virtualsphere

9.6C please.

I was thinking the same thing. A repeat of 2005-06 would be fine by me if we can't get the right synoptics for significant snow.

15.1C for me please.

My entry... 973Mb around the Stoke area.

Thunder is generally as common in the winter as the summer here, due to being near the SW Wales cost. Obviously most of the winter storms we get are nowhere near as intense as the summer type, and many would be best described as squally thundery showers rather than 'proper' thunderstorms. Even so, last winter was quite remarkable as I heard thunder here on 5 days out of the 11 between 28th December and 7th January, with 4 being in the seven day period between 28th Dec and 3rd Jan and 2 consecutive days on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Some of these were quite intense for winter coastal events, especially 3rd January. This compares to only 3 storms here since the start of May - which is fairly impressive in itself, as we only had 1 in total last summer!

Another nice day here today too, this summer continues to deliver decent weather here. I was worried that this week would turn into a dull affair with showers or more persistent rain but, Tuesday aside, it has been generally dry again with some sunshine yesterday and today. Agree we've definitely now beaten 2012 for warm and sunny summer weather, whatever happens next, and I'd probably go as far as to say we've now surpassed most summers since 2006, except for last year. It would take a lot to beat 2013 for me, June was generally good here and July was one of my favourite summer months. If we get a similar spell this July and August then definitely possible, though. Also seen a few more storms this year than recent years - with potential for more in the coming week the way the charts are currently shaping up. Early summer last year felt more benign here, although we did have some decent convection in August.

16.1C please.

So far, so good. Since June 4th we've had a couple of storms and then some lovely dry, sunny weather interspersed with the odd cloudier day. At this stage, even if it rains every day until August 31st, we've still had a better summer in my location than 2012 or 2008. While it's great to see a fine start to summer again, I hope we don't end up paying for it come the school holidays in late July / August! Only snag this year compared to last year is the hayfever seems to be much worse - I guess this is a result of the mild, wet winter and spring rather than the cold, dry conditions of early 2013. Last year was a particularly good early summer combination of dry, sunny conditions with a lower pollen count.

I think we had it here in Wales instead. 12C max and rain most of the day - pretty much like January, only without the wind and a few degrees warmer! Sun out now though and a pleasant evening, so hopefully a sign of things to come.

Thanks for posting the graph. The flat trend is interesting in itself, as we're probably overdue an anomaly of some sort there, whether warm or cold, with the last 'unusual' CET June in 1991. It's quite odd in itself that none of the top 17 CET Junes have occurred since 1990, and only one appears in the top 25 (2003). If this were 1787 on the other hand, we might have been wondering what was going on, since 1772, 1775, 1781, 1785, 1786 were all warmer than 16C (i.e. any June we've had since 2003).

14.5C for me please

Yes, pretty bland overall, though some fairly decent spells after the dire winter. Having said that we've had some remarkable spring weather in recent years - March 2013, the lovely warm sunny spell in May 2012, April 2011 and April 2007. This year has been remarkable for the lack of any cold weather and the mild nights rather than for any memorable individual spells of weather.

Whoops - should be here http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/actualmonthly 2008 and 2012 were the worst Augusts for me, nondescript is a good way of describing the rest! Maybe I'm expecting too much because of the number of decent Augusts between 1989 and 2005.

Actually I think I'm remembering 2005 looking at the Met Office sunshine stats for Wales. Source: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/actualmonthly Edit: the tail end of that graph serves to prove my point we're due a good one!

Yes, it would be nice to have a settled second-half of summer this year. After several decent sunny Junes here in recent years, we were overdue a good July and finally got one last year. Of all the summer months, a settled August is most overdue - the last good one here was 2006. I wouldn't mind a wet June if it was followed by a settled July and August. Having said that, recent Augusts haven't been anywhere near as bad as July was between 2007 and 2012.

Yes, last year is quite a contrast in comparison. Let's hope summer 2013 doesn't also prove to be the odd one out!

11.4C for me please.

I think it's a bit unfair these summers always get lumped together but I guess it depends what your preferences are and where you're located. Definitely agree it's been poor for thunderstorms recently and none of these summers were exceptional, but like you say some were a lot worse than others. For me, 2007, 2008 and 2012 were by far the worst, with 2012 being exceptionally bad (the 'winter 13/14' of summers). 2010 was reasonable here - the great June was let down by late summer, but I'd still rate it above any of the others between 2007 and 2012 and probably also above 2002 and 2004. 2011 was just dull and nondescript. We're not overdue a wet summer but what we're probably overdue is a cold summer - 1985, 86 and 87 were all colder than anything we've had since 1993. Not that this means anything - we were overdue a cold April in 2011 A repeat of last summer would suit me fine - as some have said warm and sunny summers do often seem to come in pairs, e.g. 1975/6, 1989/90, 1995/6, 2005/6, although this pattern doesn't seem to go back before 1975 as far as I can see (e.g. 1955 looks to have been good from the data, but 1954 and 1956 weren't).

6.4C for me please (was tempted to have a gamble and go lower than all 3 winter months - but that would be close to the top 10 coldest of all time, so perhaps not!)

It's been a beautiful week here. The contrast after such a long period of wet and windy weather certainly helped me to appreciate it more (a bit like last July after the preceding few summers)! It would be good if it could continue for another couple of weeks - but on the other hand, it would also be nice to get some seasonal cold weather before the clocks change and we head towards late spring and summer.

Not liking the comparison with 2012 much there.. if it's just the spring then that would be ok, I can handle an unsettled April, it's if it continues into and throughout the summer that would worry me, especially after the winter we've had! The Netweather LRF for April to June isn't too inspiring either, but on the plus side March has turned out to be a very nice month so far. Unsettled isn't too bad here as long as the source isn't from the SW. I'd take a showery northerly or a grey, chilly dry easterly in preference to more wet SW'lies.

Is that because the data only goes back to 1951? I'd be surprised at anything much lower having occurred even as recently as that given the ferocity of the depressions this winter and the extreme rainfall recorded, but suppose if the anomaly was positioned differently (e.g. centred over or to the east of the UK rather than west) we could have experienced drier conditions due to less influence from Atlantic fronts?

Not looking forward to 2034 then...

Thanks for posting this - interesting read. Remarkable pressure graph in the middle of the article showing pressure not rising above 1010mb at any of the three stations from 26 January up to the end of the sequence, and only very briefly rising above 1000mb once between 31 January and 16 February. The difference on that January rainfall graph is also quite astonishing!

5.2C for me please