Summer 2009

[richwatson00]

There always seems to be a period of stable weather towards the end of May and again for about 10-14 days in September, it's always a gamble!. Avoid July and August, you have to remember that if it is sunny its going to be HOT and in a suit and your wife in a big dress you'll soon be stressing about being to hot (remember too much beer and sun is bad for you). Good luck with your wedding preperations.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

the wettest low pressure period nearly always last week of june/ first week of july, I would like 22 June-05 July dry in SE, last wimbledon was very good only rain was on mens quarter finals day (2nd wednesday) and finals day

i would like a warm dry summer obviously lol, if this synoptic position today would have been june-mid Aug it would be uncomfortably hot, but cooling down over weekend

[Nick L]

Felt like early summer in the sun this afternoon! Was lovely.

[Derp Patrol]

Felt like early summer in the sun this afternoon! Was lovely.

I agree, it felt a lot warmer than 15C!

I would love to have an August 2003, a stormy July and a warm June, I can't remember what 38C felt like 6 years ago..

[SP1986]

I certainly dont think it'll be a repeat of 2006 or 2003 in any of the months in my opinion.

I'm more inclined for a summer like last year, which the potential of is rather disappointing however it could be a good summer, lets hope so

[Bottesford]

the second best summer looks like 1020 according to your chart there bottesford, im sure its meant to be 1920, but maybe they were making weather records back then!

You've lost me there!

[Guest North Sea Snow Convection]

... and in contrast here's hoping for a decent summer to be outdoors in! July 2006 will do nicely - complete with thunder too!

When summer comes I do want some warm sunny weather too - as well as the thunder downpours. I have my gardening and an allotment to tend as well

I am just fussy about the direction of the wind for that sunny weather!

[Bottesford]

When summer comes I do want some warm sunny weather too - as well as the thunder downpours. I have my gardening and an allotment to tend as well

I am just fussy about the direction of the wind for that sunny weather!

Yep, yep easterly I know! Can't say I'm a fan (as you no doubt know!) especially after Thursday which was ruined by a light but nagging easterly bringing in low cloud for almost the whole day. Easterlies are fine if cloud burns off by 8-9am but often they don't burn off till much later - or in fact not at all. What fun is slate grey, featureless skies in high summer?

South easterlies are better as the air is drier - and warmer of course. Not sure about north easterlies - cooler certainly and probably picking up that moisture (low cloud) over the long sea track. Cooler/fresher is fine by me, persistant low cloud ain't!

[Guest North Sea Snow Convection]

Yep, yep easterly I know! Can't say I'm a fan (as you no doubt know!) especially after Thursday which was ruined by a light but nagging easterly bringing in low cloud for almost the whole day. Easterlies are fine if cloud burns off by 8-9am but often they don't burn off till much later - or in fact not at all. What fun is slate grey, featureless skies in high summer?

South easterlies are better as the air is drier - and warmer of course. Not sure about north easterlies - cooler certainly and probably picking up that moisture (low cloud) over the long sea track. Cooler/fresher is fine by me, persistant low cloud ain't!

May's weather in summer last year would have been very nice. That was a very good example of a warm gloriously sunny easterly that you would have enjoyed I'm sure. For me it also provided a nice fresh north easterly afterwards which I enjoyed too - great walking weather too, although I appreciate probably not your thing.

The winter set-ups that have in the past brought snow into the south with lows over the channel/northern France with high pressure to the north are also ideal for me in summer because you get the seasonal warm hazy sunshine but also the chance of thundery showers coming in from the continent. The trouble with those set-ups in the summer is like the winter again in that the lows come too far north and yukky atlantic air moves in from the south west. If they could last and stay put I would be well happy

[summer blizzard]

Have just had a look at the data provided for the ten hottest summers, and 70% of the preceeding Aprils, and 80% of preceeding Mays were above average, so i would actually disagree with the notion of too much spring warmth leading to a rubbish summer.

Also, could this thread be merged with the other summer thread as they are dicussing the same thing??

[GRHinPorts]

Have just had a look at the data provided for the ten hottest summers, and 70% of the preceeding Aprils, and 80% of preceeding Mays were above average, so i would actually disagree with the notion of too much spring warmth leading to a rubbish summer.

I think people get confused with this when they look at last years and 2007's warm and dry's Aprils and Mays that then lead to pretty dreadful summers. A belief that having the summery weather in Spring means there will be nothing later on.

Where as I think a more telling idea would be how much warmth there had been in the first 4-5 months of the year and then looking to see how much might come in the remaining months of the year. A belief that there is an average amount of warmth in any one given 12 month period and its just matter of when it will come.

For example let us presume this years April comes in at 9.1 (1 degree over the 71-00 average) that would mean that to the end of April 2009 would have a pretty much average running total for the year of 23.2. Just 0.4 above the 71-00 average. I am therefore holding out some hope that the remainining months will at least be average and given modern years (say 1997 onwards) tend to be warmer than the 71-00 averages we might even hope for something more than that.

As a comparison by the end of April 2007 was some 8.4 degrees above the 71-00 average. A correction in the summer would have seemed inevitable. Other bad summers such as 2002 and 1998 also had massive differentials to the end of April - 6.3 and 5.2 degrees above the 71-00 average. Where as 2006 is one of only two years which was in negative territory vis-a-vis the 71-00 averages come the end of April. And 2003 had the third coldest start of the last 12 years - albeit it was still ahead by 2.3 degrees to the end of April.