Just for fun: Build your perfect X-ending year

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Now for my 4s:

January 2024 (4.7C CET) - For the cold sunny days and frosty nights.

February 1954 (2.6C CET) - Cold and frosty with snow at times, particularly during the first week.

March 2004 (6.5C CET) - A changeable month with alternating settled and unsettled periods. Cold at first, warm later on.

April 1944 (10.2C CET) - Unsettled first half and a settled second half.

May 1964 (13.3C CET) - A warm month with thunderstorms.

June 1914 (14.6C CET) - Dry and sunny with thunderstorms during mid month.

July 1984 (16.8C CET) - Dry, sunny and warm with notable thunderstorms.

August 1974 (15.2C CET) - Slightly cooler than average but did have some warm sunny spells and more thunderstorms.

September 2014 (15.1C CET) - A dry month with alternating warm and cooler periods.

October 1994 (10.0C CET) - A little cooler than average, with a month of two halves.

November 1934 (6.1C CET) - Not the most exciting but there was some widespread thick fog later on in the month.

December 1924 (6.8C CET) - Cold, settled and foggy in some areas.

 

Overall CET - 10.1°C.

Edited June 1, 2024 by Weather Enthusiast91

[LetItSnow]

2 minutes ago, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

December 1924 (6.8C CET) - Cold, settled and foggy in some areas.

Cold?

Went and checked and had no idea December 1924 was that warm. There were some very mild winter months in the 1920s. Winter 1919/1920, January 1921, December 1921, January 1923, December 1924, February 1926 and February 1928.

[Weather Enthusiast91]

 LetItSnow! It was cold at times in some areas, yes. But otherwise generally mild.

Not the most interesting of months, but it was the only one I had left.

Edited June 1, 2024 by Weather Enthusiast91

[B87]

The 7s.

Jan 1927

Feb 1977

Mar 1907

Apr 2007

May 1917

Jun 1957

Jul 1967

Aug 1947

Sep 1997

Oct 2017

Nov 1937

Dec 1987

[LetItSnow]

Onto my 8s now. They have a very bad reputation, so let's see.

I don't actually think the 8s are as bland as the 4s, though it may be level. Seems to be a tendency for mild winters and we all know the 8 summer curse which seemingly lifted in 2018.

January 1958 - There really were not many good Januaries to pick. This had cold weather and the extreme flip from cold to mild was interesting.

February 1978 - Cold with extreme snow.

March 2018 - Cold and snowy though not perfect, it was very dull.

April 1908 - That snow event was remarkable.

May 1918 - Warm and thundery.

June 1988 - Lack of picks. Was sunny in the north but dull in the south.

July 1968 - Purely for the those mammouth storms on the 1st.

August 1998 - An unusual combination of fine but cool.

September 1928 - The above applies.

October 1938 - Filler. Mild, wet and stormy is fine in October.

November 1948 - Mild and foggy.

December 2008 - Cold and snowy.

A slightly cool year at 9.1C

The first number year to feature average rainfall as the rest have been either very dry or very wet. A touch drier than average at 915.1mm.

Edited June 1, 2024 by LetItSnow!

[Weather-history]

“3”s

January 1963

February 1933, big weather event at the end

March 2013

April 2003

May 1943, big weather variations 

June 1983, golf ball hailstone event

July 1923

August 1973

September 1953

October 1913 supercell thunderstorms at the end

November 1993

December 1963

[LetItSnow]

2 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

January 1963

 

2 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

December 1963

oooh you can only pick one month from each year

[Weather-history]

“0s”

January 1940 needless to say

February 1930 cold

March 1960
April 1980 dry

May 2020 dry

June 1970 hot

July 2000 least worst of what is left

August 1990

September 1950 blue moon/sun event 

October 1920 sunny end 

November 1910 cold

December 2010 needless to say

[Weather-history]

 LetItSnow!

Yuk.

December 2023….

That’s bad, I’ll go for July 2023 and December 1923 but July 2023 was not much better. 

