East Lancs Rain

I think it’s about the same windiness here as Sunday. BBC weather app saying gusts of around 60 mph here both Sunday and tonight. But Sunday was a deeper low, weather station was saying 965 mb on Sunday night but it’s currently 988 mb now. So because the pressure was lower they probably expected it to be windier on Sunday. And it was also really bad up in Scotland on Sunday, gusts of 100 mph there in a lot of places. A very mild day though despite the bad weather, maxed out at 12.9C here today. Having said that it is really wild out there now. I have a feeling that’s the last of the cold weather now. The forecast for the rest of the week is very mild and rain every day, apart from a dry slot tomorrow and Friday. Getting serious winter 2019/20 vibes now with all the wind and rain and double digit temps. Feels like living in Stornaway.

The wind is really wild out there now, BBC Weather app says gusts of 58 mph. Was really mild this afternoon, the temp reached 12.9°C at one point. Rain has been on and off all day. The forecast is for plenty more wind and rain to come, and temps mostly in double figures or high single digits, with no sign of anything cold on the horizon. I’m starting to get winter 2019/20 vibes now. I feel that is it for cold and snow now. I feel it will probably stay mild, wet and windy until March then hopefully we’ll get some spring weather. December 2023 also turned out to be milder than December 2019, so it might turn out to be an even milder winter than that one, we’ll see.

