Summer8906

I think what typified 2005 was cooler nights, hence it was cooler overall. But to my mind 2005 is still better than 13 of the 18 summers which followed it (2006, 2013, 2018 and 2022 better; 2014 about equal). All others worse than 2005 to varying degrees due to a lack of sun mostly.

Have posted something on the other thread but will add that the Midlands thunderstorms were so huge that they were visible from high ground in the Winchester area. Locally it was sunny, very hot and slightly humid. SummerShower ... and another curious coincidence was that 1994 and 2005 had the same calendar, and both featured a thundery breakdown on Friday 24th. The rest of the 80s and 90s too had some instances of this "heat up - thunder - cool down" cycle, for example at times in 1984 or 1999. I used to think of the "heat up - thunder - cool down - heat up again" as not atypical of southern English summers but just doesn't happen much anymore. This kind of cycle also very much typified a two-week holiday in Montreal in summer 1994, in which each week heated up followed by a thundery spell at the weekend and a cooldown. As 1994 had been much like that at home, it was a continuation of the conditions I'd been used to all summer!

I'll echo other comments here. It's not known as a spectacular summer but it's one I'd rate as "above average". For comparison, the only summers since then which I'd rate above average have been 2006, 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2022. With 2003 taken into account this would mean 2005 would be, IMO, the joint 6th best summer of the 21st century so far (about equal to 2014). June was mostly dry and bright though there were changeable spells at times. I remember a few days of very sunny but surprisingly cool weather in the first full week (will have been the 6th-10th) with highest temps only around 19. A very unusual combination for June. It was then changeable for a while before becoming warm and sunny though I forget the exact date, would have been around the 16th, probably. The weekend of the 18th/19th was hot and on the 19th in particular I remember seeing huge Cbs in the far distance from the Winchester area, far to the north. This day was very hot and rather humid. Apparently there were big storms with hail over the Midlands which was evidently what I was looking at. It then turned cooler on the 20th and then the heat built again the following week, followed by a more general thundery breakdown on Friday 24th. Very oddly, the last time June 24th had fallen on a Friday there were also thunderstorms, in 1994. The storms were quite active but not as severe as 1994. We weren't done yet. Sat 25th was cool and cloudy, but then yet more warm sunny weather developed on the 26th and 27th. A third thundery outbreak occurred on the 28th with a northwards moving cold front and this completely broke down the weather, as it was cool, dull and wet until around July 7th. But June overall could be considered a good month. From July 9th a new hot spell developed which produced day after day of clear blue skies from the 10th until the 17th, a spell very reminiscent of the similar spell exactly two years earlier. Ac Cast to the SW signalled a change late on the 17th though there was no thundery breakdown. Instead a cold front introduced cooler weather on Monday 18th and this was again followed by a few days of dry and fairly settled weather with variable cloud and one or two sunny days, but with only average temps. The wind was W or NWly during this spell. On the 24th a more general breakdown arrived from the W or NW and the remainder of the month was cool and cyclonic with occasional spells of organised frontal rain, or showers. Overall July was distinctly mixed, a very good middle period but very poor start and end making it very average overall, neither good nor bad. August started with more cool and changeable weather but it was quite sunny with a number of pronounced ridges between fairly weak frontal systems, and a NW bias to the wind making it relatively cool. From around the 7th a sunny but not overly warm spell developed for much of the week, followed by a cold front overnight 11th/12th and a fine day on the 12th. The weekend of the 13th/14th had a more active frontal system so was wet, but this was then followed by a four day fine spell and it actually turned hot this time. Early on the 19th a breakdown occurred: this appeared to be initially a weak cold front producing just cloud, but then, if I remember right, a frontal wave returning westwards produced a spell of prolonged heavy rain with occasional thunder. Later in the day it became sunnier but fairly cool, and the weekend of the 20th and 21st was bright, in fact increasingly sunny, but still only average by day and cool by night. The week of the 22nd-26th featured alternating sunny and wet days, if I remember right, with Atlantic systems but strong ridges in between. There were 2 wet days and 1 very sunny day, I think the wet days were the Mon and Wed and the sunny day was the Tues (23rd) if I remember right. The frontal system of the 24th, I think, cleared just before sunset producing some spectacular lighting effects around sunset. The 25th was showery rather than sunny but then a further fine spell developed for the past few days, before (in an echo of summer 1983) a front produced thundery rain during the evening of the 31st - again funnily enough just like 1983 this was a Wednesday. August I'd rate as pretty good, sunny but not overly warm due to cold nights and a lot of fairly average days, little real heat. Summer 2005 very much feels like an antithesis of recent summers. Fairly changeable at times, cool at times, but sunnier than average with repeated anticyclonic periods, as opposed to the mild and dull nature of recent years.