[LetItSnow]

Surprised no one's tackled the 9s yet. The last of them to do then I'll do more means like I did for the 0s and 1s.

9s seem to be rather prolific at producing good summer months and generally tend to be quite good.

January 1979 - Obvious

February 1929 - Obviousss

March 1969 - Cold and snowy

April 1939 - Filler

May 1909 - Sunny but cool

June 1949 - Dry and sunny

July 2009 - It was this or 2019 and I refuse to give the foul summer of 2019 any credit so I sacrifice December for this wet July

August 1989 - Apparently decent away from the north

September 1919 - Fascinating contrast in very hot and very cold weather

October 1999 - Filler

November 1959 - Filler

December 2019 - It was worth the sacrifice...

A rather cool year: 9.0C

Another average year for rain: 913.4mm

The only average years for rain were 8 and 9, most were surpisingly dry though 0, 1, 2 and 4 were quite wet I think.

Edited June 1, 2024 by LetItSnow!

[LetItSnow]

3 hours ago, LetItSnow! said:

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.

Onto what the "average" xxx2 year is built like. We'll name it 2032.

In contrast to the previous two Januaries, January 2032 is dry and anticyclonic, perhaps rather frosty but not overly cold and likely very sunny.

 

Capping off a very dry, sunny and rather mild winter, February 2032 looks very dry and sunny and probably mild by day and even quite springlike.

After a very dry and quite mild winter the beast is unleashed with a cold easterly March 2032.

The cold continues with a cold and rather wet April 2032.

A return to more average temperatures but wet for May 2032.

A cool, wet June 2032.

The first anticyclonic signal for a July, though not overly warm. Perhaps dry but cool for July 2032.

False hope since apparently the worst August ever??? Exceptionally cool and probably the wettest ever for August 2032.

To add insult to injury, a very cold and wet September 2032.

A very cold and probably quite wet October 2032, though dry in the north-west I'd imagine. 

A return to average temperatures but remaining very wet and quite stormy for November 2032.

A cold, easterly December 2032.

Just a rotten year despite a very dry, easy winter.

Very strong signal for recent 2 years being awful across Europe, though 2022 bucked this trend at least here.

 

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Now onto the 5s:

January 1985 (0.9C CET) - Cold and snowy.

February 1955 (2.6C CET) - Often cold and snowy after the first week.

March 1935 (6.6C CET) - Quite mixed with an unsettled start, a cold and snowy spell around the 10th then mild and dry.

April 1945 (10.1C CET) - Started off unsettled but was then warm and sunny until the closing days.

May 1905 (10.8C CET) - Largely warm and sunny and one of the driest of the century.

June 1925 (11.6C CET) - Dry and sunny with average temperatures, but the strong sunshine would have made it feel warm.

July 1975 (17.3C CET) - Very warm and thundery with a heatwave at the end of the month.

August 1995 (19.1C CET) - For obvious reasons.

September 2015 (12.7C CET) - A pleasant and mixed September.

October 1915 (9.1C CET) - A bit boring, but pleasant and would be cooler than average by today's standards.

November 1965 (4.5C CET) - A snowy month with notable cold spells.

December 2005 (4.3C CET) - Mostly sunny and dry with a cold snowy spell at the end.

 

Overall CET - 9.1°C.

[LetItSnow]

Is a funny quirk how some numbers are more predispositioned to have good or poor weather. 4s and 8s seem to be the stinkers more often than not. 2024 sure is so far!

Meanwhile 5s and 9s in particular seem to bring quite good weather, 7s a lot of extremes. Absolutely nothing scientific about it but funny the trends. 

[Summer8906]

4 hours ago, LetItSnow! said:

Surprised no one's tackled the 9s yet.

I did:

 

[Summer8906]

4 hours ago, LetItSnow! said:

December 2019 - It was worth the sacrifice...

I'd say December 2019 was an execrable month in every way, which makes even the June of that year look good!

Edited June 1, 2024 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

 Summer8906 There have been far worse Decembers than 2019 imo in recent years. 2023, 2018, 2015 etc

[Summer8906]

3 hours ago, LetItSnow! said:

After a very dry and quite mild winter the beast is unleashed with a cold easterly March 2032.

