BruenSryan

If one is going to be picky and cherrypick specific dates rather than a general period... Reading had a maximum of 7.5C on 22nd April 1973. Heathrow had 8.8C that same day. Kew had a max of 7.3C on 22nd April 1922 and 22nd April 1888. Today is not exceptional at all.

April 2024 a bit different to the other warm Aprils this century so far.. (though 2014 was somewhat different too)

summer blizzard damianslaw "I don't remember much of late 2017 but I'm not really sure that March and April were even regarded as wet." Really you don't think 176% and 145% of average rainfall is wet hem?

UK maxima for every day of the Easter period this century. Unsurprisingly... 2003, 2011, 2019 and 2020 on top with 2013, 2008 and 2018 at the bottom.

damianslaw Well... here's the top 10 wettest springs on UK record and the summers that followed in % of rainfall and temperature anomaly to avg (against 91-20). These are for the UK as a whole. 1979 85%, -1.1C below avg 1947 68%, +0.7C above avg (9th warmest) 1986 93%, -1.4C below avg 1913 55% (5th driest), -1.2C below avg 1920 99%, -1.8C below avg (10th coldest) 1967 84%, -0.7C below avg 1983 50% (4th driest), +0.7C above avg (12th warmest) 1981 71%, -0.9C below avg 2006 74%, +1.2C above avg (2nd warmest) 1994 79%, -0.2C below avg I think you are able to tell the best summers from the years alone though regardless of the data. I don't see much in it to be honest and all the cooler than average summers are from a significantly different time.

What can I say that I haven't already said elsewhere about this beauty of a month. August 2022 heatwave was by far the most comfortable I've ever felt in a heatwave here as it had low humidity, relatively cool nights and the sun wasn't as strong because it was later in the summer. Ireland not only had its first August 30C since 2003, well overdue, but it also broke the national record for the month. Not to mention had an amazing very late noctilucent clouds display on 11th August in the midst of the heatwave. The final few days also had a lovely spell though was a bit cooler and definitely noticed it here on the east coast of Ireland with that easterly wind before the 2nd September 2022 came which brought us into this current exceptional wet era. Take me back to this

Adding onto what Metwatch has said... Of course don't get fooled by what we have classified as "pre-frontal sunsets" where high cloud is approaching but it's coming from the west where the sun sets. These are usually no-gos as the western horizon is completely blocked ahead of rain coming from the Atlantic. On rare occasions, they can provide some brief colour before the sun hits a wall of cloud on the horizon or the front is coming from a different direction rather than the west like the south. 20th March 2020 had one of the best spectacular sunsets I've ever seen and a front was lingering to the south - see pic below. A hazy sunset will normally have muted colours after the sun has set because contrary to belief, haze mutes colours. Although golden hour can still be spectacular with hazy skies I have found. You also have the chance of seeing a hazy sun where you can look directly at the sun without blinding yourself and it goes red or pink. The most hazy wind direction is southeasterlies and you will tend to build up haze too in an anticyclonic setup with not much mixing. The most important thing is a clear horizon because even if you have what doesn't look like favourable cloud for rayleigh scattering to kick in, it can light up red briefly if the sun peeks through a clear horizon. After you have observed a lot of sunsets, all of this stuff becomes second nature and you pick up quirks or trends that tend to happen which cannot be found online.

North-Easterly Blast Think he meant 2017 (as the Feb and Mar figures in his post match that year) but accidentally put down 2018 and July 2018 as the highest summer month CET which 2017 was July 16.9C.

I've said to death about how much of an atrocity 2020 was for here in the east of Ireland and people don't give it enough flak. Spring is a completely separate season so has no bearing on my opinion of that summer. I'll do a hot take and say 2022, see what I did there. It was a better than average summer here for sure with the most wonderful August in many many years. However, June and July were too westerly and fed in a lot of cloud to call it a legendary summer. I've seen some people here say it's better than 2018, definitely not. June 2018 was one of the best summer months of all-time in Dublin and July was fantastic too, at least for a good part of it whilst August was mediocre but not completely terrible. After all, the summer index showed it was the 15th best summer here since 1942 so there were at least 14 summers better - that is at least on a statistical means. Not saying 2022 was a bad summer, not at all.. but it was a bit over-praised in this location, especially July.

Summer8906 The wettest July-June periods on record: UK: July 2006-June 2007 1344.4mm (records since 1836) England & Wales: July 2000-June 2001 1258.3mm (records since 1776)

Summer8906 I misread that July 2019 was bang on 1991-2020 (100%) so yeah that period does not count. January 2020 was dry though with 88% of average, the daily totals below.

Weather-history And another close run from March-October 2008 but June was 91% of avg and October 98% - both relative to 91-20. I don't think anybody would call those "dry" months anyway. May 2012 was slightly below 91-20 avg with 92% whilst April and June-December were all above to well above avg.

February1978 The last time E&W had 8 or more consecutive wetter than avg months (against 1991-2020) was back in 1960-61 from July to February. Recent periods that got close: June-December 2019 (7) June-December 2012 (7) August 2006-February 2007 (7)

If allowing some leeway for periods of mild, dry and sunny weather rather than months, December 2001 could be included. It was a cold month overall due to northerly winds later and a lot of frost. However, the second week had some very sunny and mild weather locally. Mainly in foehn affected areas. In the south it was rather cool, especially inland where there must have been some inversions going on. NASA satellite imagery for the 11th December 2001 for instance and the max temperature was as much as 16.1C at Nantmor in west Wales on this day. Must have felt a bit strange for the time of year.

Metwatch There was also 18th March 1990 with 14.2C.