Rip Summer 2009

[mushymanrob]

ive given up hope! with 4 weeks to go and the 'last chance' for somethig settled and warm that could have occured this week now being all but a cloudy, damp, muggy squib... i think its time to call time on summer 09.

theres nothing even in fantasy island (not fantasy 1 land lol)to suggest a change in the current pattern and with both the met office any our own experienced lrf's not giving out much hope then its all but over.

the signes were there in early june, prior to the only decent summer spell this year has or will give, the greenland high, the southerly tracking jet, raised concerns amongst some of us. of course (understandably) we were told 'you cant write off summer this early'... and for a week or two they were right. then it all went horribly wrong, after months of pretty dry weather (the ground prior to the heatwave was dry, if the expected bbq summer HAD happened then hosepipe bans, water restrictions etc were a distinct possibility in some areas), the heavens opened...and it hasnt stopped nor is likely too yet.

'it can be nice in september'... yes it can, but thats precious little compensation after the summer blooms (which are peaking NOW ) have faded and daytimes are much shorter. from august through to april, i metal detect, from april to august im in summer mode...enjoying my garden with my g/f, family bbqs and outdoor living. too much to ask for the uk?... ok, we have always had mixed bags for summers, but 3 complete washouts on the trot must be a record! im not advocating wall to wall sunshine, an 'average' summer with mixed settled/unsettled conditions would suit me fine, anything hotter/drier would be a bonus!

will summer 2010 be any better?..... well tbh i wouldnt bet on it!

[PB22]

Can totally sympathise with you mushy.

Down here its actually been a half decent summer with many warm and sunny days (suitable for BBQ's!), mainly thanks to the onshore coastal breezes that kept the showers inland. We have had a fair amount of rain too, but I try to look at it in a positive light as it keeps the land going and reduces the fire risk significantly. In addition the rain has tended to come in the form of heavy downpours, rather than persistent stuff so when it has rained, it hasn't really rained for long periods of time (only one day here were it rained all day).

Certainly as we go into August then summer really does begin to drain away. Already the nights and mornings are pulling in fast, and many of the summer blooms have gone past their peak. Of course, we can still have hot and sunny days, but whether we will see any this year remains to be seen yet!

For many it has been a disappointing summer, but for a lucky few, mainly towards the southeast, it has actually been an ok summer, and there is still another 2 to 3 weeks in which we can see a hot spell, however unlikely it seems at the moment. Having said all that, I believe that there are still many people who have unrealistic expectations of the British summer. If people really expect weeks on end of hot summer sun, then can I advise that they move to the Med. The hot spells of earlier this decade seems to have altered some people's perceptions of summer.

Edited August 2, 2009 by Paul B

[TEITS]

Certainly a disappointing summer yet again although only if you compare to some of the summers in the 90's/early 2000s.

Once again for the 3rd summer in a row the jet stream has been further S than normal preventing HP becoming established. This summer hasn't been as bad for me compared to 2007/8 as the rainfall has fallen via showers rather than frontal. The only plus side is this has resulted in many thunderstorms and from June until today i've noted 6 thunderstorms.

Still time to see a warm spell even into September. However with the nights drawing in fairly quickly it won't feel the same as a hot spell in June/July.

On a slightly different note the Met O should now stop backing the form horse. Some say the Met O forecasts are the best that we have but if I was honest I reckon you would be better off tossing a coin. I shall just stick to Net Weather forecasts as they seem far more reliable.

Edited August 2, 2009 by THE EYE IN THE SKY

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

Agreed, expectations are too high and folk IMO should lower them considerably. Thus far it hasn't been a bad summer IMO and with a longterm migrating southward jet a type of summer we should start to accept. NW overview forecast was very good I agree.

BFTP

[noggin]

I agree with Blast and TEITS re expectations being too high. Yes, during the 90s and 00s we had some hot Summers. Don't forget a couple of scorchers in the 70s as well. But on the whole, British Summers are pretty much wash-outs. The hot Summers are exceptions, they are not the "norms.". Why else would people always have joked about the British Summer?

Having said that though, I constantly long for a lovely snowy Winter and although Winter 2008/9 fitted the bill (for me), it was very much a rarity, so I do understand peoples' disappointment.

Trouble is, we are all weather-junkies and we need our fixes! :o

[fine wine]

Not been as bad summer at all here with plenty of warm sunny weather and perhaps only 2 -3 days of really poor weather here - all others abocve 21c with at least 4 hours of sunshine each day. As for it being the end of summer, its like saying at the beginning of Febuary that winter is over and we know what happened the last three years.