First of all I am surprised 2021 was the hottest summer on record for parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland. I would’ve thought summer 2018 would have been hotter as I remember there were some very high temperatures recorded in parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland during that summer. Here in the north west of England, summer 2021 was the better summer here, although by the sound of it, it wasn’t as spectacular as it was up in Scotland, although it was still better than it was down south (at least from a sunshine perspective). So here is how both summers panned out here. Summer 2020 The first half of June was unseasonably cold and very cloudy with many days only in the low teens, thanks to a chilly NE flow. The middle of the month was warm and thundery. The last week was extremely hot with temperatures very close to 30°C. In the strong June sunshine, it felt way too hot. Then, the closing days of the month, it went to the other extreme - very cold, very wet and very windy, with temps only in the low teens. Within a couple of days it went from conditions you’d expect in Late July to conditions you’d expect in late November. I hated both extremes. I can’t remember such a huge change in temperature and weather conditions in such a short space of time before. July 2020 was the worst July I can ever remember. There was no warmth whatsoever, almost every day was unseasonably cool. It was also wet and very cloudy. A triple whammy. The temperature was stuck in the low to mid teens. Every day was below 20°C, which is the average high in July here. One day around the middle of the month it was only about 12°C, overcast and rain and I had to put the central heating on as I was freezing. The temperature did not even reach 20°C until the final two days. I remember the 31st was sunny in the morning but cloudy in the afternoon, and very warm with temperatures in the high 20’s but overcast, an unusual combination here. It was the coldest July I’ve ever known, I recorded an average high of just 17°C, 3 degrees below the long term average here. Only two days exceeded 20°C. While July 2023 was also very cool, very cloudy and even wetter, it was at least a bit warmer than July 2020 was. August was the best month of the summer here, although it still wasn’t great. Unlike further north, we did get the heatwave here, although (thankfully) it wasn’t as extreme as in the south. It was very warm/hot, quite sunny and quite humid. Temps I think were around high 20’s, maybe low 30’s on one or two days. I remember one evening around 10 pm it was about 22°C with 80% humidity. Quite a tropical feel, kind of like a Florida summer. I actually found it more bearable than the June heatwave however, because although it was more humid, it wasn’t as sunny and the sun isn’t as strong in August anyway. I saw a user on here say they actually found the August 2020 heatwave worse than the July 2022 one, but for me it was the other way around, I definitely found the July 2022 one much more intense. Maybe it’s because I don’t sweat that much so the humid conditions don’t bother me as much, as humid conditions make it harder for sweat to evaporate and cool you down. Think I’d rather deal with lower temperatures and higher humidity than higher temperatures but lower humidity. When my mum had a dog, she noticed that the dog struggled more on days with high temperatures, but on days that were humid (but with lower temperatures) the dog was fine. This is because dogs don’t cool themselves down by sweating like we do, but by panting. So I think in general people who sweat a lot will tend to manage better in very high temperatures but with low humidity than people who don’t sweat much, as all that sweat evaporating will help to cool them down, but when it’s hot and humid, the person who sweats more will probably have a harder time, as they’re sweat does not evaporate as easily, but for the person who doesn’t sweat much, the high humidity won’t be as much as a problem for them. Perhaps those who enjoy the heat and can tolerate high temperatures are those who sweat more. Just a thought. Anyway, I went off on a bit on a tangent there. Back to talking about August 2020… I remember one day a named storm (can’t remember the name) brought some unseasonably windy weather. I remember one afternoon it was around 16°C, wet and windy, and one afternoon it was around 18°C, partly cloudy and windy. I remember the closing days of the month were unseasonably cool. Temps were in single digits at night and only in the low teens by day. One afternoon it was around 13°C and overcast but also dry with light winds, so it didn’t feel too bad, although there was definitely a chill in the air. Overall it was a very bi-polar summer, with rapid swings between unseasonably cold, wet and dull weather and extremely hot weather. I’m not a fan of either cool/cloudy/wet or baking hot weather, I prefer a happy medium, around 18-24°C and dry with plenty of sunshine is ideal for me, so there was very little usable and enjoyable weather in that summer for me. It was either too hot or it too cold, too wet and too cloudy. Summer 2019 was similar in some ways, with its intense heatwaves and periods of cool, wet weather, although July 2019 was much better than July 2020 here. I enjoyed the Spring of 2020 a lot more than the summer. Spring 2020 felt summery a lot of the time with many sunny days in the high teens and low 20’s, whereas a lot of the time, Summer 2020 felt more like October. September 2020 was also much more pleasant than a lot of the actual summer, with a lot of pleasant sunny days in the mid to high teens. It was one of those years where the best weather occurred outside of the summer. Summer 2021 This summer was better here and much more enjoyable for me. June 2021 was warm, dry and sunny here, I remember plenty of nice days with highs in the low 20’s, which is just about perfect for me. I remember the first week of July 2021 being quite wet and cloudy. I remember the rest of the month being a lot better though. There were plenty of days with highs in the low 20’s, plenty of dry days and plenty of sunshine. There was a heatwave during the third week, bringing lots of clear sunny days with it, although the heat was much more sensible compared to the mega heatwaves of summer 2019 and 2020, with highs of around 25-29°C here. August was the poorest month of the summer here, although it wasn’t terrible by any means. It was quite a coolish, dry and benign month with no heatwaves, but there were a lot of pleasant days with a mix of clouds and sunshine and temperatures in the high teens and low 20’s, which is the most comfortable range for me in summer. The middle of the month was quite poor with some very overcast days, with rain and drizzle at times at temps only in the mid teens. This was the poorest period of the summer. However, the final week or so of the month was quite pleasant with an anticyclonic easterly flow, bringing a lot of gentle, pleasant, benign days with temps again in the high teens and low 20’s, with some cloudier days and some sunnier days. It wasn’t spectacular like it was further north, but it wasn’t the cloudfest that it was further south either, I remember some people in the midlands and the south complaining that they hadn’t seen the sun for days. I believe many eastern areas were very cool, cloudy and misty during this spell thanks to the wind coming from off the North Sea. Overall, it was a pleasant summer here, with plenty of dry, sunny, usable weather and mild/warm temperatures in the high teens and low 20’s a lot of the time. June was warm, dry and sunny, July was also warm and quite sunny, although wet at times, and August was quite dry, although rather cool and cloudy at times. Overall, not a bad summer, with a lot of pleasant, dry, benign weather with comfortable temperatures and a lack of extremely hot weather and also a lack of extremely poor weather too which I really liked. It was like the opposite of Summer 2020 in many ways, where it was either one extreme or the other. I enjoyed Summer 2021 a lot more than Summer 2020. In fact, I’d say I enjoyed Summer 2021 more than Summer 2022 or 2023.

