Most perfect month ever?

[Summerlover2006]

2nd post in 3 hours I know .

An interesting topic I thought off personal opinions aside weather you like spring winter etc what do you think is the closest to perfect a month in the UK has ever been where everything you want for that month happened because in the UK we can have great months that don’t have everything December 2009 august 2003 etc.

Some contenders.

July 2006: extremely sunny and amazing extended warmth instead of just a short heatwave and dry.

 

august 1995: same points apply.

 

June 2023: very sunny with great thundery outbreaks and extremely warm.

 

December 2010: incredible snow extremely low temperatures and very dry.

 

April 2007: one of the driest months on record extremely sunny and very warm .

 

[rwtwm]

July 2013 is a very fondly remembered month for me. It was warm to very warm much of the time, but rarely stifling. Pretty much the perfect summer month.

I think I may have rained a bit just as the Summer holidays began, but as I don't have kids, and wasn't one at the time, that sort of back luck doesn't really effect me.

[A Face like Thunder]

Agreed August 1995 and July 2006. July 1976 - the perfect summer month. Late March / April 2020 (the first lockdown) and thankfully perfect spring weather. Jan 1963 and Dec 1981 - perfect winter weather.

[Summer8906]

Feb 1986 for winter perhaps, and May 1989 for a summer month.

[Metwatch]

Ones I've experienced:

December 2010

April 2020

May 2018/2020

June 2018/2023

September 2020/2021 both very good.

Notice how 2018 and 2020 pop up twice, 2 of my favourite years to date. I'm sure years like 1995 or 2003 would be considered if I was older.

Edited November 22, 2024 by Metwatch

[*Stormforce~beka*]

2020 just the best!!

[Harry233]

 

If I had to pick one for each month.

January 2019: The month only had 15% of rainfall and over 170% of sunshine. Record breaking dry and sunny. Had two notable cold snaps which brought some very cold weather and the mild spells were often dry and sunny too, unlike most January's.

February 2013: Struggled to think of one for February but 2013 would probably be the closest one. Dry, sunny and often cold without being too cold. Very little snow as well but lots of frosty and icy mornings. Very good for winter walks.

March 2012: Very warm, almost bone dry (only 8mm of rain here) very sunny too. Amazing warm spell at the end with almost 22.C being reached here and five days exceeding 20.C. Even before that there was plenty of days into the teens with lots of sunshine.

April 2020: Very pleasant month, warm without being unseasonably warm most days in the mid/high teens but still had some cooler nights. Very dry and sunny sunnier than both 2007 and 2011. Made the lockdown so much more bearable.

May 2018: Beautiful sunshine, warm days and cool nights for three weeks solid. Felt like a proper summer month and made the start of a amazing extended summer.

June 2018/2023: Very hard to pull these two months apart. June 2018 was slightly cooler than 2023 but it was more settled. Both months had three weeks of very warm, sunny and dry weather. June 2018’s had a spell in the middle that was unsettled whereas 2023 had it in the last week and was cooler. Both months were similar but 2018 did have a few more cooler days than 2023 but the cooler days in 2023 were a lot cooler. 

July 2018: Very hard to fault anything about this month. Warm, dry and sunny for virtually the whole month but very little in the way of humid heat until the end of the month which was then saved by a cooler, wetter spell. Just what we needing after lots of warm weather.

August 2003/2022: Again very hard to pull these two apart. August 2022 was significantly wetter than 2003 but that was mainly down to one extremely heavy downpour here which brought some flooding. Both months had very similar temperatures and sunshine. August 2003’s nice weather lasted longer but I felt august 2022 had a lot more cloudless days.

September 2020: Had plenty of warm, sunny days but also had a lot of cold nights with a few frosts. Perfect combination of something summery with autumn slowly creeping in. 

October 2007: Similar month to September 2020. I remember lots of days feeling especially mild almost summer like sometimes but nights were often notably chilly with frost. Plenty dry and sunny weather too.

November 2016: Some extremely cold nights throughout the month. Many severe frosts but also lots of pleasant early winter sunshine.

December 2022: 2010 would’ve probably been the obvious choice but 2022 I preferred to having an extreme cold spell without any snow whatsoever. The temperature was below 0.C here for five days at one point but absolutely no snow fell during that spell and the only snow we got was in the last week. Lots of frost and ice but with some amazing cold sunny days and fog. Brilliant cold month in a very mild year.

 

[cheeky_monkey]

 Summer8906  think Feb 1986 would struggle to make it into my top 10 winter months..yes it was very cold..but it was dull with not much going on 

[LetItSnow]

Would have loved to experience a month like January 1881. Beast of a month. 

Edited November 22, 2024 by LetItSnow

[cheeky_monkey]

Winter = Jan 1979

Spring = May 1990

Summer = Aug 1995

Autumn = Sept 1996 

[Catbrainz]

Ill try and stick to months I have personal experience off.  

Spring= April 2020, lots of warm sunshine
Summer= July 2013, sunny and warm without extreme heat
Autumn= October 2018, I know weird pick but not too warm with pleasant weather
Winter= December 2010, I know boring choice but this wins. 

[Summer8906]

 cheeky_monkey I chose 1986 because the cold air was locked in: there was no Atlantic breakdown whatsoever. Also produced a heavy snowfall locally on Thursday Feb 6th, and another on March 1st (not Feb I know).

But perhaps Jan 1985 and 1987 were more interesting in the sense that they had repeated heavy snowfalls and really intense cold in the latter (more than anything else I've ever known).

