cheese

I agree with this. I really dislike front-loaded summers and would have preferred June’s weather in July. That September heatwave would have been much hotter if it occurred in August instead.

I’d probably agree if our winters weren’t so depressing and useless. Since proper winter conditions are increasingly rare, I’d rather have spring-like weather instead.

From the Januaries I was old enough to remember, either January 2010 or January 2013. Honourable mention to Jan 1995 for the 40cm+ snowfall on the 25th that totally paralysed traffic in Leeds (and elsewhere in Yorkshire). As mentioned it's pretty slim pickings since 1987.

Come February we can and often do see the first spring-like weather with temperatures into the high teens with sunshine. That’s what I’m looking forward to now. A repeat of February 2019 would be appreciated.

January 2013 was indeed a great month for snow, despite the lack of notable cold. The snowfall on the night of the 25th/26th was particularly good - we ended up with a snow depth of around 30cm, rivaling December 2010. Winter 2012/13 was overall a very snowy winter with multiple notable snowfalls from January to March. Snow drifts lasted until April (this picture was taken near Harewood on 2 April).

I think that’s probably true for most of eastern and southern England. From May to September, June is the dullest month here in percentage terms, and August is almost sunnier than June in absolute terms despite June having a significant day length advantage. The high frequency of easterlies really ruins it here. From late June onward that’s less of a concern.

Tbf the August 2022 heatwave saw 5 consecutive days above 30C here. That’s a rare feat for this part of the country. August 2022 was also comfortably warmer than July 2022 here and on par with August 1995. August 2022 was definitely the best month of 2022.

February is the driest month of the year for a large part of England (including my location). There have been other mild and dry Februaries prior to 2023. February 1998 is probably the best example.

August is the second sunniest month of the year here in percentage terms, getting around 41% of the total possible sunshine. It’s definitely a better month than June here due to the lack of easterlies - we rarely get North Sea low cloud in August but it’s common in June.

A brief 'warm' up in Scandi before colder temperatures return. It's going to be a bumper year for Baltic Sea ice, that much seems certain.

August 2013 wasn't sunny enough imo. It was warm and had some good thunderstorms here though so I wouldn't say no.

Deep cold > rain. All day every day. I can guarantee you people in Sweden and Finland spend more time outdoors in winter than we do. I’d take mild & dry too but that’s very uncommon in January. Once we get to February it’s more likely.

That probably means more rain which is the last thing anyone wants after the deluges of October, November and December. Don't care if it's cold or not, just keep the rain away.

Temperatures in parts of northern Sweden have gone from -44C a few days ago to +8C today

Here we had a low of 21C on the morning of the 19th, and a low of 21C on the morning of the 20th as well. Two consecutive tropical nights. Bearing in mind that tropical nights are truly, truly rare here.

Our previous record was from July 2019. That heatwave broke records from 1990 up here. Since 2019, we have exceeded 34C on four occasions here. Mid 30s temperatures are slowly becoming more common, and exceeding 30C is now expected every year (2014 is the last year not to exceed 30C here).

Yes the hottest part of the day usually has the lowest humidity levels.

Heatwaves in the UK are usually on the dry side so they’re not as bad as they could be. 19 July 2022 was very dry - humidity levels were around 20% that day for most of the country. I still occasionally look at the weather data for that day just to marvel at how utterly bonkers it was. Over 25C by 8am, 32C by 10am, 34C by 11am… just nuts. Seeing most of England with 37C-40C temperatures from London to Newcastle and everything in between will probably never be surpassed in terms of craziness for a very long time (if ever). Saying that, nobody expected 40C to be reached in the UK so soon, so who knows.

Hoping for a June like 1976, a July like 2018 and an August like 2022. Is that too much to ask for?

Looks like another winter of chasing cold spells that never materialise. We all know the script. At least the rain has finally buggered off though.

The average July high at my closest station is 21.4C for the 1991-2020 period. I think that’s an okay temperature, especially with sunshine. A partly cloudy, 21/22C day is fine by me. My ideal summer temperature is more like 27C though.

It's a bit dark but you can see the Baltic Sea in Stockholm frozen over here (specifically the bay called Saltsjön).

Sweden saw temperatures below -40C in 2010 and 2011 as well. -42.1C was recorded at Nikkaluokta in northern Sweden on 10 December 2010, and -42.6C on 24 February 2011.

I don't know about that - the winter of 2009/10 was very cold in Scandinavia just like the UK, same with 2010/11. They also had very cold weather in March 2018 at the same time as us. Likewise some of their very mild winters (like 2007/08 and 2019/20) were also very mild in the UK.

Besides ice, there's been a pretty good example of sea effect snow affecting eastern Sweden over the past few days.