February 2019 and June 2019 is the best example of this. February 2019 was exceptionally warm with some days sunny and into the mid to high teens. Somewhere in Wales reached 21°C. I recorded 17°C on one day. I recorded an average high of 12°C during the second half of the month. However, the first half of June 2019 was absolutely diabolical. Exceptionally cool, wet, and dull. Many days were only 11-13°C with rain all day here. Many had thier central heating on. I recorded an average high of just 15°C during the first half of June here. It was as if someone had swapped the second half of February’s weather with the first half of Junes weather that year. The rest of the summer was pretty mixed, although exceptionally hot at times, overall coming out warmer but also wetter and duller than average. The autumn was also cold and wet that year. After reaching 40°C in July 2022, the next milestone is for the UK to have a summer month with a CET of 20°C. We got very close in July 2006, our hottest month on record, which had a CET of 19.7C. With the summers getting warmer, it will have to happen sooner or later, I would’ve thought. Could this year be the one?

Another day, and more wind and rain, AGAIN.

For me probably: April - December 2012 - extremely wet Summer 2017 - cool and very wet 1st half of June 2019 - exceptionally cool, very dull and very wet Autumn 2019 - very wet and cool July 2020 - exceptionally cool October 2020 - cold, dull and wet May 2021 - cold, dull and wet July 2023 - Very wet and dull October - December 2023 - Very wet and very dull

Yesterdays ECMWF 12Z run showing springlike weather on 29th Jan. Very gusty out there and very low pressure! Also very mild, but not feeling it in the wind!

It won’t feel very balmy in the wind and rain though! It won’t feel pleasant when it’s p*sing down with rain and blowing a gale though will it? ️ My thoughts exactly. It’s frustrating how this winter has either been dry but very cold or mild but very wet, very cloudy and very windy. It has either been 10°, cloudy, wet and windy, or dry and sunny but not much above freezing. Would love a spell of mild, dry, bright weather, 10°, sunny intervals and light winds would be great but that kind of weather is rare at this time of year. Frustrating how in winter when it’s mild it’s usually wet and cloudy and when it’s dry and sunny it’s usually cold, which means there is very little usable weather for those who like it dry and bright but not cold, esspecially in the north, and esspecailly for western areas more exposed to cloud and rain from off the Atlantic. It’s also frustrating that when it is cold enough to snow it usually doesn’t snow, all the precipitation usually disappears, but as soon as it turns mild again, the rain comes back. Instead of having to choose between dry and sunny but only 2°C or 12°C but cloudy, wet and windy in the winter, it would be better if it was the opposite way around - lots of precipitation when it’s cold, and dry and sunny when it’s mild - so more days where its 2°C and snowing and more days where its 12°C, dry and sunny. We would get far more pleasant days and much more snow in winter - it would be better for both snow lovers and mild lovers. Its also frustrating in summer, that often (though definitely not always), when it’s dry and sunny, it tends to be too hot and when it’s a comfortable temperature it’s often cloudy and wet. Again, this is more true for western areas that tend to be cloudier and wetter when the wind is coming from a cooler westerly direction. Western areas can also get very hot from easterly winds in summer whereas the east stays cooler (esspecially on the coast). March, April, May, June, September and October are the best months to have high pressure dominated weather imo, as it usually brings dry, sunny weather and comfortable temperatures of 10-20°C. High pressure in November- February is often too cold, and high pressure in July and August is often too hot. Maybe in London but here in Lancashire it’s going to be very wet and very windy, rain forecast every day here, and the wind will make it feel colder than what the temperatures suggest. I wouldn’t describe conditions of 10-13°C, gusty winds and rain as being pleasant… I feel like mild winter weather is overrated on this forum. 12/13C, wind and rain is nothing special in January, at least these days anyway. It is standard UK winter conditions. If it was dry and sunny with those temps, or if it was 16/17C, it would be much more noteworthy however. It is currently 10°C, raining and blowing a hoolie here and it feels from from warm. The wind and rain is back with a vengeance here in East Lancs, the green grass, grey skies and soggy conditions have returned, all snow has gone apart from on the very tops of the hills.

