21st July- 31st august 2007 on its own

[Summerlover2006]

The summer of 2007 is famous for probably being the worst summer of the 21st century with the period from about the 15th June all the way to the third week of July being probably the worst summer period since the 80s with there being some truly extraordinary amounts of rainfall but what I’ve been thinking about is after the famous rainfall of the 20th July was the summer from then on that bad. 
 

To start with the last 10 days of July despite still being quite had a few sunny and dry periods at times especially at the very end this continued into august with the first 2 weeks of august actually being quite a decent spell with lots of sunshine and pleasant temperatures the hottest day of the year being recorded during this time with 30.1 being recorded on the 5th. Now there was about a ten spell where it was quite cloudy and cool but there wasn’t actually much rain and nothing compared to June and July and this didn’t last long with the last week or so or august becoming sunny and dry once again.

Obviously summer 2007 will never be called good but I think if you look at the period I just mentioned on it’s own it isn’t that bad  maybe even good 

for people that lived through this period what do you remember/think about it 

Edited March 22 by Summerlover2006

[Harry233]

 Summerlover2006 Overall it was a poor summer but like you say it did improve somewhat after the end of July. As I’ve said in other topics, June 2007 was by far my dullest June I’ve recorded with just 74 hours of sunshine, even the next dullest June which was 2012 managed 102 hours of sunshine. It was very wet but 2002 and 2017 were both wetter. The start of June was quite warm and humid but still mostly cloudy and the highest maximum was only 21.9.C on the 9th. After that it was very wet, cool and remained extremely dull with maxima barely getting into the mid teens.
 

July 2007 was another cool and wet month but sunshine was average. There was a few nice days thrown in during the month but there was quite a lot of cool, dull weather thrown in as well as a few thundery days. I do recall quite a pleasant spell during midmonth where it was warm and sunny. Around the 20th where England had the massive floods I just recall heavy rain and I don’t think there was any significant flooding at all round my area. Maybe the odd road closure and that was it. After that I think the last week was generally pretty settled and warmer think I reached 24.C on the 27th but that’s pretty low for July.

 

August 2007 was a pretty average month I think, there was a lot more pleasant weather than the previous months but overall I wouldn’t say it was a good month as it was still quite cool. There was average sunshine but rainfall was slightly below average. The hottest day was the 24th with a high of 24.8.C which was the highest temperature of 2007. In fact 2007 holds the record of the lowest highest maximum temperature I’ve recorded. Not a bad month overall but could’ve been better.

2007 is definitely in the top three of worst summers I’ve had, but looking back at my records summer 2012 was a lot wetter and duller. 

 

 

[hillbilly]

As a Farmer i can say that the summer overall was poor but despite the very wet June and July August was actually quite decent with lots of sunshine but the temperatures were very cool.That is why my memories of 2007 were not as bad as the horrors of 2012 and 2008 and even 2023 when we had to do much of our haymaking in September what should have been done in July.However i do remember a conversation with my brother at the end of summer 2007 despite getting the hay done in August that year that it didnt feel like we had had a summer mainly due to the weather in August being constant days of 22 deg at best ,little did i know that it would be another 6 years before we would see another good summer.

[SummerShower]

I'd agree this was definitely the best part of the summer, alongside 1-12 June.  I do however remember a week of pretty naff weather between about 14th and 21st August though, with Saturday 18th being very wet and windy (but this might have been confined to the south/southeast?)

[Sunshineandshowers84]

2007 was an awful summer. I remember the 2006/07 winter being quite mild and spring arriving much earlier. Both April and most of May were great but that was it. That summer was dull, wet with well below average temperatures. August was a slight improvement with an unexpected day reaching 25c in Glasgow but that was it. I also remember not only diseased trees but the majority of trees turned autumnal that August a good month before they would normally change colour. Dare say this was due to the below average temps and wet weather . This was also a summer central heating was used on a number of occasions.

[Harry233]

 Sunshineandshowers84 I agree about May 2007. It wasn’t a bad month for me at all, it had lower maxima than April but it was generally fine and settled except for the months end where it got noticeably cold.

[B87]

August 2007 felt like a typical September. Apart from the first half of June, which was rainless and quite sunny, it was a year without a summer.

[MP-R]

 Harry233 Other than the opening days and a short interlude around the 21st-24th, it was incredibly unsettled and westerly. For many, it was wetter than June, myself included.

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Yes, things did start to improve from late July onwards and felt quite pleasant at times, but it isn't saying much.

