2009

[Cookie]

How would you rate the weather so far this year out of ten?

Have you enjoyed the snow at the start of the year?

Are you fed up with amount of rain this summer?

Has the thunder and lightning made up for the wet summer?

[Thundery wintry showers]

It's often difficult assessing how "good" or "bad" a year has been relative to earlier years when moving between different locations. For instance I enjoyed this June far more in Exeter than I'd have done if I'd been in Tyneside.

Overall I quite enjoyed the winter but found that dull dry second half of February something of an anti-climax. Getting three snow events in Exeter was extremely unexpected! Spring I thought was quite boring, homogeneously warm and not much interest- though the sunny anticyclonic spell around mid-March was very enjoyable and memorable. June was a fantastic month in Exeter- varied yet warm and sunny overall, and we had those big convective storms on 15 June and that insanely wet day on the 6th when over 90mm was recorded locally in 12 hours. The last week saw comfortable temperatures of 23-25C on most days. July started on an exciting note with sun, showers and thunder but to my mind has slowly gone downhill since with increasing cloud cover and wind.

Overall I think it makes a 7 given where I've been, but for Tyneside it would probably only rank at a 5 or 6.

[Snowyowl9]

For exciting weather snow thunder etc....

I`d rate the winter as 7.

Spring 2.

Summer 8.

For getting outdoors work done not counting winter.

Spring 8 with it being so dry and pleasant,Spring 2007 would be a 10.

This summer so far just 2 and it`s raining very heavy yet again.

[Methuselah]

Not too difficult as far as winter was concerned: a few days of freezing-fog early on, then mildish, drab nothingness, until early February's thundersleet event. (Probably, the only day of Feb I can remember!) 3/10

Spring was better: warm, quite bright/sunny and quite dry. 8/10

Summer's not been too bad, though: five thunder days, a good 12 days' warm spell, a fair amount of sunshine and showers and not too cool. say 6/10 so far.

[Optimus Prime]

A cold winter, plenty of frost in December and January. Very cold nights in early January when I recorded my lowest ever temperature (-8.4c, beating November 2005's -6.4c) And also recorded my lowest maximum temperature in January -0.4c, the only occasion a temperature has never climbed above freezing since I started recording in October 2003. The only decent snow aside from a little in December and January was the Heavy snow off February and accompaniying cold nights and days, recorded 12cm of snow, with some more falls in the week. deepest snow cover since February 1991. Second half was very mild and frost free, dull and spoiling an otherwise reasonable winter. despite this the snow drifts lasted until early March. 7/10 for frost, 5/10 for snow and 5/10 for overall cold. So about 6/10

Spring, very warm, sunny and frost free. 7/10

Summer. Excellent hot spell late June and July. Otherwise, wet and not all that sunny really. 6.5/10 so far.

[Nick L]

Winter 9/10, the best winter I have ever witnessed. Extensive cold spells, very good snow events in Feb and generally below average temps throughout.

Spring 7/10, pleasant sunshine throughout, but lacking a potent cold spell which would have made the perfect spring.

Summer 7/10, I cannot stand heat, so the weather that many people are finding depressing suits me down to the ground. However, I really didn't enjoy the June/July hot spell and I would prefer it if there was a bit more sunshine instead of constant slate grey skies.

[Cookie]

winter 9/10 great winter storm in january and some snow fall

spring 4/10 bit boring and not much of intrest

summer 6/10 great thunderstorm and some really intense rain and some good decent summer days.

[Snowyowl9]

A cold winter, plenty of frost in December and January. Very cold nights in early January when I recorded my lowest ever temperature (-8.4c, beating November 2005's -6.4c) And also recorded my lowest maximum temperature in January -0.4c, the only occasion a temperature has never climbed above freezing since I started recording in October 2003.

Yes the frosts were actually very impressive post 1988 some of my coldest days I`ve recorded in early January.

I really think this year, so far, has been incredibly dull. For this area anyway. Snow this year was poor, Sunshine and temps for this year have been poor, thunderstorms have been incredibly weak, and Summer in general has been nothing short of a joke.