Despite being completely overcast, today is actually slightly better here - visibility is good and the DP appears to have fallen, hence it feels fresher and less claggy. It's also not oppressively dull. Not a bad day for the start of March.

I know what you mean overall, though in central southern England it appears there was little to choose between them in that respect. I will say that June 2015 was good here, though, while in 2020 I wouldn't rate any of the three months as "good". Interesting that summer 2015 was sunnier than average in many parts of the country - but dull here. Another example of coastal central southern England having it bad in recent summers. June was the best month as I said but ISTR later in the summer there were more SW-ly periods, hence more dullness compared to more sheltered areas, perhaps.

Not sure about this as (round here at least) it's been pretty cool by day at least so far, and the GFS is frequently suggesting a cool cyclonic type with the winds typically between W and N from the 13th onwards. I think there's something of a chance May could be average or even slightly below. LetItSnow! What we have lacked though is the long dry spell of early 1998, between mid-Jan and end of Feb.

LetItSnow! Thinking about it, I'm just trying to figure out how 2015 differed from 2020. I guess they were fairly similar but there was slightly more north-of-west in 2015, so it was cooler. Cloudiness and rainfall, and frequency of Atlantic air, about the same, though.

A perfect summary of the contemporary summer! So do you too see something vaguely in the same ballpark as 2020 or 2019?

Summerlover2006 Difficult to call between the two of them here. Here the second half of July 2020 wasn't too bad, warm and dry and the sun even came out on some days. July 2019 was better than anything in 2020, but June 2019 was (according to second hand reports - I was away) worse than anything in 2020. Perhaps 2019 was slightly better, thinking about it. I think the six months were, in order from best to worst: 1. July 2019 2. July 2020 3. August 2019 4. June 2020 5. August 2020 6. June 2019

Summerlover2006 Yes, something a bit 2020-ish or 2019-ish (but with a less intense heat spike), simply because that seems to be about average for nowadays.

joggs Well cooler as well as wet would at least mean more interesting winters...

No. That 2022 figure was exceptional and I doubt it's going to happen anytime soon again. The wet ground has already been mentioned, though admittedly I guess it would go dry quickly if we had an exceptionally dry June. I think it will go over 35C though, I'll say top temp 36-37C in a brief heat spike. To be followed by thunderless cold front and temps struggling to top 20C, accompanied by much Atlantic cloud and humidity plus drizzle showers, the day after. To happen just after mid July. Plus at a guess there will be less-intense heat spikes in June and Aug (34C each) but outside of those, mostly cloudy and changeable with frequent weak Atlantic fronts and warm day temps restricted to eastern and inland locations. I do think the summer will be drier overall than summer-autumn-winter-spring 23/24 though, as surely this eternal wet weather can't carry on forever? Basically I can see the summer being WSW-ly but with pressure about average (not below).

