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Spring / Summer 2010


djajb

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

July 2006 in Leeds, to me, felt like spending a month somewhere in the middle of continental Europe- that's how extreme the month was. It will probably be a long time before we see a month like it again- particularly the combination of heat, sunshine and thundery outbreaks, most similarly hot & sunny months in the past have been very dry almost nationwide. Having acquired a fondness for "continental" summers in recent years I thoroughly enjoyed that month, but it doesn't make it any less unusual.

I agree with Reef re. the rose-tinted glasses- August 2006 was a total contrast to July, many areas had less than half as much sunshine, maximum temmperatures 4-5C lower and above average rainfall, mostly of the persistent/frontal variety. In Tyne & Wear the summer was about as warm as 1995 and 2003, but sunshine wise despite the exceptional July it fell a fair way short of 1995, and was only roughly level with 1996.

Last summer was pretty dull and wet in the west, but most eastern areas had above average temperatures and sunshine with above average rainfall mainly resulting from convective rainstorms in July (and it was a pretty dry summer overall in East Anglia despite the wet July) so it's a bit of a stretch to lump it together with the last two. Even if you take western areas, Mr_Data's Manchester index came out with a much higher score than in 2008, assisted by the contrast between the relatively near-average August 2009 and the abysmal August 2008.

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Posted
  • Location: South East Cambridgeshire 57m ASL
  • Location: South East Cambridgeshire 57m ASL

Last summer wasnt bad at all here, there was plenty of days with sunshine and a couple of spells of hot weather (Wimbledon week no.1 bought at least 3 days of 30C- 32C maxes) I wouldnt mind a repeat of last summer here, although maybe the length of warm and dry could be a little longer. I do seem to find that some of the general population have their expectations of a British summer way too high. Its fact that we just arent going to get 30C days throughout the whole of the summer. Its just not possible in Britain due to different factors. We are due a warm summer, but I have no idea if this summer will be the one, and we must take into account that there will be cooler and wetter spells within the upcoming summer.

Edited by Snowman0697
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Posted
  • Location: Paignton, Devon
  • Location: Paignton, Devon

The last 3 summers have been pretty crap down here, although last year was more average than the previous 2 we had a very warm and dry June with temps frequently hitting the mid 20s reaching 25c-26c for 3 days straight but July was awful after a pleasantly warm first week it struggled to reach 20c after that, and August was almost average so it was an ok-ish summer.

I persoanlly wouldn't mind if every summer was like 2005 it had everything mixed into a bag and i think it was nearest we've had to a typical british summer in the last decade. (Although we had a warm June and August was pretty warm across the south only June) We had the most stunning spanish plume in June with 6 storms in one day from 4am - 11am and it still reached 24c under thick cloud all day, we had a 2 week period in July were temps reached anthing from 22/3c -29c and August was persistantly sunny and very warm with temps in the mid 20's with the odd cooler day.

It will be intreasting to see how this years pans out, i think Spring will be pretty fickle during the first half with it chopping between cold and warm and then turning gradually warmer and dryier from mid April-ish onwards as El Nino weakens, am i right in thinking that the QBO goes back into its possitive (westerly) phase this year? I personaly dont think El Nino will be gone till June/July which could give us a boost for a warmer and possibly drier first half to summer but we'll have to wait and see.

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Posted
  • Location: Powys Mid Wales borders.
  • Location: Powys Mid Wales borders.

Something we havn`t had for a long while you could say now and this I remember a very warm spell in early to mid March 17c and 16c maxes 1990/91.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/1990/Rrea00119900317.gif

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/1991/Rrea00119910313.gif

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Posted
  • Location: Shrewsbury
  • Location: Shrewsbury

Last summer wasn't up to much here; only a few warm sunny days at the May/June and June/July junctions. August was incredibly frustrating- the best example I can remember of a "Southeast versus the rest" month. (Second place to August 2003 BTW). Day after day it was cloudy and cool here while London and East Anglia were bathed in sun and it rained all over the far NW- in some ways it was just as bad as August 2008 which at least was dull everywhere.

2006 was a good summer let down by a poor August; it seems people forget its wonderful September. As for this year, we seem to be heading for a 2003-style March which is fine by me, if we can't have snow then sun by day and frost at night is the next best thing.

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Posted
  • Location: Liphook
  • Location: Liphook

Something we havn`t had for a long while you could say now and this I remember a very warm spell in early to mid March 17c and 16c maxes 1990/91.

http://www.wetterzen...00119900317.gif

http://www.wetterzen...00119910313.gif

Yeah, can't wait for those sort of temps now to be honest!

