Determining the "best" years/most perfect year

[Metwatch]

Perhaps best to do ratings out of 10 rather than out of 5 to allow for better accuracy? That's how I usually rate months myself anyway. I can also double the ratings out of 5 in my head to get it out of 10 though!

Edited January 21 by Metwatch

[LetItSnow]

 Metwatch Perhaps but 5 is way easier. Beats umming and ahing over whether something’s a 6 or a 7. People can do what what want but I’m sticking to out of 5. 

[Summer8906]

A quick look at the sunshine stats for Heathrow reveals just two years had five consecutive months of 200+ hours sunshine, both May to September.

Without looking, any guesses? Clue: not too hard. Second clue: the years are not especially close together.

Edited January 21 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

 LetItSnow 1955 looked especially interesting from Jan to August, I believe both Jan and Feb had significant snow in the south and both had a sub-6C max at Heathrow. March was cold and dry, April warmish and extremely dry, May was more unsettled but I believe had a remarkable late snow event. June I always thought was very cool and wet but the stats suggest average temps and rainfall, then July and August both had >24C max. The later months seem less remarkable with an average-looking September, a wet October, a dry November with unremarkable temps, and a mild December.

Edited January 21 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

 Summer8906 is it 1959 and 2003? even though May 2003 wasn’t particularly special I feel like it possibly could’ve just tipped over the 200 hour mark. it’s definitely not 1989 because I remember recently finding out that September 1989 was duller than I thought.

 Summer8906 1955 sounds a bit like an amplified version of summer 2013 the.  a cool June with a decent rest of the summer although I think July 1955 and August 1955 are probably better than the 2013 equivalence , although July 2013 is probably on a par with both months as a singular. 

Edited January 21 by LetItSnow

[Summer8906]

 LetItSnow It is indeed. Yes I thought May 2003 was duller than that, at least here (only the last few days were especially sunny IIRC), but it breached the 200 mark at Heathrow. April only just missed by exactly two hours - damn that late unsettled spell! If it had got two hours more sun it would have achieved a unique run of 6.

1955 does look a bit like 2013, yes - though AFAIK August 1955 was a very notably warm and sunny month while August 2013 was merely on the good side of average.

1955 Heathrow sunshine figures are not available, in Southampton the total was 220.6 with July having an impressive 284.5. Interestingly Southampton had higher mean maxima in July/Aug in 1955 than Heathrow with 24.6 and 24.7 respectively, something which must be a very rare occurrence in the summer.

Also May 1955 actually seems to have been sunny in Southampton with 222.6 hours, albeit very wet with 108.1mm and cool with 15.5C. Must have been a very unusual month, I'd guess distinctly cyclonic-northerly with frequent late season direct Arctic outbreaks. That said, I found May 2013 rather like that. One of those over-hated months IMO, yes it was wet at times and it was cool but I do remember a good number of sunny days and still others that were cloudy but had that clean atmosphere typical of a northerly.

Edited January 21 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

 Summer8906 I found that the 21st century has skewed my perception of what is impressive when it comes to the CET. I think that the CET for July and August in 1955 was in the upper 17s which to me is very warm but I don’t consider it remarkable but then I remember that comfortably 2° above average then and the equivalent to a CET in the mid 18s in August now. there are quite a lot of old months that were really sunny and warm by day but didn’t have extremes of temperature that many people would really enjoy nowadays but have gotten lost of time not just because of age but because the CET doesn’t stand out as particularly notable, this is especially true as well with some months that had a pretty cold nights. For example some of the sunniest September is on record on 1964 and 1928 but when you glance at them in the CET, they have very unremarkable if not rather cool CETs. I understand though that this is very much probably a me thing because I was born in 2001 so to me if September were to come on the 13s for example that’s cool to me but average to someone older (who pays attention to the weather)

back to the topic at hand though and I would definitely look at 1933 as well and I would even try my best to look at some of the 19th century years as well. I’m on my phone at the moment, but when I get on my laptop, I will add up some more scores. 

gosh, I do blabber!

[Summer8906]

 LetItSnow Interesting Sep 1964 is unremarkable by CET as it achieved a mean max in Southampton of 21.1C, which would put it down in my head as a very warm month. Also 18.6mm and 209.6 hours of sun, so had I been around at the time I'd have doubtless rated it as "exceedingly good" (5/5).

