SummerShower

Yes, indeed a build up of cumulus here too but luckily hasn't spread out like it sometimes does.. seems to be diminishing a bit now. Ironically today will probably be the coolest day of the month cet wise so far, despite it being the most summery so far this month.

Yes this was one of the worst summer months I have lived through.. from memory it rained nearly every day in the south, not always large amounts but just so consistently. There was so little sun that nocturnal cooling and daytime heating were forgotten about (the cet wasnt bad, but had pretty high night min this month, and very low daytime max). It was equally as bad as Jun 97, Jun 07, Jul 07 and Jun 12. Aug 10 and Aug 14 very nearly matched it for poorness though.

Yes.. all the sun in the spring and rain now should also ensure some really good leaf colours come autumn.. let's just hope its not as windy then as it is now!!

I'd agree that it was a good rather than fantastic summer. June was dry but very cool, but with many useable days. I dont remember it getting above the mid 20s at all. July was fantastic and in my mind equally as good as july 2018, the only reason the cet wasnt higher was the first few days really dragged it down. There was more thunder this month than 2018 and we even had a decent storm on the 29th when the flow did veer back to the Atlantic for a bit. As an individual month the joint best of the decade for summer. August was mixed with a hot day (the highest temperature of the summer was 34.1 actually on 1st august) and some warm periods too but yes one of the better August of the last 20 years

It's not been a bad summer month. Not a classic by any means but there has been something for everyone. Like people are saying slightly above average temps overall, a decent heatwave albeit short lived and some will remember the month for thunder especially parts of the Midlands and nw. It is poor now though and the winds keep blowing our tomato plants over!

Does any one know.. how far is lightning actually visible at night? I am in Basingstoke, a good 25m inland and 2am today saw distant lightning to the s/se, even heard the faintest of thunder. However lightning was nowhere near on the sferic maps..the closest was about 10m of the w Sussex coast at this point. Just wondering if anyone can clarify? Thanks

Just had a look on TORRO website, yesterday set a new date record.. 32.4 was the previous one in 1976. 25th june record is 33.5.. will we exceed that today? Its 50/50 I'd say, temps here about 1c hotter than this time yesterday

I'd say there isnt an awful lot in it. 2009 had a good june, a poor july and august was actually ok down here.. mixed but ok with several individual warm days interspersed with mediocre ones. July after the 2nd was actually really poor, I can't remember anything good about the month after that.. it just rained and was windy at times 2010 also had a good june, july was good also, and when it wasnt so good it was warm and humid. However august was pants and was a month with nothing good about it.. a warm weekend on the 7th and 8th but low 20s was about it. It's up there with august 08 and 14 that I wouldn't want as a repeat, ever! Hmmm can't call this, maybe 10 as june and july combined was better. A complete lack of thunder here too in both summers

Yes, 2008 was definitely the 3rd worse summer since the turn of the century. It wasnt as much of a washout overall. June was cool but had some ok days. July had a summery last 10 days but was not good until then. However August was atrocious and had no redeeming features whatsoever, it was one of those like June '12 that I dont think anyone would want to see repeated.

Both of these were as we all know, poor summers, especially by modern day standards but which was worse? The characteristics of the weather varied throughout each part of the summer and of course this varied regionally. The CET was practically identical for both years, both coming out at 15.2, and they both had a mean min of 11.2. 2007 mean max was 19.3 and 2012 19.2. The EWP was slightly wetter in 2012, 375mm v 343mm for 2007 (June 2012 being the wettest ever and August 2007 being relatively dry could be the separator here) The first 2/3 of June 2007 was actually warm (though not hot) and quite thundery in various parts but of course serious flooding occurred too. June 2012 had 1 hot day in the SE and of course those storms in the midlands/NE on 28th but was a cool washout other than that. July 2007 was awful, no heat (1 warm day with a thunderstorm here on the 15th) with serious flooding in many parts around 20/21st. However 2012 was different.. despite being an exceptionally wet month also, it had a much warmer sunnier period after the 20th, although I think Scotland missed out on this. August was the 'best' month of both summers. 2012 was actually decent enough in the south with some warm/hot days but not consistently. 2007 was better in the north and west I believe but the month overall was cool. Taking this into account I'd say 2012 was the better one here in the south, but wondered what other peoples opinions are? Of course this will also depend on your preferences for thunder/heat/sunshine etc?

