Plume Meets BFTE

May 2018 had a whole week of this, from memory towards the end. It would often be wet and thundery in the south, but dry and very warm further north.

I live by the following rule of thumb when thinking about how warm various months can be: The average August is actually slightly warmer than the average June. The average September is actually slightly warmer than the average May. The average October is actually slightly warmer than the average April. The average November is actually slightly warmer than the average March. The average December is actually slightly warmer than the average February. The point.. September is likely to achieve more intense heatwaves than May. Think of last September, we weren't all THAT far from 35C (1.5C away). Think how many September's achieve 30C nowadays. I'd say with the records that have gone before, 37C is possible in the first third of September. In May, 30C has only been reached twice in the 21st century (in 2005 and 2012) with many failing to hit 27C, and I therefore suspect a serious heatwave could give 34C toward months end, but no higher.

Another couple I would add are the winters of 1997/1998 and 1999/2000. Both years had what I would say one fairly intense cold spell about a week before Christmas. Both gave snowfalls here, and the 1999 one produced the deepest snowfall since 1991 locally (surpassing anything here in 1995/1996). They were both shortlived however, and the rest of both winters were not far off 'summer 2020' style. I will note though summer 2020 had 1 sudden heat spike in each month and these winters had only the December cold spells really. However, they are 2 of the closest I can think of.

8.9C, 55mm

LetItSnow that July sounds awesome, like the August 2020 heatwave but persisting all throughout the month, and covering the North as well. Yes please! Would probably be the thunderiest month on record too.

I'll go for something like this: January. Stormy, similar to 2014. February. A boring month but slightly wetter than average. Similar to this year. March. Cloudy and damp, but with a couple of late season snowfalls. Like 2023. April. Quite a good month, with a short very warm spell. Like 2017. May. Warm, but unsettled and easterly. Like this year but slightly cooler. June. Warm, easterly 1st half then cold and wet. Like 2007. July. A warm month with short unsettled spells, like 1997. August. Makes up for a wet year so far. Will be similar to 1995 but with the inclusion of an August 2020 heatwave. September. Will start with a September 2023 style heatwave, but cool down to a September 2014, so warm and dry. October. Wet and stormy, like 2000. November. Wet again with a southerly jet, like 2009. December. Wet but sunny, like 2012.

Summer8906 I remember the 22 February 1995 event. The afternoon was typical pre-cold front weather associated with an atlantic low I.e. wet and windy with strong southerlies. What I wasn't expecting was to see distant lightning to the w and then all of a sudden, a sharp veer of wind to the wnw with ferocious gusts, snow that was as heavy as the 2004 event, and an actually quite decent amount of thunder. The wind did drop out quite quickly though but it snowed for an hour or so after, still with occasional thunder and lightning. I'm surprised this isn't as well documented as the 2004 event.

Even here we had over an inch, although it partially melted in the afternoon. I remember reports of thundersnow on the coast somewhere in Hampshire.

Summerlover2006 2018 achieved it. April 29.1 on 19th May 28.7 on 7th June 33.0 on 28th July 35.6 on 27th August 33.2 on 7th September 26.5 on 17th October 26.3 on 13th

Interesting fact is that if we can get the cet down to 14.0 then June and September will be equal for the 2nd year running.

Freeze yes, most interesting month of the year so far. 5 thunder days here, a northerly plunge as you say. Decent sunny weather. No 30C though, which is common in September nowadays. Let's see if this windstorm forecast for the 30th comes off? Bit to early to call but chances are not.

A blocked month, but the block causing low pressures to be stuck over us and not moving much. Let's go 11.8C and a very wet 177mm

I'd say 2002 and 2011 as well. 2002 had no real redeeming features. April and August were decent enough. Interestingly September I remember being very dry but the stats make out it was wetter than I remember. If you like gales and rain then February and October we're good (but I know most people dont) 2011 had good spells in April and October but that's about it. Agree with 2024 being up there, only May and September (so far) have been meteorologically interesting. Locally we've not been bad for storms but I'm trying to see the picture for the whole UK.

Summer 2024 was consistently 'not bad' with really unsettled and cool weather confined to 5-15th July. I also enjoyed the hot spell in the last week of July. The cool June was annoying somewhat, but usable, even if you had to wrap up warm. July 2023 was as bad as June 2012/July 2007/August 2008 were and therefore let down summer 2023. June was great though.

Summer8906 I'd also say 2011, no individual month above a 7.