damianslaw Aug 95 did have a westerly or northwesterly spell from the 24th-31st so that would just fail to reach 75% ! Feb 86 yes, I think there was 0% westerly component, literally. It was easterlies all the way. Dec 95 in the north perhaps, again there was around a week or cyclonic W-ly in the south. March 13 probably not down here, there was perhaps more than a week of cyclonic W-ly down here around or just before midmonth. Wasn't June 18 actually quite westerly until the 20th? But also with high pressure, hence little rain. Down here, the first 20 days of June 2018 were actually pretty cloudy, probably due to the W-ly type. Historically, presumably Feb 1947, Jan 1963, Feb 1963, and I'd guess June and August 1976. July 1976 was, I think, quite westerly, perhaps rather like June 2018 in character. August 1997 was mostly non-westerly until around the 20th but that doesn't make 75%. October 2016 was very easterly for the season, though not sure it would have made 75%.

Bristawl Si I know what @markyo means: this kind of weather (or more precisely, what it was like this morning before the wind got up - i.e still, humid and damp) can cause smells to hang around in the air rather than wafting away in the wind or dispersing due to sun or dry air.

raz.org.rain 19C and sunny would not be similar to this week here! (except Tuesday morning/midday).

markyo Indeed. My preference is always for low-DP, low humidity air. What we have at the moment is humid grot, cold days but warm nights as the temp flatlines through the whole 24 hours. Very reminiscent of the start of June 2016, a spell when the days were bone-chillingly cool but the evenings and nights were oppressively warm, and of course it was very, very dull. Quite synoptically similar to the present, if I remember right. Much nicer would be something like 21C max, 5C min. Proper healthy mid-to-late spring weather. And ironically after months of unseasonable mild, as soon as we want daytime warmth, it remains elusive.

B87 So you've given up on June? ANYWEATHER Feels more like a June 2012 or 2016 day to me (due to the daylight of sorts extending until almost 9pm), though to be honest that's little more cheery than a November day...

Wade Well the first 6 days look poor, and both the GFS and Met Office have been consistent in showing a reversion to unsettled after the 13th. That was the basis of my thoughts.

B87 True. Surely this endless dull, wet, cyclonic weather has to end sometime, doesn't it? Wondering what people's thoughts now on the first month to be drier than normal across most of the country will be? June, or something later?

So is there any hope for this coming weekend? Latest Met Office seems to have gone from vaguely changeable with bright spells to bordering on washout: Meanwhile both the Met Office and GFS seem to be suggesting a further deterioration from around the 13th. The GFS have been showing this fairly consistently, sadly. Wondering then if May will end up as yet another very wet month, there seems to be little sign of any prolonged settled weather on the horizon. An 11th consecutive wet month seems almost certain now, as the first 6 days look exceedingly wet and then we'll probably only need a few more days of wet weather to go above normal. The Met Office 16-30 dayer: Is it now time to write off May? That leaves June before the "full-on-Atlantic" season (aka July to December) starts in earnest. Could we get two decent Junes in a row? On the face of it, it would be remarkable if June 2023 was followed by another unusually sunny June but you never know, I guess.

B87 Ah ok. Here both were pretty dull and drab - both were SW-ly months which would probably again explain why this area didn't do so well. I remember Dec 2016 lacked heavy rain but had quite a number of days with drizzle. It was a bit like Dec 1988, if I remember right, which was also similar - dry but dull and drizzle on a number of days.

*Stormforce~beka* Southampton area, not quite on the sea but IoW visible from certain places nearby.

*Stormforce~beka* Whatever it is, at least the visibility has improved and you can see right across the IoW, But the light level is very February or late October. Not quite full-on Nov to Jan, but certainly winter-half-year.

Mostly agree though would substitute May 2020 with something with happier memories, such as 1989, 1992 or 2018. Also would substitute the mild and dull SAD-fest that was Nov 2021 with something like Nov 1993, and the mild, dull, drizzly and non-descript Dec 2016 with something sunny like Dec 2001.

*Stormforce~beka* Ah ok, I thought this was a warm sector from the east behind a westwards-moving warm front?