Under-hated months

[Derecho]

December 2015, everyone hates it but it's still under hated. Not enough hate is adequate.

[Frigid]

February 2024, words can't describe how awful that month was. 

[B87]

December 2010 - not only was it the coldest December on record, but it was also the 2nd dullest month ever down here. Only December 1969 was duller, and only by 1 hour.

[Thundery wintry showers]

One thing I did notice about December 2010 was that it got a surprising amount of credit/recognition as a sunny month, considering that while most of the UK had a sunny month, the south-east emphatically missed out. Indeed, Heathrow had just 18.5 hours. Normally our media tend to be south-east and especially London-centric - for example I remember February 1998 being widely cited as a very sunny month, and March 2001 as a very dull month, when in reality both of those months also had strong NW-SE splits in the sunshine anomalies. But this wasn't the case with December 2010.

I remember the NW-SE split being particularly pronounced in the week leading up to Christmas 2010. I spent the Christmas period at my parents' in South Tyneside and until the 25th it was predominantly sunny, sometimes mixed with snow showers, while parts of the south-east had no sunshine at all during the week. I am guessing that the south-east picked up a relatively stable air mass which brought endless cloud that spread out underneath an inversion, as opposed to the more unstable air masses which brought sunshine and snow showers further north.

Like many others I had a very high opinion of December 2010 but from a south-east and especially London perspective I reckon that, particularly for those who aren't keen on cold and snow, but even just from a sunshine POV, there's a fair case for it being under-hated.

Edited August 19, 2024 by Thundery wintry showers

[I remember Atlantic 252]

morning of 9th, milder air pushed in from the west, preceded by sleet/snow and freezing rain, I fell on my @rse, saw few others too, then stayed less cold for a week until 16th, then cold until less cold air again arrived from the west on 27th, with mostly rain but a few flakes too

Edited August 19, 2024 by I remember Atlantic 252

[Summer8906]

On 14/08/2024 at 00:36, baddie said:

February 2020 - An extremely wet, windy and mild except the 5th-8th. It is surprising that sunshine was above average, but it felt even duller and SAD-inducing than February 2024. An awful month

Definitely not under-hated by me. I loathed this month with a passion and still do. Indeed I would probably consider February 2020 as my most hated winter month of all time.

I agree that it was very much more depressing than Feb 2024. Not sure why but I do remember that even though Feb 2024 was cloudy and damp, it didn't seem to be so intensely dull.

I also hated the entire winter of 2019-20 with unbridled passion. Not 2013/4. Not 2015/6. No, for me 2019-20 was the absolute pits, the worst winter of my lifetime for weather (and a number of other things too). It just seemed to have that perfect storm of dullness, mildness and wetness. 2013/4 was wetter but less dull. 2015/6 milder but less wet and probably less dull (Jan and Feb 2016 not being too terrible for sunshine).

 

Edited September 16, 2024 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

On 14/08/2024 at 00:36, baddie said:

November 2019 - Not spoken about enough, but it was absolutely dire. Cold and very wet, with the first half being a complete washout and the second half being dull and dreary

My least hated month of Oct 2019-Feb 2020, because it had cold, dry and bright interludes occasionally.

Oct 2019, Dec 2019, Jan 2020 and as already stated Feb 2020 were just desperate. Execrably awful months, all four of them.

[Summer8906]

On 14/08/2024 at 10:52, Sun Chaser said:

Sep 2016 - falls into the same problems as above.

I don't hate it but it's extremely overrated IMO. 20 days of dull and dreary, 6 days of pleasant enough and 4 days of silly 34C heat does not make a good month.

On 14/08/2024 at 10:52, Sun Chaser said:

Dec 2012 - a disgustingly wet month at nearly 200mm. Followed by Jan 2013 which was also very wet and completely snowless for us despite its reputation.

That's one for the "started off well and became dire" category. Cold and dry 1st-13th then a very abrupt change on the 14th (cold, frosty and foggy evening of 13th; heavy rain and mild by morning of 14th) - and a mild, dull deluge thereafter.

Strangely the following year Dec 2013 also had a sudden change to much worse on the 2nd Friday of the month. Friday 13th.

Edited September 16, 2024 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

On 14/08/2024 at 11:06, Metwatch said:

It wasn't overly wet, but the dry anomaly was mainly in central areas, still an ideal summer for those who prefer cool conditions

Indeed, a wet summer in the south.

2011 was a curious year, mostly dry except for the three summer months, plus Feb and Dec.

