Is Anyone Else Getting Fed Up With British 'summers'?

[cheeky_monkey]

i love british summers..they are fabulous..Canadian summers stink..well the last two.

Edited July 15, 2011 by cheeky_monkey

[Backtrack]

Summer to be back by the end of the month for a while, so no worries!

[Arctic Hare]

I do moan about our weather sometimes, but when I really think about it I actually prefer it to most places, including continental Europe, precisely because extremes are so rare. I enjoyed last December, but it would be less special if it happened every winter; a friend of mine used to live in Northern Alberta and to him -40 °C was something you'd expect at some point every year. Equally July 2006 was something really memorable (IMO more so than August 2003 away from the SE), but it would be decidedly uncomfortable if we always had Julys like that.

Here in Worcs, last year we had a fantastic June, average July and terrible August -- so I suppose you could say it was an average summer overall. This year, so far at least, it's been average all the way: we have had our share of really nice days (Thursday was lovely, for example) and even on the showery days there have often been pretty decent sunny breaks. Maxes have been rather low, but when the sun comes out it's strong enough to feel pretty warm. The only absolute dead loss of a day so far has been 12 June: just 10 °C at 1pm and 15 hours of rain.

Assuming July continues in the unsettled vein the models seem to indicate, it'll hinge on what happens in August. A month like the one we had last year would certainly push this summer into the "poor" category. Another one like this month so far would see it slap bang in the middle of "average". A 1990s-style August (and I don't mean 1992!) would quickly change a lot of minds: many people have short memories, especially if the school holiday season ends up being nice. It could even make the summer as a whole above average in my book.

[Costa Del Fal]

I do moan about our weather sometimes, but when I really think about it I actually prefer it to most places, including continental Europe, precisely because extremes are so rare. I enjoyed last December, but it would be less special if it happened every winter; a friend of mine used to live in Northern Alberta and to him -40 °C was something you'd expect at some point every year. Equally July 2006 was something really memorable (IMO more so than August 2003 away from the SE), but it would be decidedly uncomfortable if we always had Julys like that.

Here in Worcs, last year we had a fantastic June, average July and terrible August -- so I suppose you could say it was an average summer overall. This year, so far at least, it's been average all the way: we have had our share of really nice days (Thursday was lovely, for example) and even on the showery days there have often been pretty decent sunny breaks. Maxes have been rather low, but when the sun comes out it's strong enough to feel pretty warm. The only absolute dead loss of a day so far has been 12 June: just 10 °C at 1pm and 15 hours of rain.

Assuming July continues in the unsettled vein the models seem to indicate, it'll hinge on what happens in August. A month like the one we had last year would certainly push this summer into the "poor" category. Another one like this month so far would see it slap bang in the middle of "average". A 1990s-style August (and I don't mean 1992!) would quickly change a lot of minds: many people have short memories, especially if the school holiday season ends up being nice. It could even make the summer as a whole above average in my book.

I totally agree. For our area so far it really has been about as Average as I can think of and I say that in a good way. Whilst in the last few years we've usually had one good strong month, Id rather have nice days throughout the summer than packed all into one period. This summer is going about that Average with something for all throughout the summer. Slightly poor charts at the moment but as you say just 1 proper poor day so far. There has actually been little in the way of frontal rain in my opinion, just good amounts of torrential showers. Id quite like August to continue similarly, if a touch warmer if possible. If we can get August to be at least like the summer so far I would say it will be just about the best since 2006 thanks no endless rain, more regular sunshine between showers (July and August was very cloudy last year for example) and with that regular warm to very warm days, none cool away from the rain.

For Central and Southern England, a summer that certainly cant be complained about so far in my opinion.

