Summer of 95

How on earth have I just seen light sleet? Temp has gone back below freezing since sunset, pretty sure dewpoints have been subzero all day (dried up where the sun melted the frost), and uppers are surely cold enough if not as cold as they should be in this set up. It wasnt ice pellets, definitely sleet. What the????

Yes exactly the same here! Definitely a few flakes fallen, ground is spotted with like 1 white dot every 6 inches.... usually would be no evidence at all of what was obviously a 2-minute flurry but the first time I've seen any snow on the ground since April 2021

Midnight and it's been crystal clear with no wind since dusk. And still it's not freezing at all, apart from on the cars (always the first place and an artificial surface). Ground still muddy, pavements still wet, bins still covered in dew water. It's late November. I would swear that even 10-15 years ago it would have been frozen everywhere by 7pm in these conditions. Upper air temps as I understand don't matter when it comes to frost forming on clear nights in the colder part of the year, too much cloud or wind (used to need a strong wind from a warm direction) were the key factors. This has been a pretty consistent feature here since 2013, clear calm nights in the coldest months failing to give frosts (or just dipping below zero at dawn, or falling below early and rising again). Unless there is snow cover, almost nonexistent since except for winters 2020-21 and 2017-18 . Or except for some reason towards the end of the frost season, late Feb/Mar/April when it still often happens even if the days have been much milder (late Feb 2019 and April 2021). The standard clear frosty Nov/Dec/Jan night, often in between runs of rainy and/or mild days, with the frost forming after sunset and lasting till morning, with no snow cover or very cold airmasses; a regular occurrence even in mild winters before 2013- is becoming very hard to achieve.

Any chance of an air frost? Latest date for the first one here in last 35 years is 1st Dec in 2009, that seems under threat now. Last night I thought might do it as it was clear and calm but no (a recurring theme since 2013)- cloudy "failed easterlies" wont give much chance of one either, just 5C day and night. That fortnight without sunshine in December 2021 is still fresh in the memory.... Please not again!

1985?

Two events stand out for autumn 2016: 1) the afternoon of thunderstorms on the 13th September. One of the very few memorable storm events of the 2010s round here and saved that month which was otherwise an awful SE/the rest horror show (didnt top 26C here all month and was often dull while they had days in the 30s)- 2) The 15 minutes of carnage on the 17th November. By far the strongest wind I have ever seen turned up at midday out of the blue and ripped tiles off rooves, snapped trees in half and blew garden furniture across the street. And then it was calm and sunny... and a few miles south of me in town it didnt happen at all. It was a band of intense winds about 5 miles wide that crossed the country (was reported as tornadoes but I think Torro concluded it was some other kind of setup) and here was in the middle of it. The rest of it I dont recall much at all. For some reason I thought the day with the red sun was October 2016 but it was actually 2017!

The yellow warning for thunderstorms has expired and we have had a few bits of drizzle and light rain while it was in effect for 48 hours.... Just about enough to wet the ground but not to soak in. There hasn't been a rumble within at least 25 miles of here that I'm aware of.

Talking of the splits, where that line of rain has parked itself all day pretty much defines the area that ends up on the wrong side of both kinds of NW-SE splits; those that favour the NW like last summer and those that favour the SE like now. And it's been raining virtually non stop here today...

Absolutely my least favourite setup in summer. Divide from the Bristol channel to Lincolnshire that has not moved all day despite the wind direction being right to push the crud eastward, they have 30C and sunshine we have had rain and drizzle since 6am and 10C cooler. Like a classic 2007-12 heatwave

Can't deny we need rain, but how on earth have we still had no thunder here this month (and only 1 day this year) with all these hot/cold air battles going on? Been raining on and off this morning, had a pretty heavy shower on Fri afternoon, rained around 10 last night too, felt distinctly muggy, but no rumbles still.... Hardly seen the sun since Tuesday either. This month now looks likely to end up duller than average unless we get a really sunny last 6 days. It's not a classic summer thus far at all, even with record high temps and low rainfall for many of us. Way too much cloud and not consistently warm. Best thing that can be said is it hasn't been as boring and rubbish as winter 2021/22....

