Just for fun: Build your perfect X-ending year

[cheeky_monkey]

 Summer8906 right so it was still in the top 10 in January 1994 therefore 1995 becomes the perfect year..i rest my case M'lud

[LetItSnow]

 cheeky_monkey Should I make this the Dina Carroll thread?

Edited May 31, 2024 by LetItSnow!

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Now onto the 2s:

January 1982 (2.7C CET) - Cold and snowy. A classic winter.

February 1942 (0.1C CET) - Another cold and snowy winter month.

March 2012 (8.4C CET) - A sunny month with chilly nights and some warm days later on.

April 1962 (7.7C CET) - A sunny month with a warm spell around Easter.

May 1952 (13.4C CET) - A very warm month. An interesting month as it had warmth, thunderstorms and hail.

June 1992 (15.7C CET) - Warm, sunny and dry.

July 2022 (18.2C CET) - The heatwave was a bit too much for my liking, but it was interesting as a weather enthusiast and there was a record breaking day.

August 1932 (17.1C CET) - Warm overall. A good mix of warm and unsettled periods.

September 1972 (11.7C CET) - On the cool side, but this is OK for September. Also fairly dry and sunny.

October 2002 (10.0C CET) - A very changeable month which adds interest.

November 1922 (5.9C CET) - A foggy month with it being quite cold at times.

December 1912 (6.7C CET) - Not one of my favourite Decembers, but there was a storm around Christmas day.

 

Overall CET - 9.8C. So very close to the average.

 

[Summer8906]

I'll do my version of the "3"s , as there are plenty of exceptional months to go around - though it has to be said most of them are in the summer.

January 1963 - the obvious one to go for

February 1913 - very dry, average temperatures, not outstanding but remember we've just had January 1963!

March 1973 - very dry (19mm) and good sunshine total for the time of year (153.7 hours). Mildish days, cold nights.

April 2013 - not a bad month here. Some historic cold in the first week, second week dull and damp but second half mostly dry, bright and average temps.

May 1953- 226.2 hours sunshine and 67.5mm not too bad for the time of year. 18.4 mean max so not cold.

June 2023 - the standout month of the year

July 1983 - the peak of that summer though August was also good

August 2003 - and the peak of that summer. Extreme Jan cold and 38C in the same year!

September 1923 - 191 hours of sunshine not bad for the time of year. Somewhat dry also. Not warm at 18.7C mean max but perhaps many would welcome a cooldown after the three preceding months!

October 1943 - this time October gets the short straw. Wettish (94mm) but not terrible sunshine for the time of year (132 hours). It looks like I could have swapped round 1943 and 2003 for a better result overall, but I wanted to include 2003's record and 1963's extreme cold in the same year!

November 1993 - after a couple of "throwaway" Novembers it's time for a genuinely interesting one this time, for the early cold and snow

December 1933 - very cold and dry. I could have used 1933 for summer but I think this is the only interesting December ending in '3' !

Such a year would be an aesthetic delight. We'd have the extreme snowy January, but then a lengthy period of average-to-mild so the two together would ensure that a) spring isn't over-delayed and b) spring isn't over-advanced. Then a distinctly hot summer, a seasonable autumn and finally a cold December.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2024 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

2 hours ago, LetItSnow! said:

April 2024: Was all I had left

Arguably we shouldn't include 2024 at all as only 5 months have passed (and none of them have been any good...)

1904 would be the replacement and it looks like it had a good selection of dry and/or sunny months.

[Summer8906]

2 hours ago, LetItSnow! said:

January 1984: Down in the south this would be rubbish but in the north it would be good

Mind you finding a Jan ending in 4 that's been any good in recent years is a bit of a struggle. 1964 was the last decent one, though it was better before that (1954, 1934, 1914).

Edited May 31, 2024 by Summer8906

[cheeky_monkey]

 LetItSnow! yep be more interesting  

[LetItSnow]

 cheeky_monkey I often see you moan about games or fun threads. You don’t have to play them or look at them  you know  

 

[Summer8906]

Thought I'd see what the CET of my "threes" example came out as, given it contains very cold and extremely warm months.

Jan to Dec are:

-2.1 (1963)
4.8 (1913)
6.2 (1973)
7.6 (2013)
12.6 (1953)
17.0 (2023)
19.4 (1983)
18.3 (2013)
12.5 (1923)
10.6 (1943)
4.5 (1993)
1.6 (1933)

Overall CET comes out at 9.4. Thus, despite the very hot summer, the only years with a lower CET since 1988 have been 1996 (9.2) and 2010 (8.9)!