Interesting, not sure where that's come from because none of 1982, 1992, 2002, 2012 or 2022 were like that!

I assume 1952 and 1972 as well as 1962 (which I am aware of) were very easterly.

 LetItSnow! I guess so, mind you apart from the first 17 days of 2022 they've all been pretty dire from 2018 onwards!

Edited June 1, 2024 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

 Summer8906 The way it works I think is just creates a mean pressure pattern so when you have contrasting patterns perhaps sometimes it makes a pattern that is a mean between two very different ones and because we’re such a small country the slightest direction can change a lot. 

Have gone through 1 through 6 so far (haven’t posted after 2 yet) and can say so far 2 is the anomalous one in terms of being extremely poor/low pressure dominated over Europe. 

[Summer8906]

Time for my 5s, as I haven't done them yet. Interestingly the Septembers of the "5" years were mostly nothing special, with only a small number of exceptions.

January 1945 (0.4) - a notably cold and wintry month in an overall mild winter. I could have gone with one I actually experienced (1985) but I need something for February. Statistically, 1945 and 1985 looked very similar.

February 1985 (2.2) - goes here as it's clearly the best except for perhaps 1955. A significant snowy spell in the south just before mid month.

March 1915  (4.1) - coldish, dry, unremarkable sunshine.

April 2015 (9.1) - notably sunny, warm, with the four-year pattern of very good Aprils continuing

May 1905 (10.8) - very dry and extremely sunny

June 1975 (14.6) - this amazingly good month with its late snow followed by warm and very sunny weather has got to go in here. I could have gone with June 1925 which was even sunnier and had zero rain in Southampton, but I wanted to get that late snow in.

July 1955  (17.7) - a warm and sunny month with some severe thunderstorms

August 1995 (19.1) -  the sunniest and driest August on record (aside from 1976 perhaps) has to go in here.

September 1935 (13.6) - slightly wet. Sadly not a great September this year, unlike all the others I've done.

October 1965 (11.0) - a distinctly poor year so picking one of a small number of decent months! Very dry, otherwise unremarkable.

November 1925 (3.6) - cold. Could have gone 1985 but I wanted one of either Jan or Feb from that year.

December 2005 (4.3) - average but a lot of cold, frosty anticyclonic weather

The September is disappointing and there isn't an especially wintry December: this is because I deliberately wanted those specific three summer months and everything else has had to work round them.

Mean CET for year : 9.2C

 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2024 by Summer8906

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Now time for my 6s.

January 1926 (4.6C CET) - Mild and unsettled overall, but there was a cold and snowy spell midmonth.

February 1956 (-0.2C CET) - Very cold and frosty.

March 1946 (5.1C CET) - Cold and snowy first half and a warm and sunny second half.

April 1906 (7.3C CET) - A warm and sunny first half.

May 2016 (12.6C CET) - Many fine and pleasantly warm days after an unsettled start.

June 1996 (14.4C CET) - Warm and sunny. A plume early in the month followed by some violent thunderstorms.

July 2006 (19.8C CET) - Hot and sunny with thunderstorms here and there.

August 1976 (17.6C CET) - Very warm/hot and sunny with thunderstorms towards the end of the month.

September 1966 (14.3C CET) - An average September on all aspects.

October 1916 (10.6C CET) - Quite a stormy month.

November 1936 (5.5C CET) - Quite a foggy month for some areas.

December 1986 (6.1C CET) - Largely unsettled and mild, but there was a colder spell during midmonth up to around Christmas day.

 

Overall CET - 9.8°C.

[Summer8906]

I'll go with the "sixes" now. Some really interesting months to choose from, of course, though a rather so-so set of Januaries and Aprils.

January: 1966 (2.9). Incredibly there has not been a single outstanding January in a six year since the start of the 20th century. 1966 seems to be the best with a fairly lengthy cold spell mid month with a mild beginning and mild, wet end.

February: 1986 (-1.0). Had to be, really.