2006 was very interesting in that the evolution during late June and July just repated itself over and over again and if I remember correctly that summer featured a -ve NAO, it seems like the first 6-7 months of 2006 saw a boradly similar synoptic pattern the whole way through with blocking highs either near the UK or just to the NE which led to a cool winter and an increasingly warm summer.

I'm very much un two minds about this summer, I want to see how the AO and ENSO signals evolve over the next 2 months first, could easily go either way IMO...

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

Last summer wasn't up to much here; only a few warm sunny days at the May/June and June/July junctions. August was incredibly frustrating- the best example I can remember of a "Southeast versus the rest" month. (Second place to August 2003 BTW). Day after day it was cloudy and cool here while London and East Anglia were bathed in sun and it rained all over the far NW- in some ways it was just as bad as August 2008 which at least was dull everywhere.

I think that's being a little hard on August 2003- it was a notably warm sunny dry month over a large part of Scotland, Cumbria, north-east England and Northern Ireland, as well as the southeast. Only the south-western third of the country generally failed to have significantly above average sunshine, with below average sunshine confined to the area around Shrewsbury.

I can understand the frustration at August 2009- the first half was actually pretty dull here in Norfolk as well, and although the sunny second half more than made up for it here, there were quite a few days when it was 27C and sunshine in Norwich but dull over much of northern and western Britain. "Southeast versus the rest" definitely summed up the second half of that month.

Regarding September 2006 it really does seem to be "the forgotten month" regarding heat. I spent most of that month in Cleadon after a brief spell in Leeds, and the only things I vividly remember about it are a couple of weak thunderstorms in the second week and a very warm sunny day on the 21st- other than that, just a tale of consistent rather than outstanding warmth.

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Posted
  • Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
  • Location: Bratislava, Slovakia

Last summer wasn't up to much here; only a few warm sunny days at the May/June and June/July junctions. August was incredibly frustrating- the best example I can remember of a "Southeast versus the rest" month. (Second place to August 2003 BTW). Day after day it was cloudy and cool here while London and East Anglia were bathed in sun and it rained all over the far NW- in some ways it was just as bad as August 2008 which at least was dull everywhere.

2006 was a good summer let down by a poor August; it seems people forget its wonderful September. As for this year, we seem to be heading for a 2003-style March which is fine by me, if we can't have snow then sun by day and frost at night is the next best thing.

Completely spot on with regards to August 2009. As for August 2003, I wouldn't call it a totally glaring "southeaster" month but that monster heatwave in the first half of the month was sometimes very frustrating round here: I remember it starting off noticeably hot, but then the 6th and 7th saw temperatures held down by the most annoying cloud cover ever (a sort of west-coast haar). The 9th was very hot, but the record-breaking 10th saw temperatures struggle to get above 20C here (although the thunderstorm that morning was very impressive) - and that was the end of that. Nevertheless, summer 2003 as a whole was impressive with lots of dry and warm weather throughout.

I do remember September 2006 as being very summery, especially in the first half of the month - it essentially picked up where July left off, following the lacklustre month-long interlude that was August. I still find it hard to believe we had the hottest July ever followed by the hottest September ever. There can't be too many other years in the CET records where September was warmer than August. We haven't actually had a hotter month since.

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Posted
  • Location: Skelmanthorpe, Huddersfield 154m/538ft ASL
  • Weather Preferences: 6ft snow or 30°C sunshine...
  • Location: Skelmanthorpe, Huddersfield 154m/538ft ASL

I must admit I enjoyed 2006 up here. Lovely warm weather up here, unlike the last couple of years. I bought a gas BBQ in 2007 following 2006's great outdoors cooking weather, and hardly used it last year. Think I fired it up once! :(

Temp wise, I love my cold winters, but I love my hot summers more. Temps of 25degs+ for days on end are an ideal for me. I don't even mind the hot nights anymore as I bought a really good fan last year! LOL :)

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Posted
  • Location: Berlin, Germany
  • Weather Preferences: Ample sunshine; Hot weather; Mixed winters with cold and mild spells
  • Location: Berlin, Germany

2006 was certainly a special year for heat as it seems to reign from early summer right into mid autumn. June was hot & sunny followed by July - the hottest month on record. Then came the August blip when I distinctly remember going down to London early in the 'blip' period without a coat and feeling cold at night (which we hadn't felt in months by that point). The warmest September on record then followed on (remembering 27c being recorded early in the month) and I even remember sitting out in a t-shirt at night in mid October at one point. If we could replace August even with a fairly average but sunny and not too wet month you'd have the absolute perfect summer for me.