1933 does look like another good one. The summer is well known as very good but both Jan and Dec had sub-6C maxima in Southampton - so two distinctly wintry months at both ends. By mean max, of post-war Januaries the only colder ones are the four obvious ones (1963, 1979, 1985 and 1987). Perhaps it's unique in that respect in having a hot summer and both starting and finishing cold? That said, while sunny, it doesn't look like summer 1933 was remarkably warm, no month managing to achieve 24C (21.6, 23.3, 23.8). A summer of prolonged but gentle warmth, presumably.

Finally, Southampton also has only two years with 5 consecutive 200hrs+ months: 1959 and 1911. (2003 was after the station closed, it may not have achieved it as May was rather dull in this area). 1911 is an interesting one as it too had a cold Jan (6.4C max), an interestingly cold early-mid spring, and then "that" summer. Then, as if a switch was flicked, Oct-Dec was extremely wet!

A mention though to 1914, a year memorable for all the wrong reasons but in the sphere of weather, narrowly avoided a run of 6 months 200hrs+ in Southampton. If July had just 8.1 hours more it would have done it, remarkable as 1914 is never noted for having an especially sunny summer. It also had a cold and very dry January.

Edited January 21 by Summer8906

[Thundery wintry showers]

I had 1955 tied with 1995 and 2003, and I reckon that generally 1955 has a lot in common with 1995, in being a standout year to some degree in all regions, but more strongly so the further north and west you go. For instance, it was Scotland's sunniest year on record, there was Operation Snowdrop there in late February, and July 1955 was Wales's sunniest month on record. June 1955 was a dampener in the south, being generally dull, cool and wet, but the north-west had quite a sunny month. Thus, like 1995, I would expect it to fall behind 1959 and 2003 from a south-east perspective, but for much of Scotland and western Britain I see 1955 and 1995 vying for the number one spot.

Yes, of the pre-World War II years, 1933 has often stuck out to me as well - it was especially continental in character, with a lot of cold dry weather in the winter months and frequent northerlies in February, eventually culminating in that big snowfall. March stands out as a very sunny month, and the first third of June sticks out for its hot sunshine, southerly winds and high pressure. I also like the sound of the cooler showery spell in late June which gave some decent sunshine in between and plenty of thunder.

1919 was a year with more than its share of notable weather events, fluctuations between warm and cold months, a rare September snowfall and exceptional cold and snow in the second week of November, but it loses points for not being a particularly sunny year. 1921 was a warm dry sunny year, rather similar in many ways to 1959 but not quite as sunny.

As far as the 19th century goes, 1893 (an exceptionally warm and sunny spring, also a warm sunny summer) and 1895 (very cold winter, especially February) stick out. There are also certain months that stick out - the very cold snowy January of 1881 for instance - but not necessarily over the whole year.

 

Edited January 21 by Thundery wintry showers

[Summer8906]

2009 is another interesting one because, aside from that awful July, it was often a very good - and seasonable - year.

It had an often cold, though snowless Jan followed by a Feb of two halves - the halves arranged in the order they ought to be.

Then a mostly fine and sunny spring and a warm sunny June. July was dire but August, while cloudyish, was one of the better ones of the past 15 years or so. Sep and Oct were good or very good, Nov was terrible but in a stereotypically late-autumnal way, and December one of the colder ones since 1980 with even some heavy snow in parts of southern England.

If it wasn't for July I suspect many would recognise 2009 as a classic year. It was a year noted for marked seasonality, with all months except July giving weather typical of the time of year. Even the extremely wet November did that, in a way.

Edited January 26 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

 Summer8906 I think East Anglia had drier and sunnier than normal conditions throughout all three months and temperatures persistently above the 1961-1990 average. If you lived in Lowestoft for example you may have thought 2009 was a good summer. Meanwhile the south-west was more anomalously cool, especially July. 

August 2009 strikes me for its contrast between being very dry in the south-east but extremely wet in the northwest. Something like 400% of excess of normal in places. I get the impression that location defines 2009 as being a definitively good or bad summer. 

I was scared as a child of thunderstorms very badly and I seem to remember feeling like that summer was extra nerve wracking because thundery weather was so frequent - but I don’t know if it actually was or whether I’m grouping events in my mind. I remember the 7th of July was a very convective showery day. I seem to remember frequent thundery showers on the 11th too. 

[Summer8906]

 LetItSnow To make it more complex my location in July 2009 was half the time in continental Europe, however reading about conditions in my home location it looked like it was very wet but not particularly thundery - but in this area we often miss out on summer thunderstorms. Looks like one marked feature was a huge static low around the weekend of the 18th - which was so extensive that it also brought heavy, prolonged rain and 10C early evening temperatures to Garmisch, Bavaria. Strangely July 1987, with the same calendar, brought a very similar low, also affecting Germany (where I was also at that time in 1987) on exactly the same date!

