Catbrainz

Wondering what folks here thought of September. I would give it a 7.5/10 overall. Was away for a week so am going by 2nd hand accounts a little but first half was lovely with warmth and sunshine and 2nd half was very mixed with a mix of showery days, sunny days and heavy rain but it never felt oppressively wet or gloomy for me as a whole, a decent and enjoyable Sept overall. It felt like a sunnier version of this years August.

For me if I had to pick a month based on my memory. Boring doesn't always mean poor, poor months can be memorable for the wrong reasons after all :P. Jan 2020= Endless zonal westerlies with no real storm/snow interest. Feb 2017= Cant recall this month at all. Feb 2020 was a zonal fest but it had some snowy spells at least. March 2015= Very benign with nothing noteworthy. April 2023= Just so bland and boring, no late cold/snow or early warmth and no real settled spells or storms. May 2020= I just recall it being bland as heck. June 2016= Cloudy and overcast but with no real exactment with rainstorms July 2015= I just recall lots of sub 20c partly sunny days the whole month August 2021= This goes to show that anticyclonic dominated summer months can be bleh too. Lots of North Sea clag and cloud from a North Sea high with flatlining temps and no real heat or storms. September 2017= Cant recall anything of this month nothing stands out. October 2021= Full of those mostly cloudy days with some drizzly spells, no late heat/early cold or noteworthy storms November 2015= Basically a twin of Dec 2015 but at least Dec 2015 had some excitement and interest with the extreme mildness and records being broken like a carton of eggs thrown off a building December 2019= A bog standard zonal fest month

From memory I would say the following were dull years for weather 2015= Cant really think of anything that year. 2017= Nothing really comes to mind weather wise, no real heat/cold,no storms, no major snowevents. 2021= Just a year of nothingness, lots of mild and cloudy weather through the year that I can recall. Only major event I can recall was a 3 day heatwave.

Even Ireland and to a lesser extent Northern England/Scotland are getting sunshine while Wales and Southern England enjoy drizzle and overcast skies.

12.7c and 94mm

Gonna rank this September, bear in mind I was away overseas mid month for a week so going by what others said and weather records. I would give this September a 6.5/10, first half was outstanding with warmth and a fair bit of sunshine and the 2nd half I would sum up as mixed with a mix of fine sunny days and wet gloomy days. Overall a decent September that had a outstanding 1st half and a slightly meh but not poor 2nd half, Reminds me of a warmer and sunnier version of Sept 2022. You could have swapped August and September this year and without daylengths no one would notice me thinks.

I hate cyclonic southwestlies anytime they happen outside of summer (In summer they can bring interesting humid and warm sunshine/stormy mix for here). They bring flatlining temps, endless cloud, drizzle,rain and wind. Not so bad at the moment but I never want to see them from Nov-Apr where cyclonic westerlies and northwesterlies while sharing the gloomy damp of their SWly brethen at least can bring snow and seasonal wintery weather and I find tend to have more gaps between fronts.

Id take that over a 19/20 style winter of endless mild zonal westerlies bringing rain as a snow lover.

The past two days goes to show that low pressure doesn't always mean lack of sunshine or endless rain. Despite being under a big low with pressure in the triple digits the weather was okay here. Overcast and rainy mornings but brightening up around noon for a bright sunny afternoon/evening on both days. This has got me wondering one can get sunny lows and overcast highs. I find that lows can be decent for sunshine if fronts are spread-out and fast moving so cloud and rain isn't hanging around when it comes and cloudy highs tend to be North Sea highs bringing cloud and fog from the North Sea (This is more a winter thing but can happen in summer too August 2021 was a good example of a cloudy high in summer)

Forecast is showing heavy winds and heavy rain for two days in a row Tues and Wed Could this be a named storm? Could see some local flooding around here.

I think in that regard Tasmania and Southern New Zealand may be even worse for wintery weather (at least in lowlands), Western Europe and the PNW can draw in colder continental airmasses at times while any cold has to cross a giant ocean for the southern hemisphere oceanic climates. I couldn't see say Invercargill NZ getting anything like Dec 2010.

Unsettled Christmases are rare here to my memory at least, even during a zonal westerly fest Dec Christmas Eve/Day both tend to be fine days. Late March/Early April also tends to bring a cold snap of some sort (Maybe down to the polar vortex collapsing bringing cold air south).

I am back from my trip overseas and came back to rain and 16c. Not been officially diagnosed with SAD but I think I have it. British Nov-Feb (Alongside the PNW, Southern New Zealand, Tasmania and Northern France/Benelux) are up there for the worse most depressing winters for my tastes. Too mild for reliable snow and wintery weather but too cold and wet for comfortable outdoor activities. I wouldn't mind a cloudy winter climate funny enough if it was snowy (Something like the Great Lakes or Hokkaido where winter months are cloudy but with snow). I find that winter highs wise 5-15c is the dead zone. Too warm for wintery weather but too cool for winter warmth and outdoor activities.