It certainly looks wet for most of the country away from SE England! ️ Going for around 70 mm in my location and going for over 100 mm for south west Scotland and Cumbria. I suspect we’ll have flooding in some areas. Fine weather if you’re a duck.

For anyone who wants some severely cold and snowy winter weather, How about a trip to Yakutsk in Russia? Temps of -44°C at the moment, and can get as low as -70°C! Also, looking at the forecast it is completely sunless. Don’t know how accurate the bbc forecast is and whether these conditions are normal or not but it looks like a nuclear winter with it either being thick cloud and dry or thick cloud and snowy with no sun whatsoever.

Just had a look at the climate for Port Hardy now. Shocking how wet the autumns are. Makes Lancashire look dry! It’s summers are a bit cooler than mine, although they are also a bit drier and July and August are sunnier than here. Annual sunshine is slightly higher than mine. Outside of the summer, temperatures are quite similar to here, although the minimums are colder. It’s interesting that August is the warmest month of the year while December is the coldest. A lot of seasonal lag in summer but totally the opposite in winter. Overall, not a great climate, far too wet and summer is too cool and it’s too cloudy outside the summer months. The climate in Half Moon Bay, California, a few hundred miles further south, is the ideal climate for me. Mild year round, very sunny, and extremely dry in summer. Half Moon Bay, California - Wikipedia EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Looks like it’s back to business as usual… The rest of the month is looking quite mild and zonal according to the CFS V2, very wet everywhere during the first week, then a more traditional zonal pattern in the second week, with the wettest conditions in the north, the driest conditions in the south, and all areas milder than average. The rest of the month is also looking very zonal and westerly according to the model output, with some deep areas of low pressure barrelling the country at times, before possibly turning exceptionally mild on the 28th and maybe a taste of spring on the 1st February with a mild ridge of high pressure over the country. Very little sign of a return to cold weather at this stage.

There is already yellow warnings for rain and wind for the NW of England. Looks like it’s back to business as usual… The rest of the month is looking quite mild and zonal according to the CFS V2, very wet everywhere during the first week, then a more traditional zonal pattern in the second week, with the wettest conditions in the north, the driest conditions in the south, and all areas milder than average. The rest of the month is also looking very zonal and westerly according to the model output, with some deep areas of low pressure barrelling the country at times, before possibly turning exceptionally mild on the 28th and maybe a taste of spring on the 1st February with a nice mild ridge of high pressure over the country. The MOD thread might have been a better place to post this but as they’re only interested in cherry picking the cold charts rather than the actual weather…

Another really cold and sunny day today, not a cloud all day and I think the temperature stayed below freezing all day, with not much snow melting. ️ Temp got down to -7° last night here! Now it’s currently a slightly less cold -0.7° outside. All change by the weekend with much milder but also much wetter, much duller and much windier weather, with Tuesday potentially reaching 13° but with strong gusty winds and heavy rain. ️ This winter has seen some very sharp contrasts in weather. We had that really cold snap in late November and early December, then it turned very mild, very wet, very windy and very dull. During January, it has turned increasingly colder, drier and sunnier, with some snow in places. Now it’s going back to being very mild, but also very wet, very windy and very dull again… It has either been bitterly cold and dry or very mild but also extremely wet, very windy and extremely dull. Can’t we just have some nice quiet days where it’s around 7° and sunny by day and around 0° and clear sky at night? The stats for December show it was a very mild month (7C CET) and also exceptionally wet. We have also just had a sudden stratospheric warming which could have an effect on the weather in a few weeks time… Check out the height reanalysis charts below. They show how December, the first half of January as well as the winter overall has been. GavsWeatherVids on YouTube has also done a mid winter review video.