As for the summer as a whole I'd probably rate it average. Good June, poor July and cloudy-ish but dry August. The fifth-best August since 2006 (behind 2022, 2016, 2013, and 2007) - which, given it was on the cloudy side, is saying something about the nature of contemporary Augusts!

Edited January 26 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

 Summer8906 Come to think of it we really did pay for July 2006 didn’t we?! Julys through 2007-2012 were all notably bad in some respect. 

[Summer8906]

 LetItSnow Generally yes, though I'd rate July 2010 average (dry, cloudy, fairly warm) and July 2008 not as bad as all that (frequently dry, often cool but 21st-28th hot spell - probably better than July 2020, 2021, or 2023).

 

Edited January 26 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow]

 Summer8906 July 2010 was a horror show in the northwest. Bit of an insult considering how bad August 2009 was. 

Back to the topic of this thread and I must get to rating 1955 as I had forgotten it. The 1950s interests me for its very cyclical nature. It was a decade of extremes, especially for the summers. It seems as though you had awful summers or really decent ones and very little inbetween. 

[Jackmonday06]

July 2011 was also quite meh cool but did have sunny dry spells early and late in the month. Not good but not as bad at 2007 and 2012.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I think I got very lucky with locations during summer 2009. I was at a temporary placement at the Met Office from January-June 2009 and June 2009 was an amazing month in Exeter, overall warmer and sunnier than average, but with big thunderstorms and 100mm of rain locally on the 6th, and then a convergence line passed over Exeter on the 15th and brought more thunderstorms with hail. As a result, rainfall ended up over twice the normal but the vast majority of it fell on just two days and the rest of the month was generally dry. I went to Norwich for July and August 2009, where July was quite sunny and warm, and though it was wet, most of the rain came from short-lived showers and thunderstorms. There were 7 days with thunder. August was dry but dull in the first third of the month, but after that it was often warm and sunny with occasional showers and thunderstorms. Meanwhile, July 2009 was a real washout in Exeter, just after I had left.

July 2009 had a marked SW-NE split with much of N and E Scotland and E England from Norfolk northwards having a relatively warm and sunny month with showers and thunderstorms, and most other regions having a dull wet month with cool days and warm nights. Because my monthly ratings were based on the Met Office's England E and NE region, I gave it a 4. Unusually for this kind of scenario, London lay on the dull wet side of the divide. I estimate the Campbell-Stokes equivalent sunshine for Heathrow at only 180 hours, compared with around 215 hours at Waddington near Lincoln. Whitby still had a Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder then and had 231 hours.

I agree about the 1950s - it really was a decade of striking contrasts, it had the really dull wet summers of 1954 and 1956, and the really fine summers of 1955 and 1959. I reckon summer 1955, especially high summer (July/August) would have really stood out because of what surrounded it. Similarly for the winters, winter 1956/57 was very mild, and 1958/59 was mild and snowless outside of the three weeks of northerlies in January 1959, but there were some very snowy ones in 1954/55 and 1955/56, and 1950/51 was very snowy on high ground, with a snowy December at low levels too.

Edited January 26 by Thundery wintry showers

[Jackmonday06]

2001 was a great year imo best winter in a long time a cold march which imo sounds nice march is a middle ground month where it’s nice if it’s mild or cold may was warm sunny and dry decent summer with hot spells in every month and a cold December a year where there were some stinkers but the main months of the year really delivered.

[LetItSnow]

I wonder if 2025 will have the luxury of being added to this list, providing the rest of the year plays ball? Would need some more wintriness in December though... 

[Summer8906]

 LetItSnow Have to admit I'm rather sceptical of the rest of the year playing ball. The anomalously easterly setup which has kept the interest going for almost 5 months (producing the relatively cold weather in Jan and Feb as well as the fine spring) appears to be collapsing with little sign of return.

Depends what you're after I guess, but my gut feeling for the summer is cloudy and changeable, but warm due to high night-time temps (daytime temps close to or slightly below average). I can see this year becoming a stereotypical 2010s/2020s year with a fine spring but a disappointing summer, a fine interlude in September, and then a mostly wet autumn.

Edited May 23 by Summer8906

[Harry233]

 Summer8906 certainly going by the weather now. I do think summer 2025 might give us something quite changeable but I definitely think it will still be a very warm summer. We finally had rain on the 23rd and that was our first rainfall since the 17th April. The first week of June looks quite showery but still warm and with some drier, brighter interludes. I don’t think there’s any sign of anything cool coming.