Scorcher

What is it about heating on public transport in this country?? It's ridiculous how it seems to be on all year-round, it's a terrible waste of energy and probably unhealthy too. I have to say it infuriates me!

I also spent time in Northern France during the July 2006 heatwave and the conditions there were notably more oppressive there than in the UK. It was a lot more humid, with a spectacular thunderstorm marking my arrival followed by a day that actually felt rather cool but still reached about 28C. After that the real heat got going again. The mosquitoes in the north of France during July 2006 were absolutely rampant, I've never been bitten that badly in my life and I spent a year in Florida. Surprising the difference a couple of hundred miles in latitude can make in these heatwaves. The nights were also warmer in France, as in the north of England we nearly always get some relief at night even in the most exceptional heatwaves.

Very interesting, quite an amazing amount of sunshine. Here on the west coast of Northern England we have also benefitted from the quiet Atlantic over the past month. I have been wondering what all the moaning has been about in terms of the lack of sunshine, even the second half of May wasn't bad here for sunshine but I know areas further south and east had a very dull last third of May.

It is all very confusing isn't it, the BBC summary is very vague but I suppose most of the general public don't feel the need for the exact statistics as us weather enthusiasts do. It's strange that I didn't hear about that 30.1C at the time but if the Met Office have confirmed it that's good enough for me.

I read on this site: http://www.personal.dundee.ac.uk/~taharley/2007_weather.htm that 30.1C was reached at Terrington St. Clement in Norfolk on August 5th 2007, although I have no idea whether that is a standard site or not.

I'm not saying that it's impossible to fail to reach 30C this year but it's hard to imagine a maximum below 29C in this day and age. I think the fact that 30C was still reached last year despite such a notably poor summer demonstrates this.

Are you serious? That would be the coolest high temperature in a year since 1974, there is absolutely no chance of it happening IMO. It's also worth noting that 1993 is the only year since 1981 that 30C has not been reached in the UK so I think the odds definitely favour 30C+ somewhere during the summer.

I actually enjoy watching the weather channel when I'm in the US. In fact I find it's one of the few channels worth watching over there! I believe that there was a UK version of the Weather Channel, but it only lasted 2 years before it was decided that it wasn't viable in 1998.

I noticed the smoke and the smell when I was in the Manchester area earlier. Also there appeared to be smoke on the hills further north in Lancashire as I travelled north on the M6. Not really a surprise to be honest, the ground was already bone dry and now after days of this extremely strong wind it must be even drier.

I haven't guessed for a while, but I'm expecting a warm one, particularly after the first week. Therefore I will go for 16.3C.

Things can change very quickly, you certainly shouldn't take what all the pessimists say as gospel. It's absolutely ridiculous to be writing June off at this stage, it's difficult to forecast more than a week ahead with any accuracy, let alone a whole month that is still over a week away from beginning!

Summer discussion? Nothing more annoying than people talking about winter in May IMO. Might just start a summer thread in November, I doubt that would go down too well.

I noticed that the haar seemed to affect the Middlesbrough v Man City football match yesterday at the Riverside. The referee asked for the floodlights to be put on during the second half and in the words of the commentator it was 'absolutely freezing' while places further south and west were still enjoying temps in the low to mid twenties.

I think 30C is even possible today with Lakenheath already at 27C. The odds are against it but it's not impossible.

I predicted 25.3C at Great Malvern so I'm pretty happy with that!

I've been pretty amazed today by how far north and west the warm air has been making it's presence felt, amazing to be getting temps over 20C in the first week of May up there!

Yes has the temperature actually exceeded 26C at Exeter or is that just rounded up? I'm surprised by the number of places that have reached 25C, I fully expected one or two places to reach it but loads of places have got to that magic figure! Amazing when you consider how difficult it was to achieve 25C last August.

A few places have already reached 23C over the past couple of days.

I think that 25C will be reached on Wednesday, with 25.3C at Great Malvern. I also expect it to be reached on Thursday and Friday. Pershore and Heathrow are other possibilities. I agree with those who are choosing locations in the Worcestershire area as it is probably going to be a south-easterly/easterly airflow and that area will be favoured IMO.

I don't really get the significance of this though- those previous 3 months were record breaking so you would have to expect a big drop the following year. The same months of the following year were also by no means considerably below average, mostly around average.

I wouldn't actually mind a repeat of August 2004, although ideally I would like something less wet and with more settled spells. I really liked how consistently warm it was throughout the month, although the last week or so was around average temperature wise. There were hardly any days in August 2004 with below average temperatures. It was also warm by night which I always enjoy. Very interesting month I thought.

26.5C at Herstmonceux on the 15th

I also find physical exercise easier in warmer temperatures, some people hate playing football in temperatures over 20C for example, but I find breathing a lot easier when the air is warm. On the subject of warm evenings, in my opinion minima of about 16 or 17C would be ideal in summer, with the temperature staying above 21C until about midnight. I know some people wouldn't like that because it might be hard to sleep, but when the weather is warm I go to bed later generally anyway. When I was in Miami in September 2006 though it was still about 30C at midnight and that is just way too hot, and it was humid too. With those conditions you are just relying on air conditioning to allow you to have any sleep at all. Even though I enjoy warm weather I can't understand why places like Miami are renowned for their weather- it is just oppressive there from May to October and there is always a surprising amount of cloud in Florida, which is why I wonder why they call it the 'sunshine state'. I would like summer nights in the UK to be warmer but I prefer what we have to to the oppressive nights that they get in subtropical climates.

I heard that you have had a good summer in New Zealand though, or so the commentators said during the England cricket tour. Hamilton was the warmest of the venues if I remember rightly, and there was one very chilly day indeed in Wellington. I don't think it was so much the temperature but the gale-force wind, the players and crowd had their sweaters and jackets on. The other venue was Napier which was also quite warm with temps in the low 20s I think. Most of the North Island seems to have slightly higher average maxes in summer than the warmest parts of the UK, but it seems that Wellington is slightly cooler than many parts of England in mid-summer.

Indeed, it was also strange telling people, 'it's going to be 34 degrees on Wednesday', I remember a lot of people weren't very enthusiastic about it, saying that it was too hot but I was savouring the whole situation as it doesn't happen very often in the UK! As you say though, in Australia those temps are often the norm day after day. Melbourne's forecasts are often interesting in the summer, it can be 20C one day, 41C the next and then back down to 22C the day after that!