Summer of 95

Shawbury is on the North Shropshire plain, it's miles away from the really hilly areas of the county. The biggest hills nearby are only 150-200m (Haughmond and Clive/Grinshill), they don't block hardly any sun. It's not particularly foggy there- less so than by the Severn in Shrewsbury (Preston Montford by that river is even duller according to the MO averages). It is just inexplicably, unbelievably cloudy most of the time round here!

116 for Shawbury to 30 August (and little more yesterday, 2 hrs max)- I wasn't imagining it then it was very dull. That's on a par with 2010 and 2011, and not much better than 2008. Just about the dullest place in England again.

It makes me wonder why we don't have Tests in September: they have them in New Zealand in March which is the same day-length wise. It's often drier than July and warmer than May.

1998 was pretty good, there was a nice spell mid-month- I think some places had their warmest day of the year then. 2000 was wet overall but I do remember it having a half-decent few days again in midmonth. Nowhere near as wet as the Oct or Nov that year though. 1999 was memorable as I said before. Now September 1997- there is one month I honestly can't remember a single thing about, weatherwise. August and October 1997 certainly, October had the coldest night of the 97/8 "winter"! Even November sticks in my mind for being a very tedious southwesterly month devoid of any cold or prolonged sunshine. But September anyone????

Will be interesting to see August' s anomaly maps: my impression is that it's been a cloudy month here whereas many others seem to be saying the opposite. July was certainly sunnier than average, but some way short of 2006. June was fairly near average, so summer I think will come out close to average as well. Better than the last 7 years but certainly not in there with the best.

I really wish I could sometimes, or perhaps all the S Midlands/Eastern people who doubt the existence of the Shropshire Sunshield should spend a Summer here Easterlies- we get North Sea Muck often till 3pm and beyond, even though the North Sea is over 100 miles away and Cheshire/Manchester escapes. Westerlies we get the cloud when the rest of the Midlands is fine and the SE bakes. Cloud bubbles up here in dry spells when Birmingham/Words/E Mids stays sunny. And there are those bloody Cheshire Gap breezes that get here 50 miles inland and keep us 2-5C cooler than everywhere else in the Mids- sometimes blowing as strong as F6-7. It was like a monsoon when we had 35 mm that one Saturday night and 30-odd more the rest of the week, if that kept going over a month would be close to 200mm.

2006 was an excellent September, warm and sunny right through till about the 25th, felt like summer was back after a very disappointing August. 2003 and 1999 were also decent, the latter started warm and finished thundery. There was a run of rubbish Septembers from 1992-1995, in contrast to the often memorable Octobers and Novembers of that era. September 1919 though- what a month that sounds like!

Nowhere near as good as 2006 here, it's been nothing special save those 2 weeks in July. June far too cool despite being dry and at times sunny, highest max 22.5 which even June 2012 bettered. Felt like a good April. July had that spell which was better than anything since 2006, but was disappointed it didn't hit 30C when all the conditions seemed right. The month was however wetter than average here thanks to its monsoonal last 9 days, which infuriating didn't produce any overhead storms here either. August had a cracking first 3 days, 29.5C on the 1st (would surely have hit 30 if the sun had come out before 2pm though....) then the first overhead storm since 2011 on the 3rd. All downhill then until yesterday, far too cloudy during the day and will struggle to make average sunshine now. Overall about equal to 2005, with the best bits not as good (19th June 05) and the worst bits not as bad (that appalling dull cold end to July 05) as that year.

Grey, cool andannoyingly windy- its like October today. Why have they got it so wrong this week, changing the forecasts at the last second most days? Miggt have known Shropshire would just get cloudy rubbish!

It hasnt stopped since about 10pm. And now its turned into that fine rain that soaks everything.

Its been raining all night and is still going now, absolutely vile weather. Not more than 4 hours sun on any day since Tuesday, very poor forecasts and the lousiest hot spell in a long time.

