The real Lomond snowstorm

Well, this area of the world has just had the best summer since records began in 1884 according to the BBC. The driest, warmest and sunniest. Overall Scotland had the 4th best summer but the West of Scotland was better than that and Glasgow area was the best since record began. This coincided here in Loch Lomond with a very large number of visitors this year even if they were mostly passing through to places further north.

Some Scottish reservoirs at their lowest level for 18 years and some parts of the country (Northwest) have had the driest summer on record. We had a couple of spells up in the mid to high twenties which was sufficient for me but have had plenty of sunshine (compared to normal) and temperatures around twenty or twenty one. I would take this summer (and cold but dry) spring every year if I could. In fact my impressions have been that the last five years or so the weather here has been drier than usual with fewer rain days and more sunshine. Autumn and early winter two years ago for example was glorious with lots of sunshine and last winter was the coldest for ten years but relatively dry (both positives in my book). I wonder if it might be a side effect of the slowing of the AMOC.

Maximum of 26C and sunshine all day today and it is going to be sunny again tomorrow but more like 21C , which is a little more pleasant for me

24C here and rising. Personally I prefer it cooler but I'm not going to complain if it is dry and sunny given the typical weather here. In fact I would be quite happy with 15C or 16C as long as it is dry and sunny and not too windy. If I'm outside I tend to be active and not sitting around so that feels quite pleasant with a relatively strong sun.

At this rate you will likely end up with half the average annual rainfall that occurs here. And about a third of the average rainfall that occurs a few miles up the road.

In the West of Scotland the driest months are usually May, April, June, July and then August, in that order. April and June rain totals are very close and in some places may be reversed but August is usually a fair bit wetter than the others.

I think the South East has received the 'normal' Scottish summer this year. We've had an excellent summer up here so far and it has been quite dry though it has been a lot cooler yesterday and today with lows of 6C overnight but a pleasant 18 to 20 C maximum. Even May was quite dry though also cold. It also looks like it is going to return to normal conditions of unsettled going forward and may be quite wet by the end of the week but the garden does need it

Looking at the Met Office long term averages, the maximum average for Minehead it is 21C in July and 20.8C in August. Liscombe is much cooler than that. October is 15C which I think of as autumnal. There may be local hotspots but many people seem to have distorted expectations of what to expect (this also applies to winter temperatures of course).

The maximum the last couple of days has been around 17C to 18C and breezy with some blue sky and brightness but not a great deal of direct sun. This isn't autumnal though as the average max July temperature is 17.9C and August is 17.6C here, so bang on average summer temperatures. Given that the south coast of England typically has average temperatures of less than 21C at this time of year (meaning much of the time it is less than that), I'm not sure how one degree less than the average can be considered autumnal but maybe you are all living in cold spots.

Interesting thought. I grew up in a white pebble dashed home and I never noticed that. To be fair it did start to turn green/grey with the Scottish rain When I used to live in a typical Scottish tenement flat with 2 feet thick stone walls it was always cool in summer. On a hot day it was a real pleasure to get home. However, it was much colder in winter as well, not helped by 12 feet high ceilings which, with hot air rising, meant that the first third of your heating was wasted (unless you were REALLY tall)

Given the British climate, the focus on reducing household fossil fuel/power consumption over the last 40 years has been to make houses warmer with double glazing, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation etc. That can generally be applied to existing housing stock and works for much of the year but unfortunately makes properties too warm sometimes in summer. To have houses that are naturally warmer in winter but also cooler when required in summer, means different designs and can not usually be economically retrofitted to properties. So, given that we don't build enough houses at the moment to satisfy demand, there is not much that can be done about it. You could try moving to Scotland where the housing is relatively cheap and more plentiful and you will definitely be cooler (and wetter) for most of the time . We are also the windiest country in Europe. Just don't all come at once as we don't want it too busy

It's been 28C here the last couple of days which is too hot for me but one consolation is that the local scenery looks nice in the sun. Crappy phone pic as I'm too lazy to carry a proper camera on my daily walks when it is hot..