Next week looks great - warm, potentially hot and thundery - at least for the SE and EA anyway.

[Nick.F]

yup, been a nice summer so far in the south east. more settled weather would have been nice. It's been pleasant, warm, reasonable sun totals, and other than a few downpours, about average rainfall.

No complaints so far, the garden has been (is) magnificent

NW/SE divide sucks, don't it!

Edited August 2, 2009 by Nick.F

[littlemissy]

Yep when i was growing up in the 70's apart from '76 and up until 1990 summers were well unsettled and not overly warm.The only one in the 90's I remember was 1995(I had my first baby then) .It has been very (or seems) wet and cool these last 3 summers.Yes we had a few warm days but we are always in the firing line for the breakdown in conditions first.

I don't like extreme heat but sunshine I do like.

[Bottesford]

Yes it's been a very very poor July - unending rain, rarely warm and very little sunshine.

I do wonder what these extended periods of poor weather right at the peak of the holiday season do to our tourist industry. Having spent a week in Cornwall being blasted by strong winds almost none stop, rain every day (inc two days it didn't stop all day) and temps struggling into the mid teens you do wonder what people who visit make of it. The beaches were distinctly empty with only the wet suited surfers & a few brave kids going into the sea. Most attractions were quiet - very few queues. The only place that was full was the M5 on the way down!

For most people in our group the response was "I'm going to Spain next year to actually get some sun" and I reckon that'll be a common line for many people this & the last three years!

I'm sure regular UK holiday makers can accept a couple of poor summers stuck inside the caravan/cottage/tent rain pouring down - but three in a row may convince many to not bother again.

So I'm expecting more tourist money to head abroad next year along with even more flights and the resultant CO2 that it generates. Perhaps all that CO2 will return us a good summer in a few years time!

[Nick L]

Fantastic summer

[Terminal Moraine]

Even here where it's been wetter than the south east, the summer so far isn't in the same league as some in the 50s,70s and 80s, mainly because it hasn't been particularly cool. June was warmer than average and even though the total rainfall was above average the majority of it fell on just 4 days.

July was decidedly wet but still not really cool in the manner of a 1954, 65 or 88.

It remains to be seen what happens in August but I doubt it will be really cool and wet, probably wetter than average and temp's around average.

I'm still waiting for the classic combination of wet and cold which just doesn't seem to happen anymore, even with a southerly tracking jet.

[Methuselah]

Not been at all bad, up here. Plenty of dry sunny days (for bbqs) temperatures not that bad and several thunderstorms.

All-in-all, an immense improvement on the last two years.

[Guest]

The best summer of all that I can recall was in 1959 when the dry sunny weather lasted right through until mid October, then we had 1976 but this ended towards the end of August when the government decided to appoint a drought minister - he did his job well because the heavens opened up.

Unfortunately the good summers we had earlier this decade and some of those in the 90's lulled me into a false sense of confidence.

Not to worry my old/new house (with air con & squirty water pool in the garden) in southern France will be ready for next summer - I suppose that will be a signal for the current cycle to finish and we go back to good summers in the UK.

[MR EXTREMES]

well if you look at 2003 and 1998 ect they where hot with more sun and heat.

but now things are changing back to the norm when i was growing up aswell summers where not hot sunny through out,

so this tells me 3 years now of coolish summers and if i where to compare then with 1998 & 2003 then id say its been very poor perhapes the recent summer trends is something that will now take center stage with more of the studies looking at why the jet is plunging so far south.

theres also a strong possability that this could be the norm for summers ahead for awhile.

but in my eyes good to see things getting back to normal.

[mt-leinster-snow-drifts]

Absoloute rubbish summer here. We got two good spells in June each lasted five days , max temp I saw was 24c. While you guys had the heatwave we had cloudy misty weather and 16c at best. And every day there has been showers they've got us. Only up point is bucket loads of thunderstorms.

Well my area is called ''the sunny south-east'' as it gets the most sunshine in Ireland , maybe not last three years do.

All in all , june on par with 2007 but the worst July in along time , high hopes for August

[Solar Cycles]

Certainly a disappointing summer yet again although only if you compare to some of the summers in the 90's/early 2000s.

Once again for the 3rd summer in a row the jet stream has been further S than normal preventing HP becoming established. This summer hasn't been as bad for me compared to 2007/8 as the rainfall has fallen via showers rather than frontal. The only plus side is this has resulted in many thunderstorms and from June until today i've noted 6 thunderstorms.

Still time to see a warm spell even into September. However with the nights drawing in fairly quickly it won't feel the same as a hot spell in June/July.