So to sum up, 2009 has been one of the worst years for Birmingham in terms of dull and down right boring weather. Even in 2007 I seen an amazing thunderstorm (May 31), winter storm (Jan 18) and beautiful snowfall (Feb 8-9).

Hopefully in a few years, I'll have packed up and left this country and it's unseasonable weather.

How many days have you had with thunder/rumbles or just a rumble.

Theres been less thunderstorms this year as in frequent thunder/lightning to last year but theres been more thunder days thundery showers and much more rainfall,Now if I was to rate last spring 2008 that would go as a 9.5/10

Spring snow days,and the best early morning thunderstorms I`ve ever seen from 5.45 to 8.15am.

I`ve seen duller months but that was last august And we still have that month to come.

[cheeky_monkey]

Winter 9/10, the best winter I have ever witnessed. Extensive cold spells, very good snow events in Feb and generally below average temps throughout.

Spring 7/10, pleasant sunshine throughout, but lacking a potent cold spell which would have made the perfect spring.

Summer 7/10, I cannot stand heat, so the weather that many people are finding depressing suits me down to the ground. However, I really didn't enjoy the June/July hot spell and I would prefer it if there was a bit more sunshine instead of constant slate grey skies.

wow 9/10 for winter..guessing you are not very old???...winter wasnt all that cold, snow events nothing special..so i would give it a middling 5/10

i do agree with the spring score of 7/10..not 2 warm cold or wet..very pleasent

summer so far is 5/10..june was decent enough apart from the last few days..july not been great for sunshine but its not been that cool either an august like 2006 would suit me jus fine..with a tad more sun.

[Nick L]

wow 9/10 for winter..guessing you are not very old???...winter wasnt all that cold, snow events nothing special..so i would give it a middling 5/10

Yeah 17, so all I have seen is the constant dross of the "modern winter". I was in Somerset during that week in Feb and got 8 inches of snow out of it, so to me it was very good. Most snow I have seen on low ground anyway. Also recorded one of my lowest temps ever (-8.9c) and numerous very cold ice days.

I know for those lucky enough to experience the good winters of the 80s, 70s or even the 60s then 2008/09 wasn't that special. But that's the good thing about not witnessing those, expectations are very low!

[mushymanrob]

what an odd thread with only 7 months gone...

i think its been great upto july... winter must have been good as there was widespread snow, spring was utterly beautiful with plenty of bright warm sunshine (boring?.. to be boring is sitting inside watching rain out of my window ala july stylee, being outdoors and relishing the early spring warmth is beautiful imho). may and early june were abit cool... a nice hot spell in late june, but july has been awful. ok i like nice towering stormclouds, but every day? rain is only ok for those indoor people, after a few days it gets very very boring.

[Derp Patrol]

Winter 7/10 - Winter was quite cold down here, not something that I enjoy unless there is snow, but otherwise it was pretty normal untill those days in early February when we had the best snow in donkeys years.

Spring 7/10 - Spring was very good for me, I like winter, but after a while I need a change from cold temperatures, so Spring was great in that sense. I have no use for cold spells in Spring, because in my opinion cold is useless unless there is snow, and after mid March down here snow is pretty rare, and when it does come after mid March it rarely lasts untill midday. The only thing that would have made Spring better was if there was a greater range of temperatures. From late February untill late April practically every day was sunny with temperatures in the mid teens which was nice, but it would have been better if there were a few 20C+ in April.

Summer 4.5/10 - Summer got off to the perfect start, sunny with temperatures in the high 20s, but then it fizzled out. If it had not been for the mini 'heatwave' at the end of June/early July then June would probably have been classed as poor overall, but I would class this June as decent. So far this July has been pretty awful bar the first few days. 3 weeks without any 25C plus in high summer is pretty rare, added to the high rainfall amounts, cloudy skies with lack of sunshine and chilly winds this July will go down as poor for many people.