I'm not sure the weather knows what day of the week it is. Maybe there is something missing in physics that links the laws of thermodynamics to a calendar invented by the Babylonians

I backpacked across Knoydart in the last week of May in 1991 (and did the munros etc. ) and it was so hot down in the glens where the heat was concentrated, that I got mild heatstroke one day. It is forecast to be fairly warm next week. And other parallels with this current weather pattern was that it was cool and wet up until the start of my holiday I would advise that you camp up high as the midgies were fairly ferocious when we camped on the beach one night. It is a lovely place in good weather and pretty rough in bad weather and you really are between Loch Hourn (heaven) and Loch Nevis (hell) .

As the grass usually doesn't grow when the temperature is below 10C you need it to be colder than it has been. Then you won't need to cut it in the wet

You can do many things without clothes in the snow....

Scotland invented Golf (sort of) and it rains a LOT up here. Imagine the first golfers had that attitude, the game wouldn't exist When I used to play I used to enjoy the water trapped beneath the fairway that acted like a trampoline when you walked on it. Made the stance for a shot a little wobbly. Then I got into hillwalking and winter mountaineering and realised that the rain and wind (and hail and sleet) I experienced on the golf course was mere child's play compared to what was happening a little higher up.

Winds gusting to around 40mph yesterday and some rain for a few hours and temperatures 9C most of the day. Far from the worst May storm we've had and actually relatively benign and okay to be out in it. Much better than those storms where it is 16C + and you get saturated in your waterproof from the inside. I was expecting far worse considering the build up it got.

The last 4 days have been very sunny and quite pleasant locally, with maximum temperatures around or a little above average and feeling warmer in the strong sun. Minimum temperatures have been as low as 4C but mostly around the average of 6 or 7C. We did have an hour of showers yesterday afternoon but this is the West of Scotland and otherwise it has been dry during the daylight hours since Sunday. Personally, I'm quite happy if it is sunny and dry, even if the temperatures are not particularly high.

Sunny all day here today and the temperature peaked around 17C. Our May average is 14.2C so quite respectable..

Windy and rained all day here and temperatures of 4C to 6C (briefly) . On the bright side the mountains look lovely today with continuous snow cover from 300m upwards

So far, one brief covering of snow (1cm) at low levels, in early December, that lasted a day. Though to be fair, the hills around me had some snow for a few days in this current cold spell. Before people point out that it is far better than they had down south, the trade off is 200 days a year of rain and average July and August maximum temperatures of 18C. Much as I like a cold winter, given a choice, I would exchange a few extra days snow (on average) for one third of the rainfall and decent summer temperatures.

Look at it as a trade off. You get a very dry climate and semi-decent summer in Essex but little snow and mild winters . Much of the rest of the UK ,the 600 + miles of the country further north, gets a colder winter most of the time but a lot more rain (3 times as much where I live ) and rubbish summers. You can't really get both in the UK regularly, though Aberdeen may give you both the dry weather and the cold weather. Anyway, first snow of the year here on Saturday, with about 3 inches which is nearly gone now, washed away by the rain last night. The mountains to the north have been covered in snow for a while and they've had snow to the south and east on a couple of occasions but up until Saturday it was either frosty and dry or (more often) cold rain and sleet here and I was beginning to think that it wasn't my year. It's still not been as good as last year. North Westerlies seem to be best for snow here when it's marginal or only a little bit cold.

In 2011/2012 we had a couple of storms that certainly had gusts 95 -100mph but probably 80mph+ sustained. In one of them a 5 foot high double glazed window was actually blown in the common area of the place I was living in at that time. It landed (and shattered) outside my front door. That was a bit of a surprise at 07:30 in the morning The other time I came out of a meeting at work to find most people gone and several phone messages and emails telling me to leave and go home straight away. The amount of debris flying around makes them fairly hazardous. Over the last 20 years we've had similar storms 6 or 7 times. Now I have a 100 foot high oak tree only 30-40 feet from the house. Given my luck previously with extreme weather.....

I keep on hearing that last winter was bad yet where I live we had more snow than any winter since 2010. A bit higher than the average here. Admittedly we didn't have a lot of nights below freezing out with the snowy spells Whereas March (2013 ?) we didn't get a single snow flake. We seem to benefit from PM snow whereas a lot of easterlies never seem to reach this far west. And if it comes from the north there's two hundred and fifty miles of mountains for it to get past.