On a slightly different note the Met O should now stop backing the form horse. Some say the Met O forecasts are the best that we have but if I was honest I reckon you would be better off tossing a coin. I shall just stick to Net Weather forecasts as they seem far more reliable.

Exactly Tetis, for the third year running, the MetO have backed a loser. Though saying that IMBY, it's been better than the previous two summers. But as Fred states above, we best get used to summers like these!

[Gavin P]

will summer 2010 be any better?..... well tbh i wouldnt bet on it!

Well if the currently developing El Nino switches to La Nina spring 2010, as often happens, then forget about summer 2010 being much to write home about either.

Edited August 2, 2009 by Gavin P

[sundog]

Another poor summer,the first few weeks were not too bad but July was a washout. Dublin airport had its wettest July since records began there in 1942,the record was broken there already by July 24th. I dont mind the lack of heat but i dont like the lack of sun. Surely August cant end up being as wet as July though.

How many good summers have we had this decade? Not many anyway. Apart from 03 and 06 most of the summers we have had this decade have been fairly average. Summer 02 and 04 for example were hardly what one would call bbq summers.

[❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️]

Maybe people need to re-adjust their expectations of British Summers?

[Thundery wintry showers]

Not been at all bad, up here. Plenty of dry sunny days (for bbqs) temperatures not that bad and several thunderstorms.

All-in-all, an immense improvement on the last two years.

Yes, interestingly the north of Scotland appears to have fared pretty well relative to most other regions of the country. The BBC's release of July stats (which is misleading as it was comparing 1-27 July with the average for 1-31 July) showed north Scotland as the only region with above average sunshine (and not including any sunshine during the last four days), temperatures rather above, rainfall only a little above. And of course May and June had pretty large sunshine excesses.

I think saying "Summer 2009 RIP" is a bit extortionate to be honest, it is equivalent to someone saying "RIP winter" on the 2nd February. True, the nights draw in, but in truth, statistically speaking August isn't significantly cooler or cloudier than July and has in the past produced the UK's biggest heatwaves. There have also been very extreme cases of "BBQ Augusts" such as in 1947 and 1995. And as for September, I remember 1999 as being a good summer in Tyne & Wear, not so much because of the summer quarter (which had a mediocre June & August sandwiching a warm dry sunny July) but the way the summer lasted well into September. I vividly remember getting the BBQ out one evening in early September 1999.

As for Summer 2009, I thought June was fantastic down in Exeter, it had variety, it had warmth, it had sun, and it had storms. But July for me started on an "exciting" note and then slowly went downhill. Still, this July has been outstanding for only one variable- rainfall- and for sunshine and temperatures it has not been far from the long-term average.

[evil monkey]

Maybe people need to re-adjust their expectations of British Summers?

I think there's alot of truth in what you say...

Then again, isn't it part of the British national character to gripe about the weather?

[Spurry]

A very poor summer here in the NW , the ground is sodden , i cut my grass this morning and the ground was in a similar state to when i cut it in March...we had an ok week in June but other than that it's been awful,at least there's a few days this week to look forward to according to the models,and then next week i'm off to SE Spain for 3 weeks to get some sun

Edited August 2, 2009 by Spurry

[Nick L]

Maybe people need to re-adjust their expectations of British Summers?

Well it isn't really much to expect a few consecutive days of warm sunshine without rain - even for Britain that is realistic!

[sundog]

I came across this today,their forecast for this summer in Ireland so far although very brief seems to have been pretty accurate. According to them we will have some sort of indian summer.

SUMMER REPORT

Summer may be fairly wet over some months but not as bad as last year. There may be more sunshine this year, with temperatures not all that high. On the whole consistently warmer days may not arrive for most until later in the season, probably in the start of and then after June.

For the rest of summer:

JUNE, many areas dry for the first fortnight over most of the country and temperatures above 20degC, unsettled in second half.

JULY, a mainly wet month for all. Parts of the north, west and east have chances of dry days only between 12th-17th.

AUGUST, another wet month for all, with the east the chance of dry windows 4th-9th and 21st-25th and the SOUTH some sun 25th-30th.

SEPTEMBER, likely to be the warmest and most summery month for all, with best of summer weather between 6th-17th for the whole country.

So for all; time to plan holidays and picnics may be:

In north: Sept 7th-22nd, in west:: Sept, 4th-21st, in east: Sept 7th-23rd and 27th-30th, and in south: Sept 6th-17th.

Edited August 2, 2009 by sundog

[Snowyowl9]

Nobody saw the weeks weather earlier today then summer won`t be over yet.