Not really, as 2007 and 2012 didn’t have the hottest June on record! Instead, they had exceptionally wet and very cool Junes. And July 2023, as bad as it was, didn’t feel record breakingly wet here, not as bad as 2012, but I guess the stats don’t lie. If we had 2 really bad summer months in the same summer, then I’d say we’d have had a 2007/2012 repeat. I’d say last summer was kind of similar to 2009, a warm, dry and sunny June, a very wet July and a mediocre August.

Interesting. Sounds like a typical summer in Lancashire today! The UK had some shocking summers in the 80’s. I wonder what the average daytime high was in London during July 1988 (one of the coldest July’s on record), where the highest temperature all month was just 22°C. Many places failed to even record a high of 20C all month, let alone average it. Makes me wonder how and some of the summers in Lancashire were back then! July 2020 was like July 1988 here, did not even reach 20°C until the final two days. Absolutely atrocious even for here, as the average July high here is about 20°C. And even then, I remember the afternoon of 31st July 2020 was in the high 20’s but… cloudy. The morning was sunny though. I think many Londoners these days have become too spoilt by their recent good summers. These days they moan when it’s 24C and a bit cloudy… If Summer 2023 had occurred in London in the 80’s it would probably have been considered a pretty decent summer. I would like to feel your optimism, but I feel we’re overdue for a 2007/2012 repeat. I’d personally love to see a repeat of spring 2020 but summer 1976 would be too hot for me. Would prefer a cooler summer like maybe 2013 or 2021. The ideal summer for me would be to be mostly dry, plenty of sunshine and highs of 20-23°C most days. Something like these temps with below average rain and well above average sunshine would be perfect for me (add about 3 degrees on for down south). February: 9°/2° March: 12°/4° April: 15°/6° May: 17°/8° June: 19°/11° July: 22°/14° August: 21°/13° September: 18°/11° October: 15°/9° I agree, unfortunately the same person keeps bringing it up and mentions it in about half of thier posts. It is starting to get rather tiresome. I hope you’re right. I wouldn’t want a summer that hot. 18-24°C is the most comfortable temperature range in summer for me.

_ Only three months wetter for a warmer climate (with some months have warmed over a degree compared to 61-90) with more sunshine. Yep, I’ll take that. Cool, cloudy, nothing weather is boring anyway. I’d rather have a warmer, wetter and sunnier climate over a cooler, drier and duller one. Whats interesting though is that the changes aren’t happening in the same way everywhere. You mentioned that July is getting drier where you are and on the south coast, with the possibility of it becoming a Mediterranean climate soon. Whereas the summer months are becoming wetter here, which is annoying I’ll admit, as they are wet anyway and you generally want the summer months to be drier than other parts of the year. But June and July have only become a few mm wetter, hardly something I would notice, and some of the other months, like April, have become a little drier. So it’s swings and roundabouts. I’m not going to have sleepless nights because the summers have become ever so slightly wetter… Nope it makes total sense. It is perfectly normal to expect daily, monthly, yearly and even multi decadal variations in climate. Look at the image below. It shows how the average temperatures have changed throughout the last millennium. Average temperatures have been yo-yoing up and down for centuries. It is nothing new. The mean temperature rose by 3 degrees in the 11th century alone. Long before there were any cars, planes, power stations or factories. Just some cows around… Moo. The temperature hasn’t even risen by 3 degrees in the last century, in the supposed era of “man made global warming”. If it did, no doubt you’d be saying “look, here’s all the more evidence that man is CAUSING THE PLANET TO MELT!”. The truth is the climate has been fluctuating for centuries, with or without greenhouse emissions. We are in a warming period at the moment. Like it or not, our climate is gradually changing and will continue to do so, with or without greenhouse emissions. Maybe in 50 or 100 years time, it might start getting cooler again. But right now, like it or not, the climate is in a warming phase, so we can continue to expect warmer summers and milder winters. Don’t like it? Move up to Scotland! Because eating meat free burgers or giving up international holidays isn’t going to make any difference to the climate. And about it being unusual to have exceptionally dry or wet months surrounded by wetter or drier than average months. That is false too. I had a look at the England and wales precipitation records and immediately saw numerous examples of exceptionally dry or exceptionally wet months surrounded by fairly average or wet months. Look at the circled examples in the image below. So that is nothing new and not down to so called “man made climate change” either. All this talk of “OMG THE WORLD IS GOING TO END UNLESS WE DO SOMETHING FAST!!!” is getting really boring now. August is barely any warmer here than it was in the 1960-91 average… When I can comfortably go outside in shorts and a t-shirt on a sunny day in January then maybe I’ll start worrying…