I'm new here this month.. this looks interesting, does this run as a yearly thing or can I join now.. 16.7 and 74mm is my guess if so

The 2nd half of this month was almost the perfect 'half' summer month (the first half was actually quite cool). There seemed to be 3 thundery peaks to this event.. the 19th, 24th and 28th. The 24th I'm sure is when the SW had the humdinger of a storm that flooded Glastonbury. We had good storms on the 24th and 28th and most days from mid month were warm or hot, but the weekend of 25/26 was not so good from memory

Reverse psychology works every timeno honestly wasnt expecting that today but now out. Was a frustrating few days for this area but patience finally pays off.

Yes, decent enough storm in W Basingstoke, some loud thunder from it. A torrential downpour about 1h ago but seems to be fizzling out now. This is probably what you saw I'm guessing

Still in here this morning, we've been unlucky during this spell with storms on 2 days running only about 15m to the north, but just a couple of light showers here. We had a few random flashes/claps in the middle of Ciara in feb but I'm not calling that a thunderstorm

In 2016 35.1 was reached on Jersey on 19 July and in 2017 34.5 was reached at Heathrow on 21 June- which when rounded gives 35C. On a technicality could we say 35C has been reached 5 years in a row therefore? Do certain readings eg from Jersey qualify for the record books?

Yes indeed this was an absolute cracker of a storm. The best one I can ever remember in the basingstoke area. It certainly kept me awake all that night!

In the Basingstoke area there was a decent fall of snow on 18 December 1999, which I think was localised and don't see quoted anywhere. It was only about 4 inches, but was, apart from February 1991, the biggest snowfall of the 1990s. Of course it has since been surpassed. I just dont think other places were affected.

Actually turning into a pretty decent summer's day. Not bad at all, even if there is no sign of aheatwave/prolonged settled spell. Temps in low 20s, v. warm in our sun trap back garden

In terms of weather interest for me the order would be: 1. 2018. Snow events in march, near record breaking day in April, amazing may-early august. Note nothing memorable after this though 2. 2013. Snow early in year, stormy 2nd half of dec. Great july. Heat early September. 3. 2014. Decent gales early on, hot july. The most thundery year of the decade here by far. T4 2010. All winter months very good, best in my lifetime. Good june/early July. Nothing else too memorable but the year for snow! T4. 2019. Maybe from a local perspective, deepest snow I've seen 1st feb, several short but quite intense heatwaves, and 20c in feb. T6. 2016. Decent hot spells, some good thunderstorms. Good september this year. T6. 2017. Decent 1st half of summer, some good storms. Actually not a bad December this year but not a white out. 8. 2012. Interesting because of the poor summer. Decent 2and half of march 9. 2011. Hot april and sep/oct spells. Literally nothing else 10. 2015. Hot 1st july. Literally nothing else

The worst ones, in the basingstoke area, actually fairly recently are the following: 13/14 june 2014. This one moved down from the NW, an unusual direction but it lasted at least 2 h with consistent heavy rain and frequent cg strokes giving very loud thunder. I think only parts of c/s england were affected but I will stand corrected if needs be. 15/16 September 2016. Even better than the predecessor 2 years prior. This lasted on and off from the evening until about 330am and the peak was after midnight with incessant rain, shotgun thunder and many close cgs. I observed bead lightning during this one too. 18/19 july 2017. Perhaps not as bad as the previous 2 but great storms nonetheless. Also one on 3 july 1999 was very close, with gusty winds that always changed direction, a bolt within a few hundred yards and a fair bit of hail. A great one that formed along a warm front in may 2001 deserves a mention too. Very loud inversion thunder from this one. The next few days were warm and humid compared to the cool days previous, which was quite unusual. Note that most of these are not from typical plume set ups.

It's definitely turning more humid now, it feels more like summer even though it's now raining. If its feeling like this it does feel more summery than if it's just cool and cloudy like several days just gone by. If it's got the 'thundery' feel to it I'm quite happy

The summer of 2002 followed a similar theme to 2012 actually in that it started off poor but actually the 2nd half wasnt bad especially in the south, both had warm/hot humid spells. It was kind of a 'better' version of 2012 but still not enough to give it 'good' press I'd say