Edited May 31, 2024 by Summer8906

[B87]

Now the 6s. 

Jan: 1916 

Feb: 1926

Mar: 1936

Apr: 1906

May: 1956

Jun: 1976

Jul: 2006

Aug: 2016

Sep: 1966

Oct: 1996

Nov: 1946

Dec: 1986

Edited May 31, 2024 by B87

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Now for my 3s (quite fun this is  ):

January 1963 (-2.1C CET) - This one is obvious.

February 1983 (1.8C CET) - Cold and dry with a snowy spell midmonth.

March 1953 (5.6C CET) - Dry and sunny with chilly nights.

April 1933 (8.8C CET) - Pleasantly warm during the first half, more changeable after that. I enjoy changeable weather.

May 1943 (11.8C CET) - A month of extremes with all weather types.

June 2023 (17.0C CET) - Very warm and sunny with pleasant humidity.

July 2013 (18.4C CET) - Warm and sunny.

August 2003 (18.3C CET) - Dry and very warm/hot. Cooler during the last week which would have felt refreshing.

September 1923 (12.5C CET) - Cool and sunny.

October 1993 (8.3C CET) - Cool, sunny but also wet. Quite a changeable month.

November 1973 (6.0C CET) - Dry, cool and sunny with unsettled periods. Very cold with frost and freezing frost during the last few days.

December 1913 (5.1C CET) - Gusty early on in the month as well as snow in places. A cold end to the month.

 

Overall CET - 9.2C. So would be somewhat cooler than today's average.

Edited May 31, 2024 by Weather Enthusiast91

[LetItSnow]

Onto my 5s. This was a FAR more interesting pick. 5 years tend to be quite interesting for some reason.

January 1985 - Cold with heavy snow and exceptional cold.

February 1955 - More of the same.

March 2015 - It was either this or 2005 and I picked this one because it was a decent month with variability.

April 1975 - Lack of better choices though this seemed interesting with some cold and some warmth.

May 1935 - The exceptional snow event mid-month was fascinating.

June 1925 - A rare combination of extreme dryness and sunshine without oppresive heat.

July 1915 - Cool and wet but apparently with many thunderstorms so that's good enough for me.

August 2005 - This was the last pick but I'd be happy with this as it was variable and quite nice.

September 1945 - A filler choice. Dry and quite warm but dull. Could be worse...

October 1905 - Fascinatingly cold, the coldest of the century and never been colder since.

November 1965 - Cold and snowy.

December 1995 - Cold and snowy with extremely low temperatures.

What this year would look like today:

2.0 - 1.9 - 6.6 - 9.2 - 10.5 - 15.6 - 15.7 - 16.5 - 15.3 - 9.0 - 5.1 - 2.4: 9.2C

Dry with 825.7mm but not as dry as my 3 year. Interesting how my 1, 2 and 4 were all wet but 3 and 5 very dry.

Will do 6s later.

Edited June 1, 2024 by LetItSnow!

[Summer8906]

I don't think anyone's done sevens yet (though I realise I haven't done my own fives, etc). So I'll be the first, as we can start the year with the winter double-act to end all winter double-acts. More of a struggle at some other points in the year, though, particularly the summer (there are plenty of stinker summers ending in '7' and relatively few good ones):

So (CET in brackets):

January 1987 (0.8)

February 1947 (-1.9)

March 1907 (6.3) : never heard of this one, but: what a month; 213.7 hours of sunshine in Southampton, more than many summer months in the past 9 years!

April 2007 (11.3) : clearly 2007 has to go here, and not the summer!

May 1977 (10.6) : reasonably sunny, northeasterly. Coolish. 16.7C mean max in Southampton but well over 200 hours sunshine.

June 1957 (15.2)  :obvious, I suspect!

July 1967 (16.7) : few really good Julys in years ending in 7. In fact the only other ones were 1907 and 1947 - and in fact 1967 was considerably sunnier than 1947 in Southampton with 248.6 hours. A fitting month for the Summer of Love, it seems.

August 1937 (16.9) : once we remove 1947 (as it's being used for Feb), it's a struggle to find many good Augusts. This seems to be the best, a fairly good month with 23C mean max, 31.5mm rain, and 221.6 hours sunshine in Southampton. Sounds very, very similar to August 2013 with a CET of 17.0.

September 1997 (14.2) : warm, sunny and dry.

