Years that had continental climate characteristics

[Summer8906]

 damianslaw I'd disqualify 2003 on the grounds that the winters both ends were somewhat mild.

[B87]

 Summer8906 If you include 1996, then 2009 should be too. Summer 1996 wasn't noticeably warm.

2010 had an extremely cold January, a warm, dry June, a warm or even hot at times July, and a record breaking cold December. If the temperatures for June and August 2010 were switched, it would have been considered a decent or slightly warm summer.

Edited August 25 by B87

[baddie]

1995

Mixed Spring with warm and cold spells
Hot and dry summer, partcularly the record breaking August
Autumn was more unsettled, but October was warm and sunny
Cold and snowy December

[Weather-history]

1933 is a pretty good candidate 

 

[Summer8906]

 B87 I'd discount 2009 on the basis of the poor July and perhaps the extremely wet and mild November too, whereas 1996 had all three summer months featuring long warm, dry and sunny spells. No month of summer 1996 featured a July 2009-style prolonged wet and cool spell.

I'd agree that 2010 would have "felt" very different had June and August been switched, though. The June would have ended up cool and wet, but with frequent N-ly or NW-ly winds in the first half, it could have been "tolerated" as a spring hangover. That August was a most unfortunate month!

Edited August 26 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

 Weather-history Indeed seems to be the case, e.g. Southampton maxima in Jan 5.7 and Dec 3.9, and these would be a little milder than places further inland.

Also 9.1 in Nov with just 17.5mm rainfall, so a cold dry Nov which is what I'd expect out of a continental climate.

Plus the summer of course, but that's probably obvious to most on here!

Feb looks wet (94.2mm) and slightly milder than average for the era (8.0 mean max), but not drastically so and not enough to "disqualify" it.

Edited August 26 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

 baddie I'd say Jan and Feb would disqualify 1995 as a whole, however March 1995 to Feb 1996 probably blasts all other 12-month periods out of the water!

[Summer8906]

On 20/08/2024 at 14:29, B87 said:

2024 will be a Csb year.

Surprising, but looking into the definition of Csb it;s surprisingly lax for what I'd consider a "Mediterranean" climate:

"Coldest month averaging above 0 °C (32 °F) (or −3 °C (26.6 °F)), all months with average temperatures below 22 °C (71.6 °F), and at least four months averaging above 10 °C (50 °F). At least three times as much precipitation in the wettest month of winter as in the driest month of summer, and the driest month of summer receives less than 40 mm (1.6 in)"

So all that seems to be needed is one dry month in the summer and a not especially cold winter, something fairly easily attainable in SE England.

Taking this literally, a climate with wet winters with average max 5C and average min -1C, all three summer months recording say 19C mean max, 9C mean min, a guaranteed dry spell in mid summer with early and late summer wet, and all summer months cloudy would meet this "Mediterranean" definition!

It seems towns like Bognor, Teignmouth and Weymouth are officially in the Csb zone nowadays.

I'd have expected a Mediterranean climate to require a mean max of 25C+ in all three summer months and a mean max of 10C+ in all three winter months, but this appears not to be the case. It appears that Csa, with the one month of 22C mean requirement, is what most think of as "true Mediterranean".

I guess June alone has transformed 2024 from being Cfb to Csb.

What years in the SE have been Cfb lately? 2021 presumably, as all three summer months were unsettled. 2020 presumably July was too dry. 2019 perhaps? 2018 no. 2017 perhaps? 2016 July too dry. 2015 June too dry.

I'd probably remove the word "Mediterranean" from Csb to be honest as it's misleading, and call it something like "oceanic climate with winter rainfall maximum".

Edited August 26 by Summer8906

[cheeky_monkey]

if we are going half years I'm adding Dec 1991 - Jun 1992..had that intense dry cold spell in December had a very dry anticyclonic winter..followed by very warm sunny May

[B87]

 Summer8906 That's all 'Mediterranean' is though; an oceanic climate with a summer drying trend.

Most of what you think of as Mediterranean is wetter than the UK annually, with far higher rainfall amounts in the winter.

Edited August 27 by B87

[Summer8906]

 B87 Fair enough, Mediterranean to me implies warm sunny summers, I guess!

Surprised most Mediterranean areas would have higher winter rainfall: in my experience you get occasional intense rain events, maybe every couple of weeks, but it's dry in between.

Edited August 27 by Summer8906

[B87]

 Summer8906 A few Mediterranean climates and annual rainfall.

Rome: 752mm

Lisbon: 774mm

Perth: 731mm

Dubrovnik: 1064mm

Athens: 433mm

San Francisco: 581mm

 

 

Edited August 27 by B87