The Curse Of The Modern Summer

[Yeti]

In Britain I tend to struggle if the temperature gets much above 25C, and usually feel uncomfortable if it goes above 30C. In my French holidays, however, I've regularly noticed myself feeling quite comfortable in temperatures of 30-32C.

The biggest determining factors are probably humidity, urban heat islands and air quality. I'm not sure why heatwaves are often accompanied by high humidity around Britain, but the Atlantic probably has a lot to do with it (esp. those hot muggy SW'ly Bartlett setups). Air quality is also a major determining factor, though I'm not sure if air quality is actually much lower in the urban areas of the UK than in the rural parts of the near-Continent, as it tends to be less windy and cloudy over there.

Urban heat islands are also a big factor, though having said that, I don't recall finding July 2006 uncomfortably hot near Leeds city centre, except briefly around mid-afternoon on the hottest days- in fact I found the heatwave at the end of July 2008 significantly more uncomfortable than any of the June/July 2006 heatwaves. That comparison strongly suggests to me that humidity is the biggest factor.

Yes, humidity is a huge factor. On the one hand it's a good thing, because lower temps in the 20c range feel much warmer than they do on the continent; on the other hand, if everywhere in Europe was 32c, nowhere would feel more uncomfortable than central London!

I also remember July 2006, with 36c in Skipton (a record) and it was very pleasant - so clearly it depends on where the flow is from, with a southeasterly being the driest direction. However, I remember a walk a few years back in the Bronte country on a very hazy, 24c but extremely humid day, and it was close to the most uncomfortable I have ever felt in Britain.

The sea also helps to keep night time temps much higher in the UK during a heatwave than in most other continental countries, including southern Spain!

Thing is - Europe has plenty of warm nights too so it's not just us. I went to Germany, Poland & Ukraine last year where it stayed warm every night for the two weeks I was travelling. When I say warm I do mean warm - t-shirt weather at night even when sat down kind of thing. But I had no trouble with sweaty nights or sleeplessness at all. True warm nights don't generally bother me anyway but back in the UK warm sultry nights are indeed much more difficult to deal with for some.

I think the difference is humidity. To get warm nights here it has to be humid which makes it uncomfortable. In mainland Europe the large land mass keeps things both warm & dry - the best of both worlds.

Low humidity here generally means much cooler nights although maybe with warm/hot days.

Having spent two weeks in Europe I loved that kind of summer climate- almost always warm day & night so a proper outdoor culture - but definitely not sweaty duvet kicking conditions. Our nights are generally cooler but with occasional warm sweaty nights.

Actually the opposite is true - the large landmass loses heat much more easily so there is much greater "thermal amplitude" than in the UK. In Madrid for example, a typical winter day would be 13c max and -3c min, whereas in the summer it's more like 32c and 12-15c. The sea keeps the UK humid and milder at night in summer, so during a heatwave lows of 23c in London aren't unheard of.

[Bottesford]

I don't know why British people moan about warm nights in this country, because I really don't find them that warm at all! I personally would love the temperature to stay above 22C all night during summer. The problem we have is that our houses are built to keep the heat in, so the main reason houses are so hot at night is because of the heat that has built up during the day and can't get out due to our homes being poorly ventilated.

Me too - I adore the warm nights where I can sit out to all hours in just a t-shirt - it's my absolute favourite type of weather!

My house is well ventilated with sky lights (inc one above our bed) so it keeps cool (much to our pain this winter when it's been damn cold!). But certainly British houses are generally about keeping heat in and not out. We don't have shutters on our windows to keep out the sun and instead having heat absorbant curtains so even if you do draw them to keep off the heat it still gets warm. Carpets, insulation & sometimes tiny openeable windows also make things worse.

If you're able to do so keeping windows open all night will of course cool things off but only if you're not living next to a busy road/noisy neighbours etc. In those circumstances I do understand why warm summer nights wouldn't be on your preference list!

[Bottesford]

Actually the opposite is true - the large landmass loses heat much more easily so there is much greater "thermal amplitude" than in the UK. In Madrid for example, a typical winter day would be 13c max and -3c min, whereas in the summer it's more like 32c and 12-15c. The sea keeps the UK humid and milder at night in summer, so during a heatwave lows of 23c in London aren't unheard of.

True Madrid does have large daily temperature variations as do many land locked places. But from the experience I had, European cities (at least Eastern European cities anyway) had very warm days (27-30c) and warm but not muggy nights with mins of 19-21c from the various temperature displays I saw around. This was especially true in Warsaw & Kiev which never had any inkling of cool nights whatsoever.

[Typhoon John]

That low solar activity doesn't seem to have given Australia a cool summer. Victoria has had one of its warmest on record- how do you explain that?

I don't have it to hand but during the recent heatwave I read that there is a correlation between solar minima and Australian heatwaves, I'm not exactly sure what the reasoning was, I'll try to find it.

Edited February 21, 2009 by fozi999

[Yeti]

True Madrid does have large daily temperature variations as do many land locked places. But from the experience I had, European cities (at least Eastern European cities anyway) had very warm days (27-30c) and warm but not muggy nights with mins of 19-21c from the various temperature displays I saw around. This was especially true in Warsaw & Kiev which never had any inkling of cool nights whatsoever.

