Memories of 2010?

[Harry233]

What’s everyone’s memories of this very cold but also rather dry and sunny year. I personally loved 2010. The very cold winter, a fairly mild and settled spring, a decent (ish) summer and a pleasant autumn before an exceptionally cold end to the year. The minima for the month here was just 3.C and locally it was probably the coldest in 100 years. It was probably the coldest year here since 1986.

My main memories from each month are:

January: Extremely cold and snowy with many sub -10.C nights. A low of -14.C on New Year’s Day.  Snow lay here for most of the month although there was a brief mild spell midmonth which did cause a thaw then before turning cold at the end.

February: Was another cold month but it was a lot less severe than the previous December and January. Was generally a pleasant month with cold frosty nights and plenty sunshine by day.

March: Had a cold start and end, very cold end with some snow but there was a good mild spell during the middle of the month, was generally a dry and sunny month.

April: A very pleasant month was quite cool at the start but most of the month was very good, being fairly dry and sunny with mild maxima but also with some cool nights 20.C was reached here rather early on the 11th.

May: A cool month but again it was dry and sunny. It turned very warm however by the 19th. The warmest day of the year was reached here very early on the 22nd with a maxima of 26.1.C. It turned a bit cooler towards the end but still remained settled.

June: The only month of the year that was significantly warmer than average, the maxima was especially high at 20.2.C, it was the warmest June since 2003 and there wasn’t another warmer one until 2018. The month had a bit of an unsettled and cool spell in the second week but aside from that it was a very pleasant month with lots of sunshine and good temperatures.

July: The only month of the year that was significantly wetter than average but at least it wasn’t cool or very dull. It was just like a warmer version of 2007. We had some severe flooding here the middle of the month, most days were pretty wet however there was still a few good days thrown into the month as well.

August: We actually had quite a decent month here, it was cool with the nights being very cool at times, we had many nights well down into single figures. The maxima wasn’t too far off average. I remember the month generally being pleasant and sunny with only a few not so nice days. I think the north fared a lot better than the south that August.

September: Generally an average month but a little bit wetter than average not much to note. Quite warm at the start.

October: A little bit duller but drier than average another month with not a huge amount to note.

November: A month of two halves, the first half was mild and wet but the second half was exceptionally cold with snow cover starting on the 25th that lasted all the way until mid January. We had a rare thunder snow event here on the 28th and this brought nearly 40cm of snow here and some very low temperatures -12.C on the 30th and a maximum of just -3.C.

December: Cold, cold, cold never experienced a month like it, sub zero average maxima and the minima was below -6.C. Exceptional month, snow lay all month and temperatures struggled big time, the highest maxima was only 6.C and even the second highest was just 3.C. The month was dominated by snow, very low temperatures and severe frosts we had minima as low as -17.C and nine days where the maxima failed to rise above -4.C. Gonna be a very long time before we get another one like it.
 

[damianslaw]

2010 was refreshing for being consistently cool/cold but also dry and sunny. Reminds me of 1996. The cold start and end being most notable aspect. The summer was pleasant but certainly little warmth. Autumn very seasonal. Overall not bettered since, 2018 was good until August only. 2022 too warm for me. 2013 was preety good though, exception May, Oct and Dec.

[danm]

An excellent start to January, with lots of snow. An excellent end of November and December, lots of snow. 

The Summer was a mixed bag. We had a very warm and sunny spell in the SE from about mid June to mid July. August was cool and wet though. 

[Harry233]

 damianslaw 2018 I feel was only bad in September and November. August wasn’t great but wasn’t too bad. December 2018 was very interesting here and it was the sunniest December on record here, we had some cracking freezing rain on the 15th. 2022 was a fantastic year but a nightmare for people who like cool weather. 2013 was great minus the spring and October, December.

[hillbilly]

A very cold spell in January with a healthy dumping of snow ,a shame  there wasnt much wind to create monster drifts.The cold lasted well into spring with many snowy spells.The Summer started off great with a good sunny June enjoying the World cup and the Vuvu zelas[not sure its spelt that way].Sadly that is all we saw in Summer,an odd hot day very early in July and the whole of July and August was very poor,so poor despite the great June the summer as a whole was poor.Better weather in September,an average Autumn and a very cold and snowy December.Nationally the coldest since 1890 but not here,beaten into second place by the amazing December 1981 which brought more snow ,wind that created monster drifts and was even colder at -1 deg average,2010[-0.7]

Edited June 30, 2024 by hillbilly

[LetItSnow]

My memories from living in NW Kent...

The winter is hazy in the mind, but I do generally remember the wonder of seeing the white stuff on the BBC forecasts engulf the south-east, something I was not used to seeing growing up in the barren 2000s winters. I do have undated memories of playing in the snow and such.

I remember a day in April 2010 just after the Icelandic volcanic eruption being very sunny and mild after a day out and coming home in the evening and seeing the unusual coloured sunset due to the dust. I vaguely remember quite cool days during the following May but definitely remember the short fine spell.

