Your ideal weather year made up from past months

[Bottesford]

I agree with most of what you say. However I would keep the low humidities all summer long. I hate those subtropical 10C and above nights.

Think many people agree with you there. The main reason I like higher humidities & warm nights is that I'm a night person. I really enjoy sitting outside in the garden/pub garden/nice field having a beer/ etc. during the evening and being comfortable. Things smell nice, you get plenty of air (yes its stuffy but not as stuffy/dry/unhealthy as indoor air- esp when heating is on) and everything seems 'relaxed' and more 'continental' instead of the British rush rush...

Other main reason is being stuck in an office all day Mon-Fri. It's all well and good being 23c (a lovely temperature) at 2pm but if you have only 2 days out of 7 you could possible enjoy it (assuming it doesn't rain at the weekend!) it's somewhat frustrating. In low humidity/easterly setups, like a number here like, by the time you're home from work, had your dinner and are relaxing temps have dropped off to around 15c or less which is no longer comfortable to sit out in - unless you're wrapped up which kinda defeats the point!

Perhaps another argument to move the clocks forward another hour in summer - more chance of being able to enjoy the heat of the day after work.

[cheeky_monkey]

November 1993 reason - This is the November I long for the most. It is up there with November 1919. Very cool conditions mid-late month which would certainly rival many of our pathetic shots at cold in our more recent "winters".

how can u say it is up there with nov 1919..as u were not alive to experience it!!???

[Supercell 89]

My perfect year would go as follows:

Spring: Gradual warm up.

March: Cold & snowy with a few mild spells ( March 2006 would have been spot on but there was a lack of snow and cold)

April: Gradual warm up, from the low teens, to the high teens, and a mixed bag weather wise. ( April 2006 )

May: Warm and sunny with a few spring thunderstorms, and no Euro monsoon. ( May 2004, i dont think there was one that year)

Summer: Mainly very warm & thundery.

June: very warm & sunny with frequent spanish plumes (abit like the last fortnight of June 2005, but lasting all month)

July: Same as June but abit warmer. temps in the mid-high 20's. ( a slightly cooler version of last year)

August: Really hot & sunny, temps in the 30's, before turning slightly cooler, with thunder at the end. ( August 2003/95 )

Autumn: Vise versa of Spring Gradual cool down

September: Warm Sunny spells alternating with wet and breezy spells, and the odd thunderstorm. ( Sept 2005)

October: Mild wet & windy ( Oct 2005)

November: Mild start but turning cooler with some decent snow, ( Nov 2005 )

Winter: Basically a Winter we'll never experiance...again 62/63 is very much spot on.

December: Cool and sunny temps in single figures, turning very cold for xmas with heavy snow and continuing into new

year (Dec 2005 was close but wasnt as cold nor did we have any snow)

Janurary: Cold and sunny with frequent snow spells, temps struggling into single figures.

February: Real winter, very cold temps struggling to get just above freezing and snow and blizzards gallore.

[Lettucing Gutted]

how can u say it is up there with nov 1919..as u were not alive to experience it!!???

I KNOW that!! I was just comparing November statistics and descriptions from http://www.personal.dundee.ac.uk/~taharley...in_November.htm since 1899 and decided that the closest thing to November 1919 was November 1993 in recent years. No November since 1993 has come close to November 1993 let alone November 1919.

Edited May 30, 2007 by Craig Evans

[Thundery wintry showers]

Actually, though I provided a list, I never really gave my reasons (I'm confining this analysis to the 1990-2007 period)

January 1995- it was hard to pick one from recent years, but this January had some quite dramatic Atlantic weather and some localised severe snowstorms.

February 1996- I chose this over February 1994 because as well as being cold and snowy, it was also sunny. I don't remember much about February 1991 (except that it represents my first memory of snow), but that February was also a contender.

March 1995- variety, high sunshine total, high "sunshine and showers" frequency- this one wins my March award by a large margin.

April 1990- sunshine, and variety. Aprils 1994 and 1995 were close contenders, but weren't quite as sunny.

May 1995- I chose this for variety, and high "sunshine and showers" frequency. May 1997 was a close contender but lost out because of a week of sea fog from the 17th to 23rd.

June 1996- plenty of sunshine. June 2003 was a very close second for its warmth, sunshine and storms.

July- 1995 averaged nationally, 1994 in north-west England, and 2006 in north-east England (for sunshine, warmth and storms in all three cases)

August 1996- varied, reasonably sunny. August 1995 missed out due to lack of variety.

September 1999- warm with plenty of sun and also storms in the 2nd half; that said, 2003 was a close runner-up.

October 1993- episodic, though it was a tough call between this, and the Octobers of 1994, 1995, 1997 and 2003.