So….? A year May have some wet months and a really dry month.. A year May have some dry months and… a really wet month.. some years will be wetter than average. And some years will be… wait for it.. drier than average… Sometimes you’ll an exceptionally wet month. And sometimes you’ll get a, god forbid.. exceptionally dry month. All part of our variable climate. Why is this a concern to you? For some reason, you think that shouldn’t be the case and every month should just have close to average rainfall, sunshine and temperatures.. How boring that would be! The weather always makes up for itself. A very dry period is often followed by a very wet period and vice-versa. So an exceptionally dry June after a few wet months is just the weather making up for itself. I’m guessing the severely cold winter of 1962/63 and the exceptionally dry and hot summer of 1976 shouldn’t have happened then… Oh if only we hadn’t used so many open coal fires, we might have had a milder winter and a cooler and wetter summer in that year! Those droughts could have been avoided if only we haven't been so selfish and kept ourselves warm in the winter. if we hadn’t have been so foolish and jetted off to Spain every year or ate soooooo many Big Macs, we might not have had such a spectacularly hot and dry summer as 2018… Oh, what a pity! I’m really regretting eating all those steak pies and driving around in my Ford Mustang with custom exhausts… (I don’t really own a Ford Mustang but you get the point).

Looking at the stats for Stonyhurst, a weather station near me, and also used as one of the three weather stations used to compile the CET, while the annual rainfall has increased slightly, from 1265 mm on 61-90 to 1314 mm on 91-20, the annual sunshine has also increased, from 1335 hrs in 81-10 to 1378 hrs in 91-20. I’ll take more rain if it also means I get more sun and warmth. And, if nothing else, at least the rain will be warmer! ️

Londons summers between 2007 and 2012 would be considered pretty good here, which just goes to show how different Londons summers are to most of the country. Out of curiosity, I had a look at local weather records for a weather station in my area, and had a look at the stats for summers 2007 to 2012…. Heres what I found (see attached pics). Pretty bad, Londons summers from 2007 and 2012 are glorious compared to the conditions here. What was surprising though was how front-loaded most of those summers were here, with June tending to be the sunniest month and August often the dullest month. Generally though, early summer tends to be better than late summer here. July was an absolute washout here during the 2007-2012 summers, and that reflects my memories of being at high school sat in the classroom with torrential rain outside. Even July 2011 which I remember being quite a dry and sunny month still had 96 mm. I remember many school summer holidays of very dull, cloudy weather and the August stats confirm that - there were some exceptionally dull Augusts, especially 2008 and 2011. Perhaps the school summer holidays should be switched here from August to June. Also noteworthy that not a single month during that period recorded an average maximum of 20°C. Whereas Im not sure if London has ever even had had a summer month below 20°C. These days here, most summers will record at least one month with an average high of 20°C or higher. I think that last summer that failed to do that here was 2017, which was a diabolical summer here - barely any warmth and never stopped raining. Probably the best month out of the bad bunch here was June 2010, with over 200 hrs of sunshine and less than 50 mm of rain. I remember lots of very warm/hot and sunny weather during that month. July 2011 was also quite sunny despite being on the cool side. The worst months here I’d say were August 2008, August 2011 and August 2012. Exceptionally dull months and very wet. Temperatures very poor as well. Also the whole of summer 2012 was a horror show for the exceptional rain and dullness - I definitely remember lots of torrential downpours during that summer, although I do remember some fine days even during that summer so it wasn’t continuously raining every day. Summer 2007 on the other hand, while still exceptionally wet was at least a lot sunnier here. So, perhaps those in London who thinks they’re summers are bad should spend a summer up in Lancashire!

