6HY-jzLKC-jz7iw-jz76V-jzLGD-jzLFU-4BQZ4m-41kPsV-8vc3fL-4BGAR5-4K2nRZ-9P6Hos-9P3QCT-7QyiM9-79APjq-9P6Jc9 https://www.flickr.com/photos/wec/210286017/in/photolist-98fY5M-98hY5h-7KVN2N-hmd9B-jpvhx-jpB8y-hmdqc-hmcTa-hmdA5-hme59-hmdKW-hmdVC-4UzBtH-4Eqk6b-iLS3q-jzLJD-jz6U6-jz9JP-jzLHq-jzLGZ-jz9An-jz6HY-jzLKC-jz7iw-jz76V-jzLGD-jzLFU-4BQZ4m-41kPsV-8vc3fL-4BGAR5-4K2nRZ-9P6Hos-9P3QCT-7QyiM9-79APjq-9P6Jc9

Not that bad here IMO. All but three days above 20C, 5 above 25C. Most days have also seen a reasonable amount of sunshine. Only one day was cloudy - but still not 0 hours. Major complaint is that some days started off nice but by around 5pm it clouded over, or started raining - admittedly for only half an hour or so but still not welcome.

October is often a lovely month, temps in the mid-high teens, or low twenties occasionally, with some crisp Autumn sunshine and colourful foliage. November is usually horrible though.

Boo GFS, load of rubbish. Rains on nearly every day next week with a succession of rain bands. GFS shows 60mm of rain falling by Thursday night - I mean, we don't even get 60mm in any month on average, so to get that much, within the first 16 days, of July of all months, would be quite appalling. Hope the outlook changes soon.

The differences are more pronounced from west to east than north to south IMO. Bristol and Leeds for example are very similar in terms of summer temperatures despite Bristol being nearly 200 miles further south. Bristol is also wetter than Leeds, but sunnier. Dunno about Liverpool itself but Crosby in north Liverpool has nearly identical rainfall to Manchester but no sunshine stats.

That chart looks horrid for our part of the world Milhouse - but I was trawling through GFS max temps and in general it shows highs of 20-22C most days with only one or two days below that, so just what you would expect from July here. Nothing much to complain about IMO.

We had virga here too. Anyone else?

Yup, same here.

No moaning from me either given we reached 33C a week ago and Sheffield as well - higher than most places and equal to Birmingham and Oxford. I honestly have no idea what planet most of these people are living on.

North of Birmingham here too - been fine here. June was distinctly average temp-wise, sunny and dry. Half of all days were above 20C, highest 30C on the 30th. Why does everyone down south imagine the entire north to be like some windswept Pennine scene? Do they not know that Leeds receives more sunshine than Cambridge and Oxford in an average year? Summer temps only slightly cooler and rainfall nearly identical. Sheesh.

Well, the average high in Paris in July is 2C warmer than London. The average high in Leeds in July is 2C cooler than London. London is pretty much half-way between Paris and Leeds in terms of summer temperatures. Leeds tends to be a little cooler but is similar in terms of sunshine and rainfall. All three cities have the same climate though - oceanic. There are just a few minor differences.

Paris is about 2C warmer than London in July and August, so definitely a noticeable difference. London's summers are more similar to Amsterdam and Brussels than they are Paris. The difference between Paris and London this is year is pretty massive - the continental heat that Paris has endured for over a week has only glanced the UK for 1-2 days. And it's all relative, of course. I'd say the same about Newcastle or Carlisle - I'd find it hard living there because the summers are cooler than what I'm used to. I'm used to most summer days hovering around 21C-22C and I'd find Carlisle's 19C summers quite a shock. I can say the same in winter as well though - I like the fact that Leeds is more reliable for snow than most cities, and London hasn't had a snowfall for going on 2 years now!