That said Aug 2011 wasn't as bad as it looked on paper, in the sense that there were a good number of bright, benign (but rather cool) days between the intense frontal systems, which mostly tracked far to the south.

Edited September 16, 2024 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

On 17/08/2024 at 19:21, B87 said:

August 2015 was a horrific month that gets a pass for some reason.

June and July 2015 had some poor moments, but overall had average temps and sun.

A classic summer of two halves here. June and early July mostly fine until the 11th, the last 20 days of July, and August, mostly unsettled though the very end of July and first week of August brought something of an interlude.

Summer 2017 not dissimilar, but warmer.

Edited September 16, 2024 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

On 17/08/2024 at 19:21, B87 said:

May 2015 is not in the same league as May 1996 for absolute rubbish.

I'd actually consider May 1996 as an over-hated month!

Cold but mostly fine and dry until the 16th, before a very bad weekend. The 20th-29th was then very Atlantic driven but still managed sunny days at times (including 2 of the 3 bank holiday days) before the final two days were sunny and warm.

As for May 2015, harmless enough but very, very boring. Very Atlantic-driven for May in a month which is normally one of the most blocked of the year. I always put May 2011 and 2015 in the same category as they seemed to be very similar - fairly harmless buy cloudy, boring and Atlantic-driven.

[Harry's House]

 Summer8906 I think of Friday 13th 2013 as the start of the incredibly wet spell which dominated winter 2013/14. Also that day, a land rover drove into the back of my car making it a write-off and I suffered a bump on my head. Definitely that day lived up to its reputation!

[Harry233]

 Summer8906 I can remember October 2019 being a decent month here, it wasn’t overly wet and it was very sunny if cold. We barely exceeded 15.C all month, November 2019 also had a very notable cold snap in the middle it hit -7.C here and it also came at the end with another notable cold snap which continued into December which started with a low of -9.C. December 2019 was generally mild after that but we didn’t get too much rain and it was a bit sunnier. 
 

Janaury and February 2020 were awful winter months however.

[Summerlover2006]

people love 1995 so much on this forum but you can’t forget the winter that year was pretty horrendous December 1994 tied the December record at the time and February was very mild and all of the months were very wet pretty big failure of a winter that just gets tucked under the rug.

[Summer8906]

A late reply but... October 2024.

Hated it. Extremely dull and damp here, and the gloom mid-month was so intense that it felt like we'd put the clocks back two weeks early. The following week we got an anticyclonic period which somehow managed to still produce rain almost every day. Only the very start and very end were moderately OK, ironically the weather improved on Dark Sunday!

Only 2019 was worse, subjectively, in recent years - and that is of course during a run of six wet Octobers on the trot!

 

Edited January 5 by Summer8906

[Catbrainz]

Not a month as such but I nominate spring 2006. It was pretty crappy, none of the months by themselves are super poor but it was just consistently cold, wet and dull across the board esp for southern areas (Textbook cyclonic NAO- spring I assume spring 2006 had the low further NE towards Europe rather than in the Biscay like 2024). Pretty much a cooler version of spring 2024. It flies under the radar as summer 2006 was a classic summer, poor springs tend to be overlooked if the following summer is good (2006, 2013, 2018 all pop to mind). 

 

 

[Sceptilli0naire]

Spring 2008 is severely underhated for what it is as well - Too cold to be enjoyable but not cold enough for a notable snow event. It was also dull and wet overall, especially in the south - May had a good week or so before it turned stormy again.

Winter 06/07 is another one that is very underhated. It was wet, very dull in the south and one of the mildest on record. February in particular looks dreadful.

[Summer8906]

4 hours ago, Catbrainz said:

Not a month as such but I nominate spring 2006. It was pretty crappy, none of the months by themselves are super poor but it was just consistently cold, wet and dull across the board esp for southern areas (Textbook cyclonic NAO- spring I assume spring 2006 had the low further NE towards Europe rather than in the Biscay like 2024). Pretty much a cooler version of spring 2024. It flies under the radar as summer 2006 was a classic summer, poor springs tend to be overlooked if the following summer is good (2006, 2013, 2018 all pop to mind). 

It wasn't the best but I remember March 2006 being quite good in this location: a rare combination (for spring) of cold and sunny for the first three weeks though the final 7-10 days or so were mild but extremely dull and damp. The cold/dry to mild/wet transition was unusual for this late, spring is more normally cold/unsettled or warm/settled.

April 2006 was just very boring. Unseasonably westerly and zonal with little of the usual excitements of spring, though the first week did have some cold bright weather. It was dry but cloudy. Not the worst April I've experienced but one of the most boring.