The thing is there isn’t any spring weather in January (well very rarely anyway). It’s usually either cold/cloudy/sunny/snowy or mild/cloudy/windy/raining. So the choice is pretty much either late autumn or winter conditions at this time of year. The next few days will be very cold (at least here anyway) but with plenty of sunshine, before by the weekend it turns much milder with temps into double figures, but also mostly cloudy, wet and windy. We had quite a bit of snow here yesterday, with a high of around 2C. Today it is dry, with clear blue skies. Currently -2C with 84% humidity. IMG_4253.MOV

Oh well, at least we’ll have more BBQ summers…. I remember June and July 2014 were also very sunny and warm. And April and May 2020 was also a very sunny period. I remember June 2010 being quite hot, sunny and dry. I remember a thunderstorm in July 2010 and I remember that month being much cloudier and cooler and having a lot of heavy downpours. I remember August 2010 just being cool and cloudy (as August typically is here). I remember some hot and sunny weather in June 2009 as well. I was born in 1997 so grew up with the mostly good summers of the early 2000’s and then the poor summers of 2007-2012. As a child I generally didn’t like hot weather and loved snow in winter, especially as when we got enough of it, I got a day of school, so the poor summers and cold winters during that period suited me well. During the first week of January 2010 I got a whole week of school! I remember building a snow nuclear power station in the garden (was really into the Simpsons back then). I have no memories of snow at all before Easter 2008. I remember the summers when I was little generally being warm, dry and sunny and the summers between 2007 and 2012 being cool, cloudy and quite wet. From memory I don’t remember summer 2009 or 2011 being too bad though. Now my weather preferences have changed though, I prefer milder winters and warmer, drier, sunnier summers. Yes I remember the heat of July 2022 mostly confined to a few days, I remember it got into the mid 30’s on the really hot day with overnight temperatures still in the mid 20’s, leading to a horrible night for sleeping. However, the next day it was only around 19C and cloudy. And the next few days it was mid teens and rain.

I’m not sure, maybe 2003? 2013? I know 1976 was consistently hot, dry and sunny (although even that summer had a brief unsettled spell in June) but that was a really long time ago. Have to say I disagree, I’m not a fan of scorching hot weather, so I’m glad that last summer the heat occurred outside of high summer. Had Junes heat occurred in July it would have been absolutely scorching, with probably a 19C CET (considering Junes CET was nearly 3C above average). Whereas with the very warm weather occurring in June, it was a very pleasant month without being too hot (although I did find the third week a bit too hot). And had the cool wet weather occurred in June, it would have been even cooler than it would have been in July. And I’m glad the September heatwave occurred in early September instead of August. It was hot enough in early September, and it was also perfectly timed for my holiday in the Cotswolds, reached 31C on one day. 2016 wasn’t a great summer here. I remember June was very warm but wet, very warm and humid in the first half, very wet in the second half, and very cool as well in the last week. I remember one day it was raining heavily all morning and only 12°C. July was very westerly and mixed, but had below average daytime temperature, above average rainfall and below average sunshine here. The only real warmth was one day when it got to about 30°C on the 19th. August was very up and down here, but overall temperatures were close to average but again with above average rainfall and below average sunshine. Overall it was a poor summer here.

Looks like the rain is coming back as well. Oh well, at least it will be mild! Probably a large ridge ridge of high pressure to our east, pulling up the wind from the south, but with no low pressure close to the UK. It’s certainly possible, we had a day in December when it was around 12°C and sunny in many places. Yes, I’m really looking forward to it as well.. Can’t wait for the overcast skies, drizzle, and highs of a balmy 10-11°C… Going to be glorious.. Might even get the BBQ and paddling pool out… £10 a month sounds a lot for air con.. That’s around £300 per month. Do you cool your house down to single figures…?

20C isn’t that high for a stat setting, 17-22°C is a normal range. Not everyone goes sitting around thier house in winter with the windows open and the heating off, you know… Still miserable and gloomy here but milder than yesterday, currently 6.5°C with 86% humidity.