[Addicks Fan 1981]

Summer 2007 had average sunshine hours, well above average rainfall and average temperatures although it was the coolest summer since 1998 and the wettest since 1912.   

Regarding August of 2007, I actually didn't want it to be boiling hot, I just wanted it to be nice and dry enough to alleviate the problems the summer caused for the homeowners due to biblical floods.   

I do say we had a hiatus due to the fact we entered a weaker solar cycle and the warm Atlantic caused problems throughout summers 2007-12.    

[Summerlover2006]

 Addicks Fan 1981 exactly and I think august 2007 delivered in that area being sunny and quite dry 

[Addicks Fan 1981]

 Summerlover2006 I'd say Buckinghamshire where I was at the time had a not too bad august at all, usable weather though not brilliantly hot but the damage had already been done by may, june and July.    

[Harry233]

 MP-R I was quite lucky then. May 2007 was a very average month for me, certainly don’t recall much heavy rain until the late may bank holiday. I don’t remember much sunshine or warmth but I’ve had worse May’s 

[MP-R]

 Harry233 You did pretty well then. Perhaps the south was more at the mercy of the southerly tracking jet. Here are my rainfall figures for May, June and July, and then August by comparison.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Summer8906]

July 21 is a bit early for the changeover date, I'd set it at July 29.

Sat July 21 was cyclonic with prolonged and frequent showers and there was further heavy frontal rainfall on the 23rd, 25th and 26th. That week only the 22nd and 24th were sunny, though both were very sunny.

Sun Jul 29 was the date the worst of the summer passed. The wind turned northerly and clear, bright air moved in. The 29th and 30th were rather cool but fairly sunny while the 31st was very sunny with about average temps.
 

August was then a month of four parts. The 1st-11th predominantly warm and sunny, the 12th-17th or so was cool and rather wet Atlantic dominated, the 18th-23rd featured dull and very cool northeasterlies and the final week warm and bright.

July 29-end of August I would rate as average although July 21-28 was a continuation of the deluge.

Edited March 28 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

 MP-R Indeed, May was not like a May at all. Full on late autumn/early winter style zonal from the early Bank Holiday Sunday to the 19th, then a short fine period, then an extremely cool and wet late Bank Holiday (one of the worst on record) and dull and wet right to the end with only one fine day on Tuesday 29th.

 

 

Edited March 28 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

 MP-R Interesting you recorded no rain on Monday 23rd July. That was a wet day here, albeit surrrounded by two very sunny days.

Edited March 28 by Summer8906

[MP-R]

 Summer8906 That Bank Holiday really was dire. 2008 was almost as bad just not quite as cold, and at least the Saturday was ok.

 Summer8906 It was a very dull day and cool to boot (also my birthday as it happens). It then rained overnight before clearing to give a bright sunny fresh day on the 24th.

[Harry233]

 MP-R I think I was. I’ll need to dig further back into my records to be sure but certainly the May’s of 2015 and 2021 were noticeably wetter and colder.

[B87]

Apparently 28th May 2007 recorded the lowest ever May maximum at Heathrow, just 7.4c!

[Summer8906]

 MP-R Bank Holiday 2008 I was in the Lake District and enjoyed sunny weather all weekend, though remember a large bank of Cs cloud on the southern horizon more or less constantly present. Good call there!

I do remember returning S on the Monday to increasingly cloudy conditions and the odd shower, but don't think it was too bad when I arrived home. ISTR the Tues/Wed of that week being very wet and dull though.

[Addicks Fan 1981]

 MP-R there's articles on bbc archive website of why summer 2007 behaved the way it did and the jet stream actually tracked over the middle of the united kingdom.   We actually had a positive AO in may 2007, but when AAM crashed and la niña was felt so was the weather.   The same summer that we had the east QBO in tandem with negative zonal winds blowing over the troposphere aligning with the weak sea ice and that's what gave us the poor summer in 2007 that it did.     

When we contrast summer of 2007 with 2006, 2006 had loads of northern blocking in May, but robust wave activity on a repeated basis helped the jet stream to track northwards in tandem with an AAM rise which gave us the June and July it did.  Extremely hot and sunny two months up until August which August turned out to be probably the worst of the summer months but summer 2006 was still a very hot summer overall which really carried on throughout the autumn thus us having the warmest autumn ever.   

Edited April 9 by Addicks Fan 1981

[Harry233]

 Addicks Fan 1981 it’s interesting about August 2006 because for me I actually recorded a warmer and sunnier August than normal although it wasn’t exceptional like 2003 and 2022. Looking back at met office data I think I must’ve been one of the only parts of the UK where we actually got decent weather.