March: 1916 (3.3). Interestingly cold. 1916 was a very curious year with January more than 4C warmer than March!

April: 1946 (9.9). After three cold months, a sudden arrival of spring. I thought a warm month would be best here after the very cold Feb and March. Trevor Harley's description sounds interesting (https://www.trevorharley.com/1946.html).

Quote

Sunny and warm (9.9C CET). There was a remarkable hot early spell: it was 23.9C at Leeming on the 2nd, 25.6 widely across the east on the 3rd, 26.5C reported reported at Greenwich on the 4th, and 26.4C confirmed at Cambridge that day. At Mildenhall (Suffolk) the temperature maximum was 26C on the 4th but only 9C on the 5th, following the passage of a cold front. The weather broke at the end of the month. The month was very dry in Aberdeen.

May: 1956 (11.7). As good as the following summer was supposedly bad, it seems. 7.3mm(!) and 267.6 hours sunshine in Southampton. (Though summer 1956 wasn't actually spectacularly wet in Southampton, strangely - I'm guessing it was a very NW-ly summer. July 1956 sounds on the poor side, but distinctly non-dire in Southampton with 21.4C mean max, 57.5mm and 187.5 hours sunshine. Probably less bad than July 2023!)

June: 1996 (14.4) : Very sunny with low humidity and spectacular thunderstorms on the 7th.

July: 2006 (19.8). Had to be, again. Feb 1986 and July 2006 on the same year, now that's what I call a proper continental climate.

August: 1976 (17.6). One of the three months of summer 1976 has to appear, of course. August seemed to be the most settled of the three, with spectacular sunshine, and allows me to use 1996 for June and 2006 for July.

September : 1906 (13.9) for the spectacularly hot start, though the overall CET isn't that hot, so must have turned significantly cooler. Nonetheless the Southampton mean max is almost 21C and more than 200 hours sunshine were achieved, so it must have been a good month overall.

October : 2016 (10.7) : one of the most easterly Octobers I can remember. Dry and often sunny with low humidity, none of the damp grot that the average October has way too much of.

November: 1936 (5.5) : coldish

December: 1926 (4.4) : coldish (mean max 7.1) and very dry in Southampton. I note the CET isn't especially cold, I presume this was a month when the south was colder relative to normal compared with the north.

No filler months this time, even though some of the months are only "goodish" I'd probably enjoy all 12 of them.

Overall CET: 9.4. Most of my years seem to end up in the nines, very average overall but with a tendency to warm/hot summers and cold winters.

 

Edited June 3, 2024 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

I've already done all of them but I'm adding an extra complexity, choosing the whole season, though you don't have to abide by this rule. @Summer8906may find this one interesting.

This leaves a month open for December, so you can choose any year that you haven't used for a season already. You can any seasons ending in X number all the way back to 1900.

Back to 0, here's my picks.

Winter 1939/40: Still going for it mostly for that severe January though there was still some more to come in February.

Spring 1970: A very interesting season that was very cold and snowy in March and April but very warm in May with severe storms.

Summer 2000: Perhaps an unusual choice for some but this summer sounded interesting to me with lots of useable warm weather bar the first half of July, though that spell was so unusually cold in the east it would have been interesting to witness.

Autumn 1920: A cool, damp September but October was remarkably sunny with over 200 hours in places and cloudless in the final week, plus apparently November had a lot of seasonably foggy weather and I like fog.

December 2010: Obviously.

This 0 year would be cold with a C.E.T. of 8.4. It would be extremely dry with an EWP value of just 719.9mm, something I definitely didn't set out on creating as a rain lover!

 

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Now for my 7s.

January 1917 (1.6C CET) - A cold month with snow at times.

February 1947 (-1.9C CET) - Cold and snowy. Coldest February on record.

March 1907 (6.3C CET) - Very sunny and it was warm around the Easter period.

April 2007 (11.3C CET) - Warm and sunny. Sunniest on record at the time.

May 1927 (11.2C CET) - Largely dry and sunny.

