Catbrainz

I know not a weather related observation as such but I have noticed that upland areas of the UK are often treeless looking more like a Icelandic tundra when areas with similar climate and landscapes elsewhere have lush rainwoodlands such as Western Norway, coastal Alaska, British Colombia, western Washington state and southern New Zeeland. Typical highland UK scenery Ketchikan Alaska (Which has a climate basically identical to Fort William Scotland, I would estimate sunshine hours to be about 1200-1300 per year for this place)

I am wondering what months would you say June, July and August were most similar too from past years? I would say for my area June= July 2013 (I know not June but it was a June version of July 2013 cant think of any June that really comes to mind for 2023,maybe a warmer version of June 2014) July= Any of the poor Julys between 2007-2012 really. Felt like a 2007-2012 summer month magically transported to 2023. (But if I had to pin it down July 2007 or 2009 I would say) August= A warmer and slightly drier version of Aug 2017.

June was a brilliant month and August has been okay there's been worse summers than this one when taken as a whole, July was in the pits though. From a "human" outlook 19/17 and drizzle in the CET zone would be a cool and poor summers day despite the CET being 18c for that day. I tend to try and have a big picture outlook looking at average highs/lows, sunshine, rainfall, rainfall days. This summer also has shades of 2017 I would say with a good start, poor middle and improving a little again towards the end (Although the poor period if i recall correctly was mid July-mid August rather than July as a whole)

Is there folks who seriously think July 2023 was average or even good? Maybe good for someone from Reykjavik but its well documented with official Met data that it was a poor month if you are seeking warmth ,sunshine and usable days. I know some people don't like heat but at least I would expect most would at least love usable days.

I would say Southern California, Coastal Morocco, maybe parts of Portugal and coastal Western Australia. Something like San Diego or Casablanca would probably be your dream going by this description. Some highland tropical climates could fit too for little/no seasonal variation and 20-30c but they do tend to be on the wetter side and arent the best for sunshine ether being under the ITCZ (The tropical jet stream).

The climates I envy most are not desert/med climates but continental climates. Places like NE Asia, Eastern North America and Eastern Europe. They get a true 4 season climate not just a 12 month long shoulder season, have true cold winters with reliable warmth and typically decent sunshine in summer. Even the cloudier ones that aren't much sunnier or even are on par with British sunshine hours like the Great Lakes, Japan and NE Europe at least tends to bring interesting weather with the cloud such as heavy snow and summer storms not just clag and drizzle. Somewhere like Warsaws climate I would pick in a heart beat over any UK or any Western European climate north of 45N for that matter.

Fun and interesting question! For me I would say (Only ones I have personally experienced) 1. June 2012 2. July 2023 (It did have 2-3 decent days and some thunder activity stopping it going to 1) 3. August 2014 (I've seen this month get called one of the worse but it did have some decent spells of sunshine stopping it going lower) 4.August 2017 5.July 2019 6. June 2014 7.July 2021 (I know it wasn't as good for the eastern UK but was decent for most of the west, would be a 5 or 6 for central areas and a 3 or 4 for eastern areas going by Met maps) 8.July 2014 9. August 2022 10. July 2018

That is correct for my scale. 0/10 is hellishly bad reserved for the very worse and 10/10 is a outstanding classic month. 4-6 is average 4 being the poor side of it and 6 the good side of it.

That doesn't tend to happen in my area under southerlies in winter. Could be a local geography quirk I do have some high ground around me that could trap low cloud/fog. The cloudiest highs to my memory for my area at least tend to be North Sea highs that bring fog and low cloud on a easterly or a UK high after a cyclonic Wly/Swly spell trapping all that cloud in the high.

I can understand as my area has been on the line of the cloud/sun split. It was overcast all day Monday and even had some brief light rain in the evening, yesterday was overcast until about 5pm and today had a overcast morning but the cloud started breaking up just after noon and is now a fine afternoon with sunshine and light cloud. As someone who likes comparing months to other years months I would say for my area at least Jun= I know not June but a June version of July 2013, July= As you mentioned any July from 2007-2012 (If I had to narrow it down I would say Julys 2007 and 2009,2012 did improve a little towards the end unlike 2007/2009/2023) August= A warmer version of Aug 2017

All this walk of winter forecasting and some models forecasting a mild winter has got me randomly wondering there seems to be two main set ups that lead to mild winters. Ether a Bartlett high or zonal Swles. Bartletts tend to have warmer highs but cooler nights given they tend to be sunnier and drier (Unless it has a strong westerly/Atlantic component of some sort) while zonal SWles have cooler highs but milder nights. Feb this year I would say was a textbook Bartlett month and was one I enjoyed despite the lack of snow as it was quite sunny while a textbook zonal SWly month would be something like Dec 15 or Jan 07. Bartletts can be hit or miss for the northern UK though as Bartletts tend to come with a big low over Iceland/Greenland so depends on how far north it can reach and if it can keep any Atlantic crud at bay.