October 1917 (7.5) : very cool and very wet. The last-to-be-allocated month this time. 137.3 hours of sunshine in Southampton is good for Oct though (sunnier than 1969 or 1985, for example) so I'd be willing to bet this was a northwesterly month and thus might have been quite enjoyable despite the rain. Perhaps like an Oct version of Nov 1996 (which was even wetter)?

November 2017 (6.8): settled, sunny, often mildish by day but with cold nights. The month of four sunny Sundays. April is the only other month of 2017 that I'd get really enthusiastic about, but I used 2007 for that.

December 1927 (2.1): wet and dull but cold with notable snowfall.

Overall CET 8.9, so a cool year despite a warm summer. Exactly equal to the CET of 2010. A very sunny spring, summer and early autumn. CET-wise, a rare example of April being warmer than May, and not much difference between October and November.

Going from Feb 1947 to April 2007 in two months would certainly be interesting, with a fairly average temp-wise but very sunny March in between. I can imagine a truly glorious spring as a result!

 

Edited June 1, 2024 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

14 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

18.3 (2013)

Sorry, this was a typo, I meant August 2003 but you can probably figure that out.

Edited June 1, 2024 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

Right, having a go at the eights now, as they (along with the fours) are known for being not-so-good, with many years consisting of mild winters, cool summers, and much dull and wet.

January 1908 (2.5) - a rare example of an "eights" January with wintry weather. Notable snowfall in the south, rather dry and on the cold side.

February 1978 (2.8) - cold, notable snow in the southwest

March 1938 (9.1) - very dry, rather sunny and milder than any recent March (!)

April 1948  (9.0)- dry; sunny and warm by day in Southampton

May 1918 (13.0) - dry, sunny and warm in Southampton

June 2008 (13.9) - struggling with the Junes somewhat. I'm going with this one as I quite enjoyed it, dry and sunny though not notably warm.

July 2018  (19.2) - the obvious one

August 1998 (16.0) - a decent warm, sunny August following a poor June and a dry but cool and dull July. Surprised how low the CET is though, only 16?

September 1928 (12.8) - very dry and extremely sunny for September in Southampton (234.3hrs)

October 1958 (10.8) - the left-over month this time. A nondescript month, somewhat wet and dull.

November 1988 (5.0) - dry, sunny, frosty

December 1968 (3.0) - on the cold side

So actually managed to get arguably an interesting year out of the 8s, with some sharp temp swings at times. The October is the only one which might be a bit poor.

A somewhat milder year than my recent ones at 9.8C overall CET. Even still, since 1988 the only cooler or equal years were 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2010, 2012 and 2013.

 

Edited June 1, 2024 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

 Summer8906 What I've been doing is taking the anomaly of the months against their recent 30 year average and applying it to the 1991-2020 average to see what such repeats would bring now. I've also been doing it by starting with the earliest year first and picking a month, makes it a bit harder that way.

I'm onto my 6s now. The 6s don't seem to be quite as prolific as the 5s but had interesting, quite good choices. More than can be said for the 4s.

January 2006 - Was the most favourable choice left. Not a majorly good month but lacking the sometimes depressing low pressure domination. Did have local snow on the 7th.

February 1986 - Obvious choice though I almost gave it to 1956. Chose 1986 because it's more longer lasting and here in the east there would be more snow.

March 1956 - '56 got March instead. Not much to write home about other than it was very dry.

April 1966 - Very wet but had some very heavy snow.

May 2016 - Was the last one left. Was an OK month. Started with a frost locally but had some lovely warmth in the first half. Had an exceptionally wet day on the 31st.

June 1936 - Not a noteworthy month in terms of stats that's notable but had extreme thunderstorms.

July 1946  - Same reason as above.

August 1996 - Seemed changeable. My preference for summer months isn't shockers but more generally cool interspersed with hot spells so I can wear my short shorts out - but no mega heatwaves!!! 

September 1926 - The extreme heatwave on the 19th lead to an exceptional late recording of 32.2C. Nowadays that would probably be closer to 34C.

October 1916 - Was the least offensive pick of the year. Mild and wet and had the record for biggest daily rainfall until 2009 I think.

November 1976 - Everyone's going to be very angry I didn't pick a summer month but a summer like 1976 is not my style. Chose the least offensive month. Rather chilly but mostly average.

December 1906 - A very snowy Christmas apparently.

What this would look like today:

4.9 - 0.2 - 7.0 - 8.1 - 12.8 - 15.6 - 17.2 - 17.3 - 15.5 - 12.2 - 6.8 - 4.3: 10.2C (This would fit in very well in the lesser-exceptional-but-still-warm years we get, except the February)

Another dry one with 878.6mm though far less notably than my 3 and 5 years. This year would be exceptionally dry from January to March with a deluge in April, then variable throughout the rest of the year.