Did the Thames freeze anywhere in Dec 2010? The Severn in Shrewsbury did twice, so it surely could have done in say Oxford?It's impossible in central London now as it's fully tidal there, this was not the case when the old London bridge existed as by all accounts it formed a barrage and only let the highest tides overtop it.

Nice to see June 2005 mentioned, a fantastic month that had everything- record cold nights, heatwaves, thunder, hail. Just about all the months in 1995 had something memorable save February which was a mild westerly dross month- March, July, August and December stand out but there was plenty to remember in April and May (crazy temperature swings), June (that really hot end) September (some torrential downpours), October (that hot Sunday), January (probably the most changeable month I can remember) and November ( some good early frosts). It has to be December 2010 overall though, the coldest month here since 1963 and coldest December since the 19th century. To get a subzero month after all those winterless years...

Humid and cloudy with occasional rain again, feels warmer but only average for August. Sun tries to peek out from time to time, but still no truly sunny day this month.

Rubbish! Trash! It was in inverted commas... but then you wouldnt notice that

Re the sunburn posts: I got sunburnt walking over the Stiperstones in late March 2012, but then I do get it very easily. Not much chance this month so far though... September has beem sunnier tham August at least 3 times in the last 7 years.

Light rain on and off all day, feels noticeably more humid but couldnt top 18C. Very poor "heatwave"!

Still see flocks of starlings quite regularly, both in gardens and fields, but very few house sparrows, or dunnocks for that matter. In the 80s they were both ten a penny round here. Don't seem to be so many Robins or Bullfinches either since the 2007-9 climate switch?

None at the moment, at least not naked eye ones. Lots of 1st magnitude stars though. Seen a few brilliant Perseids tonight, notably one that left a trail that seemed to glow red.

2 bright Perseids seen just now, one going through the Square of Pegasus and the other below Aries. And Aldebaran has risen now- that's a winter star!

Finally a clear night and dark. 1.30 am now and a definite Autumn look to the sky. Can see Fomalhaut low in the south and the Pleiades have cleared the rooftops to the NE.

I'm not convinced it's gone- let's be honest this summer has been nothing special save 2 weeks in July and that one day heatwave on August 1st. In the 90s or early 2000s it would have been definitely "average". There were blips during the Twenty Years without a Winter; Feb 1991, Feb 1994 and much of 1995/6. A 1995/1976/1959 next year, followed by a good one (like 1989 or 2006) in 2015 and I'll believe it was only a Seven Years Without a Summer.

2002 was very memorable for its shocking November and December which were ridiculously mild mild and wet (despite a week of westerlies in Dec) and practically sunless. Also the first 5 days were cold and frosty with snow on the ground. 2011 was a very, very boring year here for the most part, saved by that extraordinary Autumn heatwave. This year's April wasn't as good as 2007 (nowhere near as sunny), and the year was almost snowless- only 4 days snow falling and one lying, on Jan 7th. The main thing though was the summer- from early May to late September it was one long bore-fest, almost constantly cold, cloudy and fairly dry with only the occasional day topping 21C- never more than 2 days in a row either. The only thing to break the boredom was a surprise late-night storm on Aug 21st, virtually the only rain that month which barely made 100 hours sun. That late heatwave was so memorable though that it means 2011 can't take the prize, so I go for 1993. A similar summer to 2011 but no heatwave at all, even out of season. Jan, Feb, Mar so boring I can hardly remember a thing, except for a forecast of snow at the end of Feb that never happened. September horrid, if one thing saves the year it was the unusually cold spells in October and November.

Yes the southern sky is awesome, much better than ours. Saw it in New Zealand during their winter, Scorpius overhead and Vega just clearing the horizon. Eta Carinae, omega Centauri, Jewel Box and my favourite, 47 Tucanae- all way out of sight to us in the north, not to mention stars like Canopus and the Crux/Alpha-Beta Centauri area. Kept telling them that Polaris really is nothing special compared to that lot! Not only do Scorpius/Sagittarius barely rise here, they appear in the evening during the lingering twilight season which makes it worse- I find the best time to see them is early in the morning in March/April.

Starting to cloud over already, so much for that front not arriving till tonight!