Worst weather events of the prior centuries?

[Summerlover2006]

Going back centuries the summer and year of 1540 is possibly the worst weather event to impact the UK the selfish part of me wants it to happen in 2025 just to see exactly what that summer was like temperature wise.

[Metwatch]

On 28/10/2024 at 09:57, Hugo_HK said:

Do you guys have suggestions of more events I might have missed and should be looking into?

 

21st century:

2022: Hot summer and drought

2014: Exceptional series of Winter storms (Dec 2013-Feb 2014)

2013: Exceptional Spring cold spell in March

2010: Big Freeze in November-December

2006: July Heatwave

2003: very hot summer

Very good list!

I would also try to include some notable flooding and excessive rainfall events, some I have in mind for this century + 1998.

 

April 1998: Flooding in Midlands

Autumn 2000: Floods. Wettest season on record for England + Wales, nearly 50mm wetter than the previous wettest season (winter 2013-14)

Summer 2007: Floods.

Summer floods of 2012: 2012 was just a stupidly wet year overall, April wettest on record along with June. Summer 2012 was the 4th wettest summer in the series.

April 2012 - March 2014, Wettest 24 month period in the EWP series.

December 2015: Record breaking mild and extremely wet in the north west of the UK.

October 2019-2023: Persistent run of above average October rainfall, first time 5 consecutive wet Octobers in the EWP series. October 2023 was the wettest October on record for central England.

February 2020: Wettest February on record.

February 2024: Wettest month on record for central England, top 5 for EWP and one of the mildest Februaries on record.

September 2022 - February 2024: Wettest 18 month period in the EWP series, perhaps this was beaten again Dec 2022 - May 2024, not exactly sure.

September 2024: Exceptional 2-3 day rainfall totals over parts of central England, 10 English counties experienced their wettest September on record, and for Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire September 2024 was the wettest calendar month the counties have experienced, in a series dating back to 1836. 

(Fyi, EWP = England Wales Precipitation)

 

For drought another one is the summer of 2018, very dry June and July.

Another cold event, Beast of the East: Perhaps not as exceptional as some other big freezes in the last few centuries, but the depth of cold was incredible for the start of March. The next month April recorded 29C, one of the highest in any April.

April 2021: Although not exactly worst was a very strange month with a rare cold but extremely sunny combination, also one of the frostiest Aprils on record.

Storm Ciaran and Storm Eunice could also be included given how far south they tracked with such intensity.

The heat spikes of July 2015, 2019 and July 2020 could be included, along with August 2020 heatwave.

For convective, 28th June 2012 has to be up there for severity.

 

Edited October 31 by Metwatch

[hillbilly]

 Weather-history  The FA cup tie of my hometown Halifax V Luton town February 1933

[Weather-history]

 hillbilly

That was the weekend before the storm.  

[hillbilly]

 Weather-history Yes i believe it was  but the cold and some snow had already arrived.