This means despite being a rain lover I now have more dry years than wet ones so far.

Got another interesting most I'll do in this thread in a short while.

 

Edited June 1, 2024 by LetItSnow!

[Summer8906]

19 minutes ago, LetItSnow! said:

What I've been doing is taking the anomaly of the months against their recent 30 year average and applying it to the 1991-2020 average to see what such repeats would bring now. I've also been doing it by starting with the earliest year first and picking a month, makes it a bit harder that way.

Ah ok, I might in that case try that for my next one, but then also do the original rules of picking them in any order as well, to get the best possible year.

So that said, the "fours" by the new rule. Will then do them again without it.

So starting with 1904, I'll pick July.

Moving onto 1914, I'll choose June in the knowledge that there have been few better ones since. 1984 was good also but that had several other good months to choose from.

With 1924 it's difficult as it was a poor year on the whole. Feb looks rather cold, and dry. So Feb it is.

1934 I'll go with May, warm, sunny and dry.

1944 I'll go with August, looked ok. Could have picked 1944 for May, too. Oh well...

1954 I'll go with April, sunny and extremely dry.

1964 I'll go with September, very dry, sunny and warm.

1974 I'll go with October, interestingly cold.

I see what you mean about the new rules, I'm now out of good options for 1984. Feb, April, June, July, August already gone.  So it'll be March as that was just cloudy and non-descript rather than actively nad.

Likewise I'm out of ideas for 1994. Feb, June, July, August just gone, also October. Stuck with Jan, Nov or Dec. I'll go with Jan due to the heavy snow on the 6th, even though it was pretty poor the rest of the time.

With 2004 I'll go with Nov (dry, dull, mild, drizzly at times) so I can use 2014 for Dec.

So I'll finish with Dec 2014 (mildish, sunny, cold nights)

So an imperfect year via this method:

Jan 1994

Feb 1924

March 1984

April 1954

May 1934

June 1914

July 1904

August 1944

September 1964

October 1974

November 2004

December 2014

Will do another version without this new rule, and will probably come up with something better...

Edited June 1, 2024 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

 Summer8906 Though without that the year would look like

4.4 -1.0 6.2 7.2 12.6 14.7 16.3 16.5 14.4 10.6 6.0 3.0 - 9.2C

Should do both really.

Still warmer than any other year naturally I think despite February 1986.

[Summer8906]

OK I'm going to do another version of the fours, to see if I can build the best possible year out of this rather disappointing set of years. I'm not that happy with what I came up with by the new rules...

January 1914  was cold and dry (3.7 but 6.0 mean max in Southampton; looks like the south was disproportionately cold as the CET sounds less cold relative to normal)

Next February 1924  (3.3) - rather hard to find any exceptional ones but this was another cold and dry one.

March 1944 (5.2) - very dry, unremarkable temps and sunshine. Difficult to find an especially great March

April 1954 (7.6) - will stick with this very dry, very sunny month

May 1934 (11.3) - will also stick with this one

For the summer it's a case of choosing between 1904, 1984 and 1994 all of which had good summers. I can remember the last two but not the first. So:

June 1984 (14.4) as it was the sunniest of that summer's three months

July 1994 (18.0) was it was famously hot and sunny

August 1904 (15.1) had an impressive 250.9 hrs in Southampton. Surprisingly cool CET. Presumably best in the south,

September 1964 (14.1) - will stick with this

October 1974 (7.6) - and this

November 2004 (7.6) - end up with this by default. Oh well, it was harmless enough, I guess, and expectations for November are always fairly low.

December 2014 (5.1) - mildish but dry and sunny

Actually colder than my last one at 9.4. Surprising as I thought this would end up quite mild.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2024 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

A bit of a change to mix things up. I looked at the height anomalies for each xxx0 to create the ultimate xxx0 year (since 1950). I wonder if it'll be any good. Imagining this for 2030.

  January 2030 (or xxx0) would be a corker with lots of easterly winds, probably cold with a fair bit of snow.

 All goes wrong in February 2030 which would be very mild, wet and windy.

 An average, mixed March 2030, though perhaps chilly and wet in the south.

 A chilly and quite unsettled April 2030.

 For May 2030 that would be a lot better though a risk of being chilly and cloudy at times in the south and east.

 A warm and thundery June 2030 with slack easterlies.

 Oh dear! A terribly cold, wet and windy July 2030.