I live in hope we're treated to some long dry & sunny periods this year - preferably with high temperatures too.

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Guest North Sea Snow Convection

Replicate the current pattern, with perhaps the high slightly further north to strengthen the easterly breeze even further and that would make my ideal summer weather pattern. The last couple of Springs and Summers have produced some very nice easterlies with comfortably warm temps (as opposed to stifling heat) so more of that would be very welcome indeed!

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

I do remember September 2006 as being very summery, especially in the first half of the month - it essentially picked up where July left off, following the lacklustre month-long interlude that was August. I still find it hard to believe we had the hottest July ever followed by the hottest September ever. There can't be too many other years in the CET records where September was warmer than August. We haven't actually had a hotter month since.

Re. September 2006, I do recall a number of days with sea breezes (and some east-coast haar as well) which restricted the extent of the warmth on the warm days- so perhaps the emphasis on homogeneity rather than outstanding warmth might have been quite a localised feature. But even in Cleadon it took until August 2009 to record a warmer month. Also, September 2006 was warmer than August had been- this had actually happened once before in my record as well (1999).

On a similar note, I can't say I'm the biggest fan of spring & summer easterlies- it really does depend on location though, they're pretty good sunshine wise for western areas and probably the extreme S & SE but in Tyneside and to a lesser extent Norfolk they are often associated with large amounts of stratus and the odd bit of drizzle due to the long track over the North Sea. The first third of June 2007, for example, had warm sunshine over many parts of the country but in Cleadon there was almost no sun at all and the average max was 15.5C (only a fraction above the mean max for April 2007!).

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Posted
  • Location: Berlin, Germany
  • Weather Preferences: Ample sunshine; Hot weather; Mixed winters with cold and mild spells
  • Location: Berlin, Germany

Replicate the current pattern, with perhaps the high slightly further north to strengthen the easterly breeze even further and that would make my ideal summer weather pattern. The last couple of Springs and Summers have produced some very nice easterlies with comfortably warm temps (as opposed to stifling heat) so more of that would be very welcome indeed!

Alas a spring & summer of easterlies would bring endless low cloud to many places east of the Pennines (with perhaps exception of far S or SE perhaps). There would indeed be some clear, blue skies & sunshine with a nice cooling breeze but I'd think it'd make up only 20% of the time with the rest being low cloud and suppressed temps with an annoying chilly wind. Give me the stifling hear & sunshine!

Think we may have had this debate before :cold:

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Posted
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunny , cold and snowy, thunderstorms
  • Location: Weston-S-Mare North Somerset

I amhoping for a lot of dry weather this Summer, doesn't have to be baking hot, just drier than the last few years.

Getting married at the end of May, so some warm early sunshine & dry would be perfect. Also like a more active storm season, since 2006 around this area has seen very little in the way of proper storms.

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Posted
  • Location: Paignton, Devon
  • Location: Paignton, Devon

The heatwave in August 2003 has to be the longest hottest spell of weather i've witnessed in the uk, although it didnt get to the dizzy heights that it did in the south and east it still reached 30c on 5 days and 33c was the e highest i recorded but to reach 30c here is like the holy grail. Its only reached it a couple of times since and hasnt done for nearly 4 years now.

I was in Greece during the fortnight of heat in Jul 06 doh.gif but i know it only hit 30c a couple of times, although it was still persistantly very warm/hot.

Edited by Devon-Nelly
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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

If I remember rightly July 2006 was not record-breaking either temperature or sunshine wise over much of south-western Britain, eclipsed in terms of heat by July 1983 and sunshine wise by quite a few other Julys.

It was mainly the Midlands and northern & eastern England that saw temperature and sunshine records smashed by significant margins.

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Posted
  • Location: Paignton, Devon
  • Location: Paignton, Devon

If I remember rightly July 2006 was not record-breaking either temperature or sunshine wise over much of south-western Britain, eclipsed in terms of heat by July 1983 and sunshine wise by quite a few other Julys.

It was mainly the Midlands and northern & eastern England that saw temperature and sunshine records smashed by significant margins.

Yes i remember reading somewhere that '83 had been warmer across the south-west, wouldn't mind having a summer month like that as it was also pretty thundery wasnt it?

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

I think July 1983 and July 2006 were both thundery months taking the UK as a whole, but the distribution of thunderstorms on the two months were rather different, just as with the temperature anomalies.

According to the Met Office lightning and "days of thunder" maps for the month it was central and eastern England together with southern and eastern Scotland that had most of the lightning activity during July 2006, while there weren't as many over SW England:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/anomacts/#

I don't have any thunder stats for July 1983 to hand though.