Been in Menorca and going home tommorow. One can tell we are now leaving summer even down here in the Med. Had two days of clear skies to start but then cloud and rain came on Tuesday and the rest of the week while nice mostly felt mostly like a typical Southern U.K. July with highs in the mid 20s and sunshine/showers. GFS parks a giant low over Scotland the coming week could be a named storm.

I don't think that myself that London will have a Barcelona climate by 2050 the fact that the BBC would say that seems weird. . (Just clarifying I did not think that assessment of climate shift was accurate).. That's a 10 degree latitude shift, It would be like saying Boston MA will have the climate of South Carolina in 2050. Geography alone means London will still be exposed to cold airmasses from time to time both due to higher latitude and has Greenland, Scandinavia and Siberia/Russia to tap into cold while Barcelona is surrounded by the warm Med which would put a spanner for any cold. On a tangent the UK does have one of the worse winter climates for my tastes alongside the PNW,Northern France,Benelux and Southern New Zealand (Only counting lowland climates here), Too mild for true wintery weather such as snow but too cool to be a winter "escape" climate alongside low sunshine levels and constant rain

I know a very random thing but I saw a article a bit ago on BBC that reckoned London would have the climate of Barcelonia in 2050 and decided to do a mixture of London's and Barcelona's climate to see what comes out. (All figures roughly worked out.). Curious what climates match this theoretical climate the most. It looks like a drier Bordeaux to me (Which makes sense as its about halfway between the two cities latitude wise) and im also reminded a bit of Portland Oregon too with wetter summers and again being mid way lat wise. Seems more realistic for London's climate in 2050 for sure :P. Some shades of North Island NZ and SE Australia too.

Me too! I know not part of SW England but climate wise im basically in SW England.

Most of the really poor weather in Aug this year was towards the end ironically just before the September hot spell. Aug 31st was 13c and heavy rain here with a raging NWly, felt like a cyclonic November day,wouldn't be shocked if we didn't get a high that cool again until mid October. Also some drizzle and light rain days scatted around randomly. It does depend on the outdoor activity in question. Most days were okay for say a countryside walk or a trip to a outdoor shopping area (Like a typical High Street not say a indoor mall where you are covered from any rain) but yes only 2 or 3 days that were good for a day at the beach or swimming in a lake for my area at least. August would have felt like a garden standard September in my opinion rather than the October feel of July.

My area is pretty near that dark grey patch on the border so we probably had one of the cloudiest Augusts relative to averages this year and even then I didn't find August terrible. It was poor and below par yes with lots of pointless overcast but usable days but not a month that will be remembered for being a bogeyman around here like July this year. Looks like a standard bland and meh westerly August rather than a wet and cold troughfest like July 2023 or June 2012

Voted for cheated out of a decent July myself. I have enjoyed this spell of hot weather very much. Even if we had a 2018/2022 style summer I would still have welcomed this heat. Its only really towards the end of Sept I want things to start cooling down.

Going to Menorca tomorrow for a week so I will have had basically 2 weeks of hot summery weather at the very least. Fingers crossed I come back to some crisp harvest season sunshine and cool moonlight nights. On a side note many people I know dont get that sun angle not temp is what determines sunburn and UV index. A sunny 18c June day at 50N in Cornwall will burn you faster than a 28c sunny day in mid-Sept at 40N in Menorca. Sun angle is 63 degrees at noon for the former and the latter is in the low 50s at noon. In fact to get a similar sun strength to 50N in June youd have to go down to 30N for this time of year.

Going by memory I would say 2012. Three awful boogeyman months (April,June and July) and while March was very good if I recall rightly it just doesn’t hit the same as an outstanding month in late spring or summer.

Regarding talk of cold vs hot. I would say its far easier to get a hot spell than a cold wintery spell for the UK away from the far north and highland areas. Any kind of southerly influence (Apart from cyclonic SWlys giving say 21/17 and rain) in May-Sept can quickly turn pretty warm/hot. Meanwhile to get cold and snow any sort of northerly has to cross a fair bit of sea and easterlies can often turn into more cold and foggy gloomfests than true wintery snowy weather. Hot air can come from Europe which is a large landmass right on our doorstep while cold air from Greenland/Arctic/Scandvania has to cross a lot of water.

Now that would be a dream for sunshine lovers such as myself. A nightmare summer using the past 10 years would be June 2016, July 2023 and August 2015 (Although August 2015 was better further north)

So I averaged out June-August 2022 and 2023 out of curiosity to see if this theoretical summer that would please both summer lovers and heat haters and this is what came up. (Temps and rainfall from Met Office history for Bute Park Cardiff and sunshine is estimated from Met maps) This hybrid summer looks pretty decent apart from a July slightly on the cloudier side. (Would probably fare a fair bit better Augus wise elsewhere as it was still very cloudy in the SW Aug 2023).