Didn't they disqualify a potential Scottish record because of a parked car on a nearby street a few years ago? While the 747s and A380s and the M25 and M4 traffic and the huge buildings all around the station at Heathrow don't affect it obviously.... There is also the issue that Britain has a very sparse network of official stations compared to many countries, such that records could easily be missed (are there any in Wales that are both well inland and below 150m? Like in the Severn, Wye and Dee valleys for instance which must be able to get hotter than Hawarden nearer the coast) Today it is already warmer than the same time yesterday, the hazy murky stuff seems to be clearing from the south as the satellite suggests so we might well beat yesterday, even though we didn't get a tropical night (I dont think Shawbury ever has despite the Shropshire cloud phenomenon). Incidentally the temperature range yesterday here was 22.5C (13 to 35.5) which is easily the largest in the last 30 years, beating the 20.6C in late Feb 2019.

Shawbury apparently reached 35.5 according to Roger Brugge's site which would be a new record if confirmed. Wonder what Preston Montford or other sites in Shropshire (they do exist) made? Tomorrow seems really up in the air as far as being hotter or not is concerned, it depends how quickly the breakdown comes. Anyone remember the pre-2006 era when hot spells often used to break down from the N rather than W? The cooling was more dramatic, often with big storms but it didnt concentrate the hottest temps in the east/southeast so much

The wind has actually been blowing hot air, that's very unusual round here for sure. A bit more of that altocumulus has appeared in the last hour though 2-4pm were largely cloudless, the question is what will tomorrow bring? Will the cloud hold off until at least 5pm in which case we might go higher, will we get a bang, or will we just get a load of murky muggy rubbish a la 10th Aug 2003 or 1st July 2015?

Hawarden often seems anomalously warm in summer when compared to places further south and more inland like Shawbury and even around Birmingham. Or further east and inland like Manchester. It doesnt seem like it ought to get fohn effects like the N Wales coast either (the high ground is to the W of it, there's none for miles to the S or SE). There must be a very local effect of some kind there? Shawbury currently showing 35C, record is 34.9 in 1990, so could have beaten it although the 37 forecast looks unlikely now

Look at that mass of cloud that's appeared on the east Irish coast. What will that pick up as it crosses the sea? As others have said, more connective cloud here than expected. Some Cu mixed with the AC and seems to be trying to grow upwards. It's quite low too, 4-5000ft I'd guess so around the 850hpa level unlike yesterdays cloud which was 20000ft ish

Today not really going as they said, aside from the spots of drizzle overnight it's so hazy that the sun is barely showing and doesnt seem much chance of hitting the 31-32 forecast for here unless it brightens up. In fact it's beyond hazy, I'd now call it overcast. How many times does that mid-high level cloud turn up and keep the temperature down in forecast hot spells round here.... Yesterday and Friday were also some way cooler and cloudier than forecast although not totally cloudy. Tomorrow/Tuesday might yet produce something extraordinary but this so far has unmistakeable August 2003 overtones (a near total let down round here if you were expecting sunshine and record temperatures as forecast)

June 2005 was pretty decent, at least the second half was ( I mainly remember it for the thunderstorm on the 19th*, although there were several warm sunny days too). August 1997 was in a way the first of the "warm but cloudy and unsettled" summer months that seemed to dominate from then until 2007. August 2004 was an even more extreme example, memorable for its mugginess and a few storms, but it had lots of rain days and little sun compared to the warm summer months of the 80s and 90s. I didn't mention summer 2003 on purpose. It was average here; warmish but often cloudy and unsettled June and July, August had one hot day on the 9th, two or three sunny ones around 24-28C in the previous week (though some of that week was cloudy despite the forecasts of 30C+ and sunshine), but the majority of the month was full of cloud despite not being very wet. Admittedly this is a local perception, I know it was a different story in the SE but in this area I think 2014 was a better summer overall, never mind 1995 or 2018. *The step change that caused the huge decline in thunder round here is another thing that seems totally independent of either the summer or winter step-changes. It occurred around 2008-9 so a bit after the summers changed in 2007, and it has continued after they recovered somewhat from 2013.