Yes that's true at times in Germany, although I have been sometimes and it can really cool off in summer!

[damianslaw]

The most dissapointing aspect of the past two summers was the consistently poor maxima temperatures accompanied by abundant rain and cloud. However, 2003, 2005 and 2006 were great summers though tendancy for June and July to deliver more than August.. so talk of curse of modern summer..isn't a valid statement I think.

[Stratos Ferric]

The last two summers werent particularly cold ones, indeed, the 1980s had 6 summers that were cooler. I feel our perceptions on what a British summer on average is actually like have been heavily influenced by the last 20 years. In that period, only 4 summers (1993, 1998, 2007, 2008) were actually below average temperature-wise and even then, only just.

People generally tend to base their summer opinions on whether we get any hot temperatures and levels of rainfall of the frontal variety. Memories also tend to be short aswell, they forget before 2008 we had 5 well above average Junes in a row, not to mention two 17+C summers in 2003 and 2006, both with memorable heatwaves.

I cant imagine this forum if we got a truely cold summer (more than 1C below average). There would be prozac and wrist slitting that even winter 1988/89 didnt manage! :lol:

I think that's a very good observation Reef. The psychology of weather tends to be both short-term, and hugely biased to outstanding singleton events. Cold asssessment of the facts across a longer timeframe suggests that perception regarding the last two summers in the UK is as much a product of slowly changed expectations as it is actual poor weather. The caveat I'd attach to that is whilst they have been coolish summers, they have also tended to be persistently damp; just as winters seem to be defined in people's mind by snow more than anything else, so I think are summers defined by sunshine.

[Yeti]

I think that's a very good observation Reef. The psychology of weather tends to be both short-term, and hugely biased to outstanding singleton events. Cold asssessment of the facts across a longer timeframe suggests that perception regarding the last two summers in the UK is as much a product of slowly changed expectations as it is actual poor weather. The caveat I'd attach to that is whilst they have been coolish summers, they have also tended to be persistently damp; just as winters seem to be defined in people's mind by snow more than anything else, so I think are summers defined by sunshine.

Except yours :lol:

As I said earlier, the main issue with the last two summers was rainfall and sunshine, and these reveal not a poor memory of past events, but real truths - the last two summers were appalling in terms of both of the above.

2008: rainfall was generally 175-225% of the 61-90 average in July and August;

Sunshine was average in July and just 40-60% of the average in August.

Ignoring temperature then, 2008 had a woeful summer and with such dull and wet months, it's hardly surprising that they have been so fairly, in my eyes, maligned.

On to 2007: rainfall from May to July was 150-275% of the 61-90 average (although August was slightly below);

Sunshine was 80% of the average in May and June, average in July and slightly above average in August.

Conclusions? The past two summers have been terrible on any scale, not just in the past 15 years. To see 275% of the 61-90 average rainfall is awful and shows that even against the "summers of old", which you perhaps intimate were pretty much in line with the past two summers, we have had two dreadful summer seasons.

Let's hope 2009 offers at least one decent, dry, sunny spell

NB just found this:

Summer 2008 overall: 144% of average rainfall;

Summer 2007: 155%

[Albion Snowman]

I think the last 2 summers have been an odd occasion and i don't believe they really represent any trend. The main reason why 2007 was bad was simply the Jet Stream was too far South and didnt retreat north like it was supposed to.

Anyway, i hate the heat (30C+) but i would love a summer with blue sky summer days with low 20s heat.

[La Bise]

It's a funny thing perceptions, I feel the element lacking in summer in the evening in the UK is the warmness of the nights when I lived in Geneva. Over there, sitting outside in a tee and shorts at 2am and being confortable was pretty standard for me, not something I often find myself doing in Manchester! I also recall some very high night temperatures, particularly during the last major heatwave in 2006, walking home from town at 1am with a temperature of 29c and the last great summer I had, 94, before moving to the UK, with 2 months of 30c+ day temperatures and night time temperatures rarely dipping below 24c. Mind you, there was a major thunderstorm every 4/5 days to clear the air too...

[Evening thunder]

Yes i think the last two summers have been pretty bad overall. the mean temperature might have been 'average' or just below, but that was due to higher minima, partly caused by the wet cloudy weather keeping temperatures from cooling off much at night from the daytime temps.

Some stats from my weather station from last august may back this up.

5th Max: 17.6c Min: 14.1c

11th Max: 16.8c Min: 13.7c

16th Max: 16.0c Min: 13.5c

18th Max: 17.7c Min: 13.7c

20th Max: 18.1c Min: 14.1c

28th Max: 18.6c Min: 15.0c

6th Max: 20.9c Min: 16.6c

27th Max: 20.7c Min: 15.7c

That's a fair few below average max's (well below in some cases) with above average night time mins there and thats just some of the days like that in that month. and even when the temp crept just above 20c (average) the mins were often high at arount 15c making the days turn out above average. If the mins had been alot cooler at 5c even it would have made little difference to the feel of the weather as its the daytime when your outside and experience the weather. In Fact it would probably seem warmer with lower minima because that would likely mean the skies were generally clear at night leading into sunny days rather than damp cloudy days.

Bit of a long winded post but you can see where I'm coming from a summer with a CET of say 1c below average with colder minima but more dry weather may seem a better summer than the last two.

Edited February 21, 2009 by StormMad26