June 1957 (15.2C CET) - Sunny and warm for much of the time with some thunderstorms here and there.

July 1967 (16.7C CET) - Very warm with severe thunderstorms and hailstorms during midmonth.

August 1937 (16.9C CET) - Dry, warm and sunny.

September 1997 (14.2C CET) - Pleasant early autumn weather.

October 1987 (9.6C CET) - A seasonal October in terms of temps and also quite sunny. A stormy spell midmonth.

November 1977 (6.4C CET) - Stormy first half and a cold second half.

December 2017 (4.7C CET) - A mixed month with two storms and cold and snowy during midmonth.

 

Overall CET - 9.3°C.

Edited June 4, 2024 by Weather Enthusiast91

[Summer8906]

@LetItSnow! interesting!

I want to get my "0"s and "2"s in by the old rules first, though.

Starting with the zeros. Thinking about it the zeros do have a problem, and that is the profound lack of good Julys and Augusts, apart from 1990. This means that, for the first time, one of July and August will need to be a bit so-so. I'm selecting August, as it has a bit of a reputation for being less-than-great anyway.

In fact the zero years have generally had a bit of a reputation for being unsettled, except for 1940, 1990 and 2010. So before allocating everything, I'm anticipating that this year will be duller and wetter than my others.

So to start:

January 1940 (-1.4) - the obvious one. 2010 would be another possibility but I want to use that later (I think you can probably guess where)

February 1930 (2.5) - cold and dry in Southampton. Hadn't heard of this month until now. Given that I can't use 1940 again, it's probably the best option.

March 1970 (3.7) - cold and famous late snowfall.

April 1950 (7.6)  - will use 1950 here for the remarkable late snowfall. I did check the month overall to make sure I hadn't picked a stinker: it doesn't look like it was an awful April overall with 62mm rain (slightly on the wet side) but an impressive 210 hours sunshine in Southampton.

May 2020 (12.5)  - but in this fantasy year, there is no lockdown, so we can enjoy it.

June 1960 (16.1) - the best month of what must be one of the worst post-war years overall for weather. Warm (22C max in Southampton) and sunny (252.5 hours sunshine). Not overly dry though

July 1990 (16.8) - literally the only really good July ending in "0" since the start of the 20th century and in the allowed 120-year time frame. Very sunny and warm in the south, a vastly underrated month IMO.

August 2000 (16.7) - it was OK, pleasant enough, mix of settled and unsettled, warm at times.

September 1910 (12.5) - 1910 was a very "meh" year indeed, with a mild winter, cool summer, and lots of rain. May was OK but I want another year for May. September was very, very dry in Southampton with average sunshine and rather cool. So it'll do.

October 1920 (10.4) - unremarkable and non-descript by the Southampton stats, but Trevor Harley's description is more interesting (https://trevorharley.com/1920.html)

Quote

Sunny - it was cloudless across the country 24-30th. Felixstowe recorded 207 hours of sunshine in the month. A very easterly month.

November 1980 (6.4) - dry; cold at times.

December 2010 (-0.7) - the obvious one, again.

A more unsettled year than most of mine, reflecting the unsettled nature of the zero years. But nonetheless plenty of interest, particularly from a snow perspective. A poorer summer than the others with the June being on the wet side (though still warm and sunny) and August very average.

CET 8.6. Notably cold: since 1900 only 1917 and 1963 were colder, with 1962 equal. And if I swapped round Oct and Nov (i.e. Oct 1980 and Nov 1920), it would be remarkably the coldest year since 1888, despite a notably sunny and warm May to July period and a warmish August. Combined with the real statistics for 2023, it just shows that warm CET does not equal good weather year, and poor CET does not equal poor weather year necessarily.

Edited June 4, 2024 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

A season one for the nines:

Winter - 1979 - obvious

Spring - 2009 - pleasantly settled, sunny and very spring-like

Summer - 1989 - fairly obvious, could have gone 1959 too but wanted to include something I've actually experienced

Autumn - 1969 - for the contrast between the very warm October and the snow at the end of November

December - 1939 (best of what's left over)