February 1997 for me was the month it really seemed to change: after that there wasnt anything resembling a "classic" winter easterly for 12 years, and also the summer climate seemed to change: not so much with mean temperature but they seemed to get a lot cloudier and less settled, as if presaging the more drastic change ten years later. 2006 of course was an exception, but the only other really decent summer month I recall in that decade was July 1999, which is almost forgotten (as is June 2010, the only remotely decent summer month in the 2007-12 summerless years). The phrase "warmer than average due to high minima" is something I associate strongly with early/mid 2000s summer months... Regarding 1988, I always think of that November with its early snowfall from the east on the 20th as the last gasp of the mid-80s cold years (87/88 had a decent snowfall in the January I remember, and summer 88 definitely belonged to that era not 89-96). There was a change, as in the mild winters post-88 were (and still are) milder than in 79-87, but there were still some proper winters (90/91, 95/6, parts of 93/4 and first half of 96/7). The early 70s winters seem to have been as bad if not worse as 88/9 and 89/90 and 97/8 to 1999/00 (though perhaps not as awful as 13/14, 15/16, 19/20 and 21/22)?

Beautiful at 6am, mostly cloudy by 10. How has this happened again. Only cloud on the early satellite was in Staffs/Derbys with WNW wind. But it's just expanded, and theres mid level crud above it in the gaps. So disappointing after it suddenly cleared yesterday and I thought it might just maybe it was the start of a sunny period

Last year NW/SE split favouring the NW This year NW/SE split favouring the SE And here we end up in the cloudy zone in both setups. Same with E-W splits (E favoured the sun starts at Birmingham, W favoured it starts in Wales). In the 80s and 90s I'm sure N-S splits were more common, with the line being around 54N when the S was favoured. I really cannot remember a more boring and tedious extended spell for weather than that since October 2021. Snow, frost, thunder, warmth, cold all practically absent. The only extended spell of sunshine came in March, only really wet spell in February. A handful of sunny and warm days in June, one brief thunderstorm on the Jubilee Friday, everything else that has been forecast not turning up. The same periods in 1997-98 and 2001-02 were positively full of weather interest by comparison...

It reminded me a lot of 30 June/1 July 1995. That sweltering Friday that was still hot at 10pm, turned into a cool, cloudy Saturday with what must have been close to a 15C drop, but there was no rain let alone storms. There was some here yesterday evening but that was well after the temperature change occurred. That time the heat had been building for about 10 days which wasnt the case this time, but it otherwise seemed very similar. As I remember Sunday 2nd was a slight recovery (today the sun came out at 6pm) and it got warmer again the following week culminating in that amazing storm on 10-11 July....

Actually surprised to see that Shawbury has been reading as high as 29C this afternoon, it actually only feels like about 26-27 even though the sun is out. That unforecast wind is pretty strong ( it's from between W and SW though- so not one of those Cheshire gap breezes which are another obstacle to getting high temps round here) and the humidity must be very low. Had some more hazy gunk this morning but not as thick as the last two days and its blue sky now. A better outcome than I expected tbh (had visions of a total cloud over at a muggy 23C while eastern parts were 35C).

Finally had thunder and lightning here (5 miles N of Shrewsbury). A brief downpour but looking at the radar there was more rain a few miles to the S and W of here. Finally some weather in 2022!

Yes wild windy night and it's still blowing a hooley now. Does the naming season stop at the end of March (never seems to have been one named after then since it started)? Pressure of this system seems unusually low for April too.

Few snowflakes coming down now, some precip is managing to form but it's too light to stick even if the ground was frozen. The good old light snow at 5C in spring contrasting with heavy rain at lower temperatures in winter months