The summer is mostly a blur but I remember two days very well, much I'm not sure if one of them is 2010 or 2011! I remember a rash of thunderstorms spreading north during the night of the 5th of June into the 6th and lasting much of the night with booming thunder then the 6th itself having lots of thundery showers around as I remember being in the back of the car driving through Surrey around the Godstone area and driving through an almighty thunderstorm during the afternoon. If anyone can tell me if this was 2010 or 2011 that would be great.

I definitely remember storms on the 4th of August, 2010 though. The previous day, the 3rd, had been a really cloudy day with some very dark looking clouds to the north on a day out to Woolwich (I don't know why either). I had a big anxiety about storms at the time (I was 9) so I remember being anxious thinking they were thunder clouds and I think I had heard about the risk in the forecast but it was actually the 4th that brought some severe storms over New Ash Green (where I lived).

The rest of the year is mostly a blur but I remember some fine days in September. October is mostly lost to time but I do remember being out quite late on the 28th and rain approaching from the south-west, in line with what the radio forecast was talking about. The 30th I had a trip to some race course type thing and it was a very dull, depressing day. I remember some very wet and mild days in the first half of November with I think the 13th in particularly being a grey washout, but then the spectacular change to something much colder. Can't give the exact date but around the peak of the late November spell I remember us going out for a curry in the evening and it was ridiculously cold with snow on the ground and the car thermometer going well below -5C.

Ironically for all the small little memories I have of random parts of the year, the ultimate December I have very little of! Which makes me quite sad actually as it may be the greatest December I'll ever live through but don't really remember it.

2010 wasn't perfect but is easily the greatest year of the 21st century for weather for me personally because each winter month of the year delivered. Here in the south-east the winter wasn't quite as great as it could have been but across Scotland it surpassed 1978/1979 and was brutally cold and snowy.

Edited June 30, 2024 by LetItSnow!

[Harry233]

 danm The south seemed to fare not too bad in July that year being very warm and often dry but rather cloudy whereas the north had probably one of the worst Julys on record especially the west, I was fortunate it wasn’t especially dull in July but I think some parts of western Scotland had one of their dullest on record. August almost did a complete flip and the north had a decent month being quite dry and sunny but noticeably chilly at times and the south had a very wet, dull and cool month. 

[Harry233]

 LetItSnow! I think it would’ve been 2010 with the thunderstorms in June. I can remember some very wet weather around that time for me (the only wet weather of the whole month) around that time, as usual though we missed the thunder and just had the bleak, autumnal feeling rain. I can remember the 8th being a very wet day here randomly but then after that it switched and we had warm sunshine the rest of the month. December 2010 was definitely a month to remember up in Scotland the snow and extreme cold was brutal.

[StretfordEnd1996]

January was extremely cold with some huge falls of snow for me, and by 5th we had depths of around 20-30cm widely. (This followed on from a similar third week of Dec 2009).

 

Daytime temps barely got above freezing until around 15th, where it gradually got milder and it slowly thawed - a few snow patches on the Pennines remained until May (having formed in December).

 

February coldish with chilly incursions but not so much lying snow - any falls thawed quickly but still chilly.

 

Can't remember much about April or most of May but I seem to remember a decent hot spell late May early June.

July I think was mixed, but August mostly on the poor side. 

 

September settled enough, can't remember much about October.

 

End of Nov and Dec extremely cold with plenty of snowfall but less than January.

[StretfordEnd1996]

Some additions to my above post

It's an extremely severe start to the year, Saturday 2nd January 2010. 



The snowfall on this picture largely stuck around until post mid-month, after another substantial fall a couple of days later. 

Snow patches like the below largely remained on the tops for months afterwards



A large area of HP over the top of the country made for some very pleasant summery conditions for a time around 3rd week of May



This didn't last though and the summer was somewhat forgettable, but not disastrous. 





The poor August is highlighted in what was a cool N/NWly flow for the Bank Holiday weekend



I said I didn't remember much about the October but this chart looks pretty decent for the time of year 



Northerly blast soon after



An insane end to November and into December brought these types of charts..





... and this type of outcome. This cold spell would be extremely unusual even in the middle of Winter - its easy to forget it started in November, pretty balmy really


 

Extract from Met Office website on Summer 2010...

"

Review of Summer 2010

Posted on 28 September, 2010 by Met Office Press Office

The UK’s weather is always full of contrasts, and summer 2010 was no exception. The provisional assessment for Summer 2010 saw  mean temperature of 14.6 °C, which is just 0.6 °C above average. Rainfall was 10% above normal overall, but what was most noticeable was how different the weather was in June, July and August.

Mean temperatures were 1.5 °C above average during June, 0.7 °C above during July and 0.5 °C below in August. As for rainfall, June was drier than normal in most areas, July was much wetter than normal in the west and north, but drier in the south-east. In August, the wettest weather was focused on East Anglia, east Kent and parts of the east Midlands, although many areas saw above average rainfall.