 A frontloaded summer then with a cool and wet August 2030.

 Still wet and unsettled but perhaps nearer normal temperatures with that ridge to our south for September 2030.

 It gets worse! Cool and probably record breakingly wet for October 2030.

 The same applies for November 2030. Wettest autumn record smashed likely.

 Still wet but perhaps a southerly tracking jet with snow potential for December 2030.

Shows that since 1950 xxx0 years have tended to be very unsettled. This would probably be a remarkably wet year.

@Summer8906You're one for stats, interesting isn't it.

Will continue my regular posts as I need to get on with my 7s next...

 

[Summer8906]

 LetItSnow! Interesting yes. The cold-tending Jan is surprising given that most Januaries of late (except 2010) have trended mild.

Obviously 1990 was the outlier for the summer...

The 1s will be interesting, I've noticed that a good number of winters ending in 1 have trended somewhat cold. Same for the winters of the 6s.

The 4s and 8s also, for their general poorness. I'm guessing the 5s and 9s will trend dry.

Edited June 1, 2024 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

 Summer8906 Since I have it on another tab let's look at the xxx1s. For fun's sake we'll name this year 2031.

 January 2031 wouldn't be as good as 2030 but probably good in the north, marginal in the south. On the cold side a bit like January 2021 perhaps.

 February 2031 has a blocking signal to the east but quite far away so probably overly cold, perhaps mild & wet but with a bite of the cherry. Again not dissimilar to 2021.

 March 2031 would be cold and very wet with a southerly tracking jet. After the copious amounts of rain since the hypothetical July this would be a horrific period.

 A changeable but probably quite dry April 2031 and probably the first dry month since May or June.

 Oh dear. May 2031 would probably surpass May 1996 for cold. Wet again too.

 Very cool and wet again for June 2031... Would surely be one of the worst first halves to a year ever?

 Slight improvements for July 2031 but restricted to the north. Probably cool, dull and rather wet in the south but drier in the north. Akin to July 2021 but cooler.

 A changeable and completely offensive August 2031 and not that wet due to the slight tendency for a ridge to our west. Cool and dry perhaps.

 What's this? A switch to warmth by September 2031, typical. Probably still unsettled though with a spell of hot southerlies at some point after next to none all summer.

 Mild and dry for October 2031 away from the far north.

 Dry and fine but with average temperatures in November 2031. Missing a lot of northerly plunges into Europe.

 Same applies for December 2031...

This doesn't paint xxx1 years in a very good picture. This would be a horrible year for most with a almost-there winter, cold spring and summer then finally turning mild and fine autumn.

[Summer8906]

@LetItSnow! can you remind me where the site is to calculate these charts, incidentally? Thanks.

Edited June 1, 2024 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

 Summer8906 

Monthly/Seasonal Composites: NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory

PSL.NOAA.GOV

---

US Department of Commerce, NOAA, Physical Sciences Laboratory

There's another one which runs 1836 to 2015. Wish they had one that was 1836 to present day but they don't. That one would be good for the ones 4 and upward.

[LetItSnow]

Back to mine for a bit. Here are my 7s.

The 7s were an interesting pick. There seems to be a theme of record breaking weather with 7 years of all types. Very much a lot of extremes.

January 1987: Clear winner.

February 1947: CLEAR winner.

March 1907: Sunny, dry and fine. Would be a nice end to the winter, a gradual slow thaw into nice conditions in the spring.

April 1957: Didn't fancy much of the other months so I picked this one. Extremely dry, sunny and on the mild side. 

May 1917: Warm with lots of thunder.

June 2007: Did not set out to get this one. I was stuck with 2007 and 2017. Picking June 2007 because I hated the swampiness of June 2017. That being said, the floods were overkill even for me.

July 2017: Great month with lots of thunderstorms locally.

August 1967: Severe thunderstorms, otherwise very average. That'll do me.

September 1977: Quite dry and cool. Wasn't spoiled for choice.

October 1997: Very variable month, I like the sound of it. Unusual warmth and severe frosts.

November 1937: Apparently very foggy. I like fog.

December 1927: For that very snowy Christmas, though it was a cold month in general.

Unnadjusted C.E.T.: 8.8C - A cold year but not my coldest.

A very dry year with just 783.6mm. That's another very dry one. I'm surprised. This year would be an odd one, generally extremely dry (especially January to April) but a very wet summer, then a very dry autumn. Literally most of the year would be very dry but with a very wet summer.

Edited June 1, 2024 by LetItSnow!