Edited July 16, 2011 by Blizzards

[ZONE 51]

I think the problem is that the UK does fairly regularly get a settled warm summer month, and then every few years a very decent summer, but people are hoping each year, that that year is 'the one', so this summer we were hoping for the next 1995, 1976 etc, and next year will be exactly the same. eventually it will occur again whether it be in 1 year or 20 years time, its just people expect each upcoming summer to be the next classic.

and when one does occur then its expected to become the norm and the cycle continues, with our average summers becoming not good enough in peoples minds

its the same for winter that we wait for the classic or historic period of weather events-and we got them! so why not summer? its the same thing waiting for that year to bring the best widespread summer ever just like the great cold and snow of december, but of course not everyone wants any severe event but a good dose of snow, and for summer we don't want prolonged heat and dry? i mean serious heat that is damaging. but we all want very warm sunny blue days so we can bq or sit outside late evening in calm warm conditions, but not sticky indoor heat, it needs to be just right,

a couple of weeks of clear skies and heat would get boring and after a while storm lovers would go mad ,not really but we be would frustrated, as we do like a storm a week or two , what i mean is varied weather is interesting, a week of very warm setted weather and calm weather, this bringing storms then repeat repeat.

hope summer arrives up North! its fine round my parts, actually been a nice and warm summer so far with hot days to, and much more storms around thanks to our friend the Atlantic!

Edited July 16, 2011 by ElectricSnowStorm

[Coast]

Not so much fed up with them, just can't rely on them! If we could just get a month of sunshine, say all of August (and maybe some of September) then the rest of the year can do what it likes. Seems we get a false start around early Easter now, with a week or two of sunshine then mixed dross, with nothing the same three days running through to October.

Still, that's the UK!

[Bad2thebone79]

its not that people 'expect' anything from the weather, I don't expect it to be nice or bad. I in general do not like the english weather though, its always mild, something exciting happens once in a blue moon and you have to wait another 5+ years for it to happen again.

my ideal type of weather would be nice and warm in the summer with occasional thunderstorms some severe and in the winter it would be cold with snow. it may be boring to some but then you could plan for it and you would get used to it.

I agree with that, I just wish our summers were a bit more like this (ie much more enjoyable):

warm, hot, thunderstorm, slightly cooler, then warm, hot, thunderstorm, slightly cooler and so on.

I just don't like grey, rainy, drizzly days between June and September like today for example and temperatures in the mid to late teens.

I wish we could tell the jet stream to sod off to the north of the UK and take its miserable weather with it!!! :lol:

[Bottesford]

Well so far this summer hasn't been a bad one - apart from a few days (like today) it's been mostly dry & fairly warm at times. I haven't needed a coat at all for months only feeling a chill when sat outside pubs into the evening.

Yes we do expect too much from our summers - a wind swept island at this latitude exposed to the Atlantic Ocean is never going to be hot & sunny all the time. I think the main problem of such a climate is reliability. Planning outdoor events is a gamble. I'm sure many village/school fetes have been rained off this weekend to much disappointment and financial losses. Whereas an estate 'garden trail' around this area fell on that hot, sunny Sunday the other week with massive attendance (and thus lots of money raised for charity).

I imagine a lot of people are cursing the British summer today after a few really nice weather days late this week only for it to turn bad for the weekend. Bare in mind that if you work Monday to Friday there's only about 24 weekend days in summer to get out and enjoy the world in!

For me, Saturday would be the prime day I'd want hot & sunny weather as it's generally when I get out & about the most during the daytime - it can rain during Monday mornings when I'm stuck in the office.

I like weather variety too but I'd be happy if we could keep all the rainy, cold & cloudy variety during October to March. April to September should be dominated by the sun!

[mushymanrob]

i think theres a misconception that most want a never ending heatwave, especially as in summer the model threads are dominated by people looking for a hot spell, myself included.

however, this isnt the case, to me a perfect summer would be one of variety plus a decent ten day hot spell or two!

im not sure what the op is moaning about, this summer is pretty much a typical british summer albeit so far without a hot spell (outside an odd day or two and away from favoured areas). 07 and 08 were too wet and cloudy, moan about that.. but this year is ok... it could be alot worse but realistically not much better.