August is the decider on how this summer goes. If this weather continues then it looks like this will be the 3rd poor summer in a row.

[Guest North Sea Snow Convection]

Winter was very welcome after some of the awful one's we have seen. Yes, it could have been even colder, and yes it was let down by that very disappointing and poor second half of Feb. But still deserves a 7/10.

Spring - extremely boring and mundane. No frost no snow and a poor contrast to the excitement that April 2008 provided. A (generous) 3/10

So far this summer - two very nice summery easterly spells. Have welcomed a supressed jet stream again too and some good northern blocking, but being let down now by pesistent atlantic south westerlies that are especially unwelcomed by me at any time of year. So 5.5/10

[Lightningboy]

for winter i give 8/10 loads of frosts and some extremely cold nights but ill never forget the star of feb we had a rare snow event especially ont he island where it snowed on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd the 3rd of feb was the msot snow i have ever seen as i was only born in 1993 so it was quite memorale,

spring 5/10 not much weather about but had a nice storm in april which produced a tornado i think on west of island i think it was the 28th,

summer 6/10- June and the start of july was very nice with lotsof hot sunshine and also had some good thunderstorms aswelllast thursday brang 3 brilliant storms especially 2nd and 3rd storm, but since july has been ok but quite dull at times with rain and especially some strong winds,

overall i rate the year so far 6/10

[Snowyowl9]

Quite a few thunder days (Hearing rumbles of thunder in the distance) though only 3-4 days of thunderstorms (Apr 15, Jun 10, Jun 29 and Jul 24). Apr 15 and Jun 10 were good to look at at the time but looking back on it, I've seen so much better. Jun 29 and July 24 were so weak, was barely worth picking up my cam to capture them.

It wouldn't be so bad if one season was fairly boring and uneventful but all the seasons are turning that way. I don't just love thunderstorms, I love intense winds and beautiful prolonged snowfall, which is what Autumn and Winter should be providing, but just don't. Instead they provide damp, calm, grey and foggy weather.

It never used to be like this, infact the weather now is nothing like it was as a kid. Kids today get excited when they see a dusting of snow on the pavement yet they'll never know what 'good snowfall' is and what it used to be like when I was a kid or even well before I was born.

I love the weather but when it gets uneventful like it has been over the last couple of months, it can be a depressing time Sad, but true.

Last autumn was very much different/colder mind and not forgetting the october snowfall the best I`ve seen in Oct lasting a few days,to only a part of a day in 2000.

That storm the other day I still can`t get over that with the amount of rainfall for morning

[Cookie]

what an odd thread with only 7 months gone...

I did state in the first line thus far.

[Nights King]

A cold winter and the best by far that i can remember here on the mendip hills with almost 2 and a half feet of snow falling in 2 days which is the most we have had for many years. Stuck in our village for 8 days, normally its only around 1-2 days a year sometimes less.

Summer - utter rubbish apart from the late spring early summer heat which was nice for a while.

I shall remember 2009 for the snow far more than i remember it for the "hot" summer!

Edited July 27, 2009 by mullender83

[Geordiesnow]

Winter was nothing special up here although did recorded lightning twice during wintry/snow showers(whether you will class that as 'thundersnow' i don't know). Snow amounts were nothing special as whenever we did get larger amounts of snow it soon followed by the rain and a thaw took place. However the feb 12th snowevent was unexpected and certainly not forecast to happen so you could say that was a bit 'special' seeing as it was really unexpected. I also noticed the lack of double figure days aswell during winter until mid Feb onwards but apart from what i menturned winter was nothing special but certainly better than the last few years.

Couldnt think that much happened in Spring that was noteworthy and so far in summer its been. mostly wet and miserable apart from during that hot spell where we had 4 thunderstorm days during the first 6-7 days of July. I certainly remember that massive hailstorm on that Sunday evening(4th July), certainly came out of the blue but really great to watch. Apart from the thunderdays and the hot spell, nothing noteworthy to report apart from how wet it is!