May started well with warm, even hot, and often sunny conditions for the first 12 days. The rest was utterly dreadful though: cyclonic, dull and wet, and probably "warm" due to mild nights (the days were cool). I always thought May 2000 and 2006 were very similar, in that respect - both started well but were dire for May for much of the month.

Edited January 5 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

 Summer8906 Spring 2006 I am biased against hating because it brought one of the most memorable snows of my childhood, thanks to this forum I was able to date it. We got absolutely walloped during an evening in April 2006 with one of the largest accumulations I've seen. TV signal went out, we didn't even have like a Sky sat at the time, one of those metal things. Branches were weighed down by snow, everything was a winter wonderland. Insane considering how late in the year it was. Must have melted by the next day but the memories of looking out the window and seeing this unexpected snowfall was just magic. I can rememeber being woken up  because I heard a faff over the TV not working and quickly realising why!

NW Kent was especially affected by this. IIRC it was the 9th of April.

Back on topic... The first one that came to mind would be August 1997. I love thunder but constant oppresive minima would grate on me. I don't think I'd have liked that month.

I think September 2023 was vile. If there was a mega heatwave in the peak of summer then I'd appreciate it but coming after a *relatively* cool July and August it just felt like what the hell, man! August 2020 I'd add as well. I sort of don't like month's that don't commit to being really poor or really good. Silly I know but for me August 2020 had it commited to it and had even a less hot but still warm second half it could have ranked as one of the classic Augusts, but it didn't know whether it wanted to be 1975 or 1912! Summer 2020 was like that in general. 

I'll think of more.

Edited January 5 by LetItSnow

[Catbrainz]

 Summer8906 Another undehated month I’d say is May 2021. It was the worse May of my lifetime basically a May version of June 2012 (even very similar set up wise as well). It is sometimes mentioned but I feel it flies under the radar for what it was. 

[Ciarán]

December 2024 - overlooked since it's only just happened and November was unseasonably pleasant, but overall it was truly awful. Heavy rain and strong winds made up the 'colder' interludes and exceptionally mild, dry and gloomy periods otherwise.

November 2023 - extremely windy with numerous windstorms and very mild.

[LetItSnow]

 Homogenous Nucleation November 2023 only had a CET of something like 7.2 so I never really thought it was overly mild.

Edited January 5 by LetItSnow

[Summer8906]

 Catbrainz I think that one is mostly appropriately hated though!

Not quite the worst May of my lifetime, that would go to either 1981 or 1983 which were both entirely devoid of settled weather, or possibly 1986 which was so westerly, zonal and uninteresting that I have few memories of it at all!

2021 did at least have that fine last week.

[baddie]

 Summer8906 March 2006 was only decent at the start and for a couple days around the equinox, otherwise horrible. The spell from the 7th-21st looks excruciatingly dull, cold and awful in my area. 3/10 overall, and without the first 6 days, then it would have been a 1/10. April 2006 was mediocre but not as dire as March 2006

Perhaps the Easterlies mid-month gave your area lots of sunshine?? If the Easterlies mid-month were actually sunny then I would have rated that March at least a 6/10

[Thundery wintry showers]

I think it is sometimes location dependent - here in Lincoln I felt that May 2021 was redeemed to a certain extent by a high frequency of thunder and convective days, but if I hadn't had those (and some other regions didn't), I would have regarded it as a very poor month. It does rather tend to get overlooked when people discuss cool dull wet summer half year months.

Regarding 1995, I increasingly get the impression that the year was less remarkable in the south-eastern third of England than elsewhere in the British Isles, and that in the south-east 2003 in particular stood out more. The winter of 1994/95 contributes to that assessment, as apart from frosty spells before Christmas and around the New Year, it was a very mild and largely snowless winter for much of the south-east, but in most other regions January 1995 in particular was more varied. I remember that growing up in Tyneside the winter did detract from the year a bit for me, especially the first half of February, but not massively so.

I spent March 2006 in Leeds and found that month alright mainly because of the cold and bright first week with a snow event on the 3rd and snow events around the 12th, though the easterlies midmonth were indeed pretty dull there.

August 2015 is another month which is location dependent: very dull and wet in the south (I was living in Exeter at the time, so I can vouch for that), but overall pretty average in Scotland and the north of England. I also remember a brief heatwave and thunderstorms for some on the 22nd, and it could be that those sort of standout moments help to skew memories a bit.

Edited January 6 by Thundery wintry showers