[Bottesford]

i think theres a misconception that most want a never ending heatwave, especially as in summer the model threads are dominated by people looking for a hot spell, myself included.

Yes very true - I know lots of people who can't deal with heat (i.e. much over 24c) in much the same way most people don't want a long freezing cold snowy winter. It's good for a short while but not all summer/winter. However I find much more agreement on not wanting rain!

[Evening thunder]

I hope I don't get accused of having my expectations too high here, but IMO there are some disappointing factors about this summer IMBY.

For example the highest temp here in the last 42 days has been just 23.2C, about 2C above average (reached in the 'heatwave' at the end of June) It has mainly been persistently cool or average temperature wise, though in terms of weather there has indeed been good variability in some ways with some pleasant sunny summery feeling days at times. From Monday-Thursday I was in Swansea and it was decent most of the time with mainly high cloud Monday and Tuesday, shower Tues eve, mostly sunny Wednesday and Thursday. It would be nice to have some more temperature variation since the beginning of June, a bit like more continental areas tend to get.

I haven't had a thunderstorm since May the 6th and not really any torrential showers either, mainly frontal rain. I do think if the charts for the next week - 10 days and then the Met Office's current 6-15 and 16-30 day outlooks come off, this summer will be amongst those of 2007/8/9, possibly worse even (there is actually some consensus around here that 2008 was worse than 2007 here)

All of those summers did just manage a few days of very warm sunny weather (25C+) somewhere in them as well as some interesting weather/heavy downpours at times. Much of this mornings rain has missed us so just as grey with less 'interest' from rain.

August would have to be quite good to for this summer to beat last summer here, as June 2010 was good, July 'not too bad' here I thought and the same for August, if a little cool at times. All 3 months had a mean max >20C and 2 months >21C. June and July this year have been cooler than the last 3 years so far (I don't have records for 2007)

[Milhouse]

Whilst i admit this summer has been good for those wanting pleasant conditions without anything too extreme i so miss turning on the news and having the top story talking about the UK having a heatwave. We get so much news coverage about the snow and cold during the winter that it would be nice to balance that out with some newsworthy summer event (but not floods please). I just want to experience some unmistakeable summer weather with a week of temperatures in the high 20s and sun symbols all over the UK, like what we got on the old forecasts. I am well aware of what is possible in the UK so i'm not being wildly optimistic with my expectations. Even an average summer like 2001 still managed some decent very warm spells, which this year hasnt quite managed. I would really be tearing my hair out if i lived up north where i hear its been a shocker. I was looking at some stats for Inverbervie close to Aberdeen and its had just 1 day of 20c all year so far!!!! Absolutely abysmal. However once again over here we've faired comparitavely well and i'm sure weve already surpassed July 2010s sunshine total, but lagging far behind temperature wise

So its just the complete lack of notable summer heat that i'm getting increasingly irritated by. Even the average summers of the last decade managed some decent noteworthy temperatures like 2002 and 2004. So far at Humberside Airport there have been only 5 instances of over 24c this year. Last year there had been over 25 occasions of 24c+ days by the end of July.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I don't get an impression in the model output thread of most people wanting a never ending heatwave- there are certainly many who would like a decent-length hot spell but there is a fair amount of divergence of views.

My problem with MOD is that I get a sense of an overwhelming desire for endless high pressure and constant warm settled weather with very little happening bar the odd thundery breakdown (perhaps like a cooler version of the Mediterranean coast- I went to Provence in southern France last year for a couple of weeks and, bar a couple of thunderstorms and variation in cloud amounts, there was very little weather to speak of). This desire is nothing like as dominant elsewhere in the forum, suggesting that there's a bit of a "clique" that sets up in there, and rather like the desire for snow in winter and warmth in spring, it can get hostile for those who express interest in anything else.

