Sun Chaser

The best second half to winter I've ever seen - cold and sunny in mid-late Jan with some of the best skies I've ever seen. Slight dusting of snow on Jan 17th. Followed up by a lovely mild dry and sunny February. Mid May to late June was an extended period of warm (hot for a couple of weeks) and exceptionally sunny weather which has to go up as some of the greatest of all time where I was (even if the timing was personally inconvenient). The intense September heat was interesting (even if I missed most of it ) and was shortly followed by of the best thunderstorms of recent years on September 17th. 26c in early October! Always nice to have a late burst of warmth Everything else was pretty abysmal tbh. Not much in the way of so-so weather, only flipped from great to terrible and back

That's what I liked so much about it! The heat was widespread and long-lasting even in the SW as opposed to the much more SE-focused and muggier 2019/2020 heatwaves

Apologies if you've already posted it recently but what are the stats looking like for Dec 2023 potentially becoming the dullest ever? It's been grim, probably worse than 2021.

At least its not raining!

How would 1986 and 1998 compare? Looks like they were miserable years based off stats.

Amazing post! I agree 22/23 was a very good winter, dry and sunny almost in its entirety forgiving a three-week period at the end of Dec/start of Jan. Not necessarily mild but I'll always forgive that for sun and dry weather. We've been spoiled recently with the last properly miserable winter month being Dec 2021! This December I'm undecided on so far, depends how sunny this upcoming spell is. I still think Feb 2019 is the gold standard of winter months, 2008 a close second.

I think 17/18 gets a pass as the core Oct-Feb period was actually quite settled compared to normal. But late summer 17 and early spring 18 was really rough giving a real extended winter feel rather than an eternal autumn feel

Im talking from an SW perspective as I used to live there. Aug 2023 I can't speak for too much as I spent half of it out the country but stats wise was intensely dull, more so than 2021 or other recent dull Augusts. And while it wasn't overly wet it wasn't exactly dry either, so similar to 2012 in that vein. Jul 2020 was actually dry for most of the country, however it was cool and dull. Will never forget the first 10 days having an avg max of just 16c! But Jul 2023 imo was worse as, even though it was average mean temp wise it was completely unusable and just rained every day. Very reminiscent of 2012

Not to forget 2015/16 - autumn began in mid July and never really let up until early May. Summer ended early, winter never really got going and spring took a while too. Just a constant stream of 10-16c and rain for 9 months. I'd say 2013/14 was probably more intensely miserable but didn't last as long, basically from mid September to early March.

156 would be a good August in Plymouth haha. This year I think we got 87

I feel like this is going to be another winter 20/21. A fairly cold start to December before it descends into an exceptionally wet zonal mess before it looks possible to become cold and dry again just before Christmas. Jan and Feb 2021 were not bad at all with a good mix of wintry, stormy and springlike conditions so I wouldn't be so opposed

July was horrendous in Plymouth... August wasn't great too, 87(!!) hours of sunshine in all of August, but the part I was in the country (12th-27th) was the better part I think so doesn't stick out as especially bad. In early Sep I moved to London, where both Sep and Oct were far sunnier than my July and Aug in Plymouth. May and June will always stick out for how amazing they were. 240+ hours of sunshine in both! What a weird year its been

True March was totally miserable!!! April wasn't so bad down there, I feel like in the SE where i am now it felt much worse. There were some awful days but also some nice ones. Same can't be said for May... incredible month down there which im not sure was the same for the rest of the UK!

I remember it being very misty in London. Then I was sat in the back of a car heading west (where the good weather was) for 4/5 hours thinking how nice it would be if I was outside. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't Halloween 2016 warm and sunny too? Three very warm ends to October in a row 15.4c down in the south west!! The best mid Feb day I can remember (too young for 1998). Obviously 2019 was better but that was closer to spring. Sadly I spent the entire day in an airport haha

July and August 2023 were very similar in character to 2012! And plenty of Junes that were just as/almost as bad quite recently like 2016 and 2019. So I wouldn't say a miserable summer is overdue

I'll go with June 24th - July 9th as that gave Plymouth (where I was at the time) clear blue skies for days on end and our first 30c since 2006.

Seeing that we've been in an extended generally Atlantic-dominated period since late June, that makes it nearly six months of this (admittedly with some very nice but brief interludes, early Sep and early Oct). So surely its only fair that next summer it's time for a 6 month long mostly high pressure-dominated period!

Obviously July 2018 needs to be here!

Nov 1st 2015 reached up to 22.4c in the west. A very nice warm day. Similarly Oct 31st 2014 was even warmer and more widespread but annoyingly fell in October so seemed much less extraordinary!

In the middle of the day, with sunny skies and ~15c, for a brief moment it could've been an average April late afternoon. It was humid but nonetheless felt warm and bright

Nov and Dec obviously very unspringlike, but there have been some recent episodes. The freak sunny warm spell midmonth in Nov 2022 has been quickly forgotten but reached 16-18c with clear blue skies widespread. Perhaps the very sunny and dry Dec 2001 had some more springlike days. And of course as you mentioned the spell over new year 2022, will never forget waking up Jan 1st and it feeling like April.

Definitely not if the spring also followed!

Ah yes, Dec 2012. Memories of it being somewhat cold and dry but it was actually the wettest month of the entire decade where I lived at the time! Fitting of the year it was in. I was quite young at the time so I don't remember loads but I remember being in the car on Christmas Eve when there was a HUGE deluge and wondering why it hadn't snowed. (there was snow in Dec 2009/2010 and I'd been in Poland in Dec 2011 where it snowed)

Ah okay I always thought it was a high over France giving us westerlies. But I might be wrong, either way Feb 2023 was a lovely month and I would happily take that for the rest of the winter

Isn't a Bartlett high mostly quite westerly. Would much prefer a Euro high with winds directly from the south that's mild and dry. I seem to remember a Bartlett high sometime in the winter of 21/22 - either December or February neither of which were very pleasant. But I do agree!! Mild and dry all the way.