Going by cloud radar I seem to be near the border of the cloud blob. It seems to be moving north so will probably brighten up in the next hour or so. Here's my overall ranking of Jun-Aug this year now that I can give a rating. Jun= 10/10, outstanding month with wall to wall sunshine and warm pleasent highs with cooler nights so none of that oppressive heat. (Despite my moaning of July I am more a sun seeker than a heat seeker, would have happily taken a July with a CET in the 14-15s if it was something like 21/8 and 300+ sunshine hours). Jul= 1.5, awful month with endless rain and cloud. Gave it a 1.5 rather than 0 for one or two days that were decent and some thunder activity at times. Aug= 4/10, bland and meh but not outright awful like Jul. A little on the cloudy side but rainfall and temps seem pretty average. Would have been a 5 if I wasn't stuck on the cloud border the past 2 days June was the heavenly aromatic soup starter, July was a main course of dog food covered in spray cheese and August was a vanilla ice cream sundae that tastes good but has a odd aftertaste and was missing the topping sauce. Overall summer score= 15.5/30

There’s talk of this winter being a mild one and while I don’t take much stick of this they can’t even forecast 3 hours ahead those days, if we are going to have a mild winter please make it a Bartlett with temperate southerlies not zonal SWles

That does look Bartlettish to me. Not quite textbook Bartlett as the high looks somewhat "flabby"/squished ,more centered over Central Europe rather than southern Europe and it seems more westerly than southerly but I would classify it as a Bartlett myself.

Forecast this morning was sunshine all day after 11am but its been grey all day and it even rained. You cant make it up

Anything close to that bad would drive me insane. Anti depressents and Vitamin D tablets needed if you were to subject yourself to that.

Looks like I wont be seeing any sunshine until tommrow with how slow moving that poxy cloud patch is. Where did this cloud come from? Clear everywhere else, no fronts and anticylonic.

Going for 15.3c and 41mm. Poor summers tend to be followed by decent Septembers at least from personal experience.

I just wish this cloud would go die in a ditch. Was supposed to be a bright sunny day today. What has caused the sudden cloud. Synoptics dont scream cloudfest to me

Stuck under grey thick cloud today. I wouldnt have expected anticyclonic SWlies to be cloudy and overcast this time of year. More something you see October or November.

I would say 4/10 so far for my area. No real heat or oomph to the weather but most days have been usable with most days having some sunshine. A little below par for a washout weekend earlier this month and one or two overcast drizzly days. Better than July by far.

Overcast this morning but cloud started moving away at noonish and it is now a lovely sunny day high of 22C

Looked at GFS 18z. The trough is still there 10 days out but it seems more a central European rather than western Euro trough. (On a tangent I found out you can look at archives for charts and here is what the charts looked like on my Barcelonia trip for the day it was miserable all day there, seems a cut-off low but anyone who is more well versed in synoptics may comment :P)

Indeed FI seems to be 3-4 days lately. I'm not too concerned at the moment just a little spooked you could say. If the trough was there say 100 hours away or less then its time to star prepping for poor weather lol. I think I saw a NOAA anomalies earlier and it looked okay. Westerly but not troughful or cyclonic.

GFS is showing a big fat trough covering all of the UK and France going all the way to northern Iberia 10 days out , Really hope this doesn't pass or if it does indeed come to pass that it doesn't gets stuck in place for both the Bank Holiday and my trip to Menorca in early Sept. Had a trip to Barcelona a few years back before Covid in early Sept, one day had a high of 18c and drizzly clag all day and 3 out 5 days were overcast (Although I would guess this poor weather came from a cut off low or a southerly tracking jet not a trough as the weather in the UK was pretty decent that time). I wasn't too upset as it was more a city break than a beach/waterpark trip though. (Crossposted from Summer 2023 as it was suggested this may fit here as well)