The main issue with heat is that it's always either not hot enough for some, too hot for some, or both. I've rather shifted position on heat over the years, as I used to struggle in anything above 24C when I was younger but these days it usually has to get above 30C before I start finding it particularly uncomfortable- and although I might not come across that way, my all-time favourite summer setup is probably the one with high pressure to the east and an Atlantic trough as characterised the Julys of 1994, 1995 and 2006.

Some interesting points earlier by Arctic Hare about the rarity of extremes. I find that there's a balance to be struck between rarity (you get too little of it) and frequency (you don't appreciate it as much due to over-exposure). For me, most parts of central France and central & southern Germany get the balance better than the UK which errs too much on the side of rarity, but for others, perhaps those continental areas err too much on the side of frequency- it's one of those where we can have a wide range of differing views and all of them be "right" in their own ways.

[Eugene]

Yes im fed up of all the let down unsettled spells, its always feels very warm and humid with hardly any rain, inside modern houses which have good insulation it feels like an oven in the past week, yes i am completely fed up of them roll on cool and wet summers if we'll ever get them again like in the mid 80's

[paul tall]

"Unsettled" is the phrase I hate most.

I just want sunny, dry, settled weather. Heatwaves are nice but not essential. Even in places like Scandinavia they get so much more sunshine than us. We're holidaying in England this year from July 22nd and too much of the pre holiday focus has been taken up with wondering whether the weather will be settled - when you go abroad worrying about the weather is not a concern.

I'm fed up of looking at the Met Office further outlook and seeing no change to the forecast day in, day out. It's depressing me, unsettled, unsettled, unsettled, cool or rather cool, unsettled, unsettled...GAAAAAAAAAH!

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Yes im fed up of all the let down unsettled spells, its always feels very warm and humid with hardly any rain, inside modern houses which have good insulation it feels like an oven in the past week, yes i am completely fed up of them roll on cool and wet summers if we'll ever get them again like in the mid 80's

cor! you wanna live here then, full washout tomorrow, i get fed up of wet sundays, then it dries up at 7pm

[Summer of 95]

The real problem with the summers since about 1998, and particularly post-2006; has been two things:

a) Excessive concentration of high temperatures, sunshine and dryness towards the SE of Britain. I know that the NW gets more rain on average but the way that any summer heat and sunshine has refused to budge beyond the Home Counties and East Anglia in the last few years is getting really tiresome. In the 80s and 90s a "Spanish Plume" or southerly heatwave usually gave 25C+, with plenty of sun and often a thundery breakdown, virtually everywhere from Manchester/Leeds/Hull southwards, and often further north too. Nowadays we get 30C sunshine and a thundery breakdown around London, 25-28C and sun with scattered thundery showers east of a line Portsmouth-Lincoln, and at best the low to mid 20s with sunny spells (but often cloud, high humidity and light rain) elsewhere.

B) The lack of sunshine in recent summers. August 2008 was the dullest summer month for 96 years, so was a once in a lifetime event. Yet we got a *July* that was duller two years later. Even in settled synoptics, it seems to me that we can't get the "fair-weather cumulus" summer afternoons anymore, it invariably clouds over to at least 5/8 Sc by midday only to clear at 8pm.

[Thundery wintry showers]

"Unsettled" is the phrase I hate most.

I just want sunny, dry, settled weather. Heatwaves are nice but not essential. Even in places like Scandinavia they get so much more sunshine than us. We're holidaying in England this year from July 22nd and too much of the pre holiday focus has been taken up with wondering whether the weather will be settled - when you go abroad worrying about the weather is not a concern.

I'm fed up of looking at the Met Office further outlook and seeing no change to the forecast day in, day out. It's depressing me, unsettled, unsettled, unsettled, cool or rather cool, unsettled, unsettled...GAAAAAAAAAH!

Having had numerous holidays to various parts of France and to a lesser extent