November 1996- cold, wet, wintry and sunny. 2005 was a close runner-up.

December 1993- I went for this due to variety and the fact that Cleadon had a white Christmas afternoon, although 1995 (for the emphatic white Christmas) was also a contender.

[Lettucing Gutted]

May 1995- I chose this for variety, and high "sunshine and showers" frequency. May 1997 was a close contender but lost out because of a week of sea fog from the 17th to 23rd.

Yeah May 1995 and May 1996 are close runners ups in my list too. I think May 1995 is often underrated as a month for producing cold weather. May 1995 had everything from heatwaves to cold days and more variety.

Edited May 31, 2007 by Craig Evans

[damianslaw]

I'm especially pleased by the number of responses on this subject, thanks everyone for your contributions so far.

It would appear thant those who have responded seem to agree with my thoughts in most respects and it is good from my perspective that people are quoting from the period since 1990 as i don't remember much beyound that, thanks for this aswell.

In summary so far the 90's seem to be winning hands down from the noughties. Outside of the summer months the noughties so far have produced months that most do not rate.

The period 1993-97 seems to be one full of memorable and appreciated months. I was 15-19 at the time and my memories of this period are very sharp and i would agree it did seem to produce some very interesting and more seasonal months that what we have had since 1997, i wish we could have a similiar period of weather now, these last few years have been non-entities largely exception winter 05/06 and ok july 2006 and august 2003 and april 2007 for their heat. Record breaking winter months do not register in my book as memorable appreciative.

[cheeky_monkey]

I'm especially pleased by the number of responses on this subject, thanks everyone for your contributions so far.

It would appear thant those who have responded seem to agree with my thoughts in most respects and it is good from my perspective that people are quoting from the period since 1990 as i don't remember much beyound that, thanks for this aswell.

In summary so far the 90's seem to be winning hands down from the noughties. Outside of the summer months the noughties so far have produced months that most do not rate.

The period 1993-97 seems to be one full of memorable and appreciated months. I was 15-19 at the time and my memories of this period are very sharp and i would agree it did seem to produce some very interesting and more seasonal months that what we have had since 1997, i wish we could have a similiar period of weather now, these last few years have been non-entities largely exception winter 05/06 and ok july 2006 and august 2003 and april 2007 for their heat. Record breaking winter months do not register in my book as memorable appreciative.

winter 05/06 can be classed as a non entity as far as im concerend!

[Summer of 95]

I'm especially pleased by the number of responses on this subject, thanks everyone for your contributions so far.

It would appear thant those who have responded seem to agree with my thoughts in most respects and it is good from my perspective that people are quoting from the period since 1990 as i don't remember much beyound that, thanks for this aswell.

In summary so far the 90's seem to be winning hands down from the noughties. Outside of the summer months the noughties so far have produced months that most do not rate.

The period 1993-97 seems to be one full of memorable and appreciated months. I was 15-19 at the time and my memories of this period are very sharp and i would agree it did seem to produce some very interesting and more seasonal months that what we have had since 1997, i wish we could have a similiar period of weather now, these last few years have been non-entities largely exception winter 05/06 and ok july 2006 and august 2003 and april 2007 for their heat. Record breaking winter months do not register in my book as memorable appreciative.

The 4-year period Nov 1993-Oct 1997 wasn't short on memorable months, I do agree. While there were many outstanding months for all seasons (spring: March 1995 and April 1997; summer; Jul 94, Jul-Aug 95, Jun 96; autumn Nov 93, Oct 95, Nov 96 in places, Oct 97; winter Feb 94, Dec 95, Dec 96-Jan 97) there were others which were notable for the wrong reasons (unseasonable, wet, dull, too mild or too cold at the wrong time of year eg: Sep 94, Nov-Dec 94, Feb 95, May 96, Feb 97, and most of all Jun 97)- what it lacked for the most part were depressing, mediocre, dull and wet but not exceptionally-so months. The only ones that really fitted that category were Aug 1994 (really disappointing after that July), Sep and Nov 1995 to some extent and April 1996.

[Weather-history]

October 1993 reason - The coldest October since 1974

October 1992 was colder as cold as October 1974.

I remember that October well, it really was chilly!

The October I went for was the 1995 one. The 8th of that month has really stuck in my memory.

[Snowyowl9]

This must be another June month I`d pick aswell as 1980 and 1982 infact any month that had a thundery showers.

We use to get some of the most severe/spectactular thunderstorms from the east or SE(infact I have seen the odd storm from the NE come to think about it) and as we`ve got an easterly now there could well be some interesting times ahead.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119790611.gif

Not sure about that date but we use to get more memorable storms then,with blocking further north.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119800614.gif

[summer blizzard]

July 2006 and April 2007 are on my lists, both months were very sunny and warm.