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Posted
  • Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
  • Location: Bratislava, Slovakia
The first third of June 2007, for example, had warm sunshine over many parts of the country but in Cleadon there was almost no sun at all and the average max was 15.5C (only a fraction above the mean max for April 2007!).

That must have been an awful month along the east coast. I remember the east/west contrast well - we had a number of sunny days with 20-25C, but even here June rapidly deteriorated after a fine start and the washout summer began in earnest.

I believe Aberdeen that month recorded less sunshine than it did during the preceding December! That's just incredible, especially when you consider how much difference there is in seasonal daylight hours that far north.

Edited by AderynCoch
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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

Yes I remember that- Aberdeen had an exceptional sunshine total (something along the lines of 85-90 hours) during December 2006, and then managed to get less than that during June 2007!

In Tyneside we came close to reaching a "June duller than January" statistic- January 2007 had approximately 90 hours of sunshine across much of the region, owing to an unusual lack of persistently cloudy days, and for a long time June 2007 looked like it would fail to reach 90 hours across the region. Some bright, showery days in the last third of the month helped sunshine totals to just pass the 100-hour mark, beating January.

However, June 2007 in Tyneside was certainly duller than each of the three spring months of 2007. In 1997, June was not only duller than each of the spring months, but locally was also duller than February 1997 had been. But most remarkable of all was August 2008, which came out duller than all of the months from February to July 2008 inclusive over large areas of the country- and locally duller than December 2008.

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Posted
  • Location: Skirlaugh, East Yorkshire
  • Location: Skirlaugh, East Yorkshire

July 1983 was a rather unexceptional month temperature-wise here. The mean temp was 17.9C, beaten by August 1990 (18.4C), July 1991 (18.0C), July 1995 (18.0C), August 1997 (18.3C) and August 2009 (18.1C).

July 2009 was 2 degrees warmer with a mean of 19.9C. So it completely eclipsed 1983. Not to mention the average max temp:

July 1983 average max = 21.7C

July 2006 average max = 25.5C(!)

Quite a large difference there!

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Posted
  • Location: East Devon
  • Location: East Devon

If I remember rightly July 2006 was not record-breaking either temperature or sunshine wise over much of south-western Britain, eclipsed in terms of heat by July 1983 and sunshine wise by quite a few other Julys.

It was mainly the Midlands and northern & eastern England that saw temperature and sunshine records smashed by significant margins.

Coincidentally I was looking through the weather records for Exeter Airport for July 1983 as well as the archived charts earlier today! and I was thinking that July 1983 looked slightly hotter here compared to 2006. I was looking at this http://www.tutiempo.net/en/Climate/Exeter_Airport/38390.htm where you can select the month you wish to view stats from. The mean max here in 1983 is slightly higher than in July 06 as well as the highest temps recorded.

Mean Max 1983: 25.6°C

Mean max 2006: 25.2°C

So quite close but 1983 does indeed look a bit hotter here, although in July 83 daily temps were recorded to the nearest .1 of a degree, but in July 06 are just shown to the nearest whole degree.

Interesting to note the difference between here and the the NE of England!

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

Onshore winds and sea breezes will have been a major factor regarding NE England. July 1983 had a lot of both in the first half- I saw a photograph in the Weather journal a while ago for the 11th July 1983, showing clear skies across almost the whole country but the "haar" coming a fair distance inland over NE England.

The first week of July 2006 saw some "haar" in Cleadon but after that there was often a slight breeze from the land keeping the sea breezes at bay and giving comparable maxima to many inland areas. It was still cooler on the coast than inland- average 23C max as opposed to 24-25C in the Durham area- but the difference was less than in most other hot summer months.

Regarding Tutiempo.net, I find the "days of" variables a bit suspect at times (e.g. there's no way Exeter had three days of sleet/snow falling in July 1983!), but the temperature values are usually representative, usually being very close to or identical to the "official" records provided by the sites.

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Posted
  • Location: G.Manchester
  • Location: G.Manchester

July 2006 was an extraordinary month mean maxima wise. Averaged 27.6c here. The average is 21.8c. 5.8c above normal. Mean minima was less exceptional, 14.3c 1.9c above normal.

Other hot months;

July 2006 20.9c (+3.8c)

August 2004 18.4c (+1.4c)

June 2006 17.4c (+2.3c)

April 2007 was a shockingly warm month. It has the largest mean maxima anomaly departure from normal.;

Mean Max 18.8c (+6.1c)

Mean Min 6.3c (+1.2c)

Mean 12.6c (+3.6c)

Edited by Optimus Prime
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