"

Looks like July had something of a pronounced NW/SE split to it. 

[Weather-history]

31 days of lying snow here for 2010, it was bookended by cold wintry weather but got to say not a lot in between.  It was an absolute shocker for thunder and the real start of the lack of thunder period which has continued. 

[StretfordEnd1996]

 Weather-history

Not sure if Irlam was your location in 2010 but if I recall correctly, the snowfall around 2nd January I think was very notable across the majority of the NW of England including Irlam/Manchester as it was the first time in a long time these low-lying areas had such a substantial covering (that was both deep and stuck around for a while) - including areas such as Manchester city centre. 

The snow cover on the Pennines near me would of began around 15th December 2009 and some of it remained until well into May.
 

[Weather-history]

 StretfordEnd1996

It was the evening of the 4th January 2010, it all started. It got down to -16.5°C here in Irlam with the deep snow cover and clear skies, two or three days later.

Another big snowfall on that Friday night of the 17th December 2010, not as deep as the January one but that stuck around until after Boxing Day. 

[Harry233]

 StretfordEnd1996 definitely did. It was a pretty dire July for me, one of the wettest on record but not as wet as some others. August 2010 was actually quite a pleasant month for me but it was noticeably chilly at times, felt more like  late April/early May weather.

[StretfordEnd1996]

 Harry233

Yes I can imagine so.

For me, the Summers of 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, when I take a general overall look back on them all seemed somewhat similar to each other - they were all basically just a very mixed affair with a bit of everything, but not much in the way of sustained heat and non of them particularly noteworthy or spectacular in any way. I think 2009 would of probably been the worst one. All probably just a fitting definition of the "British Summer" to be honest... a fair old mix of this and that. Some pleasant spells, a fair amount of rain though, perhaps a bit of flooding in some places. Nothing special, but nothing washout like 2007/2012. 
 

[damianslaw]

 StretfordEnd1996 2008 by far the worse out of the 4 here, 2009 and 2010 were mixed but overall not too bad, 2011 was poor, wet and cool. 2007-2012 summers we were dealt a poor hand. 

[StretfordEnd1996]

 damianslaw Yes I probably gave them a bit too much admiration, especially 2008 and 2011. 2011 was the coldest CETwise out of the 2008-2012 period. 

No doubt they were mostly underwhelming. 

It was a long wait from 2006 for the next decent Summer, 2013. 

[Summerlover2006]

 damianslaw I think 2011 gets a bad reputation tbf yes august was terrible but was the period from the 24th June to the 3rd of august that bad apart from one week in July 

Edited July 1, 2024 by Summerlover2006

[Harry233]

 StretfordEnd1996 I would have said summer 2008 or 2011 were worse for me. 2009 at least for Scotland had a sunny June and July and while July was wet most the rain fell in brief heavy afternoon showers and either side of it I can remember there being some very pleasant weather. July 2009 actually ranks as my third warmest July in the 2000’s. 

[Harry233]

 Summerlover2006 Summer 2011 was a frustrating summer, that’s how I would describe it. June was generally quite cool and wet but it did have good spells of weather at the start and end which helped. July 2011 I can recall having quite a lot of nice weather albeit with not much heat and some very cool nights but equally we had two days of rain which brought very localised but severe flooding had it been less cool I think I would’ve looked at it more positively. I think western Scotland had one of its sunniest Julys on record in 2011. August 2011 was an awful month though, very cool, wet and dull. 

[Don]

2010 was an absolutely epic year for winter weather and would have been unthinkable just two years earlier!!  I have my doubts I will see another similar year!  Summer wasn't bad with a very decent June and July featured some very warm weather at times.  August was cooler but far better than the likes of 2008!

[damianslaw]

 Don The most comparable year to 2010 previous to it was 1996, very similiar weather in both years. Cold dry years are quite a rarity. 1986 sort of fell into the same camp as well. 

[Don]

19 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

The most comparable year to 2010 previous to it was 1996, very similiar weather in both years. Cold dry years are quite a rarity. 1986 sort of fell into the same camp as well. 

Although parts of the country had epic snowfalls, particularly during February 1996, the south didn't fare very well by comparison that year, with mainly light falls.  However, it was different story in January and December 2010.

For the south, 1986 was better than 1996, but not as good as 2010.

Edited July 1, 2024 by Don

[B87]

A cold, dry and very dull year.

A very cold January, a nice April, May was cool but dry.

June and July were warm and dry, with June sunny and July dull. August was a nightmare.

November started off warm and sunny, ending with the coldest November highs on record. December was exceptionally cold and exceptionally dull.

[Harry233]

 Don winter 2021 did come quite close in Scotland. We had similar snow depths and temperatures were not that far off 2010 but it didn’t last as long.