Actually thinking about it the Atlantic only lasted the first 4 days in 1987. So maybe I'll update my choice to Jan 1987. But it's really between those three: Jan 1985, Feb 1986, Jan 1987. Those 80s winters were quite something else, the likes of which we haven't had since.

So perhaps for winter, I'd say the following. I have excluded 1979 due to my only vague memories of it. Given I lived in NW England (where it was historic) rather than the south (where it seemed to be very much less so) then, it's possible that it would be top if I remembered it more clearly.

1. Jan 1987

2. Feb 1986

3. Jan 1985

4. Dec 1981

5. Jan 1982

6. Feb 1985

7. Feb 1991

8. Dec 2010

9. Jan 2010

10. Jan 2013

Interesting that the top 6 of those all occurred in a period of little more than five years.

Edited November 23, 2024 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

As for individual months, that I can remember and have a clear memory of, it would have to be:

Jan 1987

Feb 1986

March 2003

April 2011

May 1989

June 2010

July 2006

August 1995

September 2003

October 2003

November 1988

December 1981

Edited November 23, 2024 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

16 hours ago, cheeky_monkey said:

Spring = May 1990

May 1990 does seem to be much sunnier than I remember- I remember the first few days being very sunny but then the sunshine being more variable the rest of the month. Yet in Southampton, it was sunnier than any summer month of either 1989 or 1990, both of which were notably good summers. In fact it was the second sunniest month of any name between 1977-91, with only May 1989 beating it.

Edited November 23, 2024 by Summer8906

[swfc-ocs]

All summer months 1976

January 87.feb 78. Dec/Jan 81.

[damianslaw]

Summer month either July 06 or Aug 95.

Winter month Dec 10

 

[cheeky_monkey]

 Summer8906 in the old memory banks it is easy to get May 1990 and 1989 mixed up or even remember them as the same month as they were very similar.

[Harry's House]

 Summer8906  cheeky_monkey The Mays of 1989 and 1990 at Herstmonceux had over 300 hours of sunshine each, the only such months anywhere I worked in my career.

[Summer8906]

 cheeky_monkey For me I can easily distinguish between them as I was living in different places in the two months. But it clearly looks like both were very sunny.

What could have happened in 1990 was that the weeks were very sunny but the weekends cloudier, and you always tend to remember weekends a bit more clearly. I know that the May Day weekend was very sunny but one of the other weekends (either 12/13 or 19/20, can't remember which) was very cloudy, hazy and still.

I do seem to remember most of the Sundays being particularly sunny, though, aside from the one mentioned above.

Edited November 25, 2024 by Summer8906

[StretfordEnd1996]

Spring I'd say May 2010
Summer July 2012
Autumn November 2005
Winter December 2009.

[Thundery wintry showers]

The two that stick out for me are March 1995 and July 2006.

March 1995 sticks out for its alternating spells of warm dry sunny weather and cold weather with sunshine and wintry showers, and a couple of notable snow events near the ends of the month. I'd have preferred a couple of the cold spells to be more potent so that the snow didn't rapidly disappear in the sun, but apart from that I found the month pretty near perfection.

I spent July 2006 in Leeds and it felt like a sunnier than average month on the continent, with frequent hot sunny weather but, for the most part, not excessively hot, especially at night. There were a few thundery outbreaks thrown in to add some variety and excitement as well. I had a big one on the evening of the 2nd.

Regarding winter months that I've lived through, perhaps February 1996 in some parts of the country. In Tyneside, where I was, my main criticism of the month was that there was never much lying snow on the ground, but many other regions had substantial falls. In the synoptic archives January 1958 sticks out as a month that looks like it had pretty much everything that I would want from a winter month. A wintry start, then about 10 days of changeable west to north-westerlies, then an anticyclonic spell, then an unusually potent north/north-westerly with widespread snow 19th-25th, and then very mild southerlies to end.

As far as great months that don't have everything but stand out in my memory as being amazing for the subset of weather types that they did produce, I'm bending things slightly here but I suggest the 31-day period from 25 November to 25 December 2010.

Edited November 26, 2024 by Thundery wintry showers

[A Face like Thunder]

23 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

What could have happened in 1990 was that the weeks were very sunny but the weekends cloudier, and you always tend to remember weekends a bit more clearly. I know that the May Day weekend was very sunny but one of the other weekends (either 12/13 or 19/20, can't remember which) was very cloudy, hazy and still.

1990 was my first in the NW, and I recall late April and early May were great, at least up until the May Day bank holiday Monday when it clouded over. 

[Summer8906]

 A Face like Thunder I do remember a sudden temp drop around the Monday though it stayed sunny. The following week had a weakly cyclonic N-ly and it was much cloudier and cooler: apparently some areas had thunderstorms but it was dry here.

I can't remember the exact sequence of events after that but I do remember one cloudy and misty (but not cold) weekend and a number of sunny days at times, Mon 14th being one of them. Looking at the archives it appears to have been mostly sunny from the 14th onwards. It's strange I can't remember the detail given I do remember quite a bit of detail for most of this period. (For instance I clearly remember April as being mostly sunny but fairly cool in the first half, a short period of cold and wet around Easter, a warm period with isolated showers around the 22nd-26th and finally the hottest April weather I'd ever experienced to close the month).

Edited November 27, 2024 by Summer8906

[SunChaser]

August 1995 or July 2006 would fit the bill so well if I was alive in 1995/could remember 2006.

For months that I can remember, perhaps May 2020 and June 2023 (especially so in the west) given they were the two sunniest months of my lifetime. April 2011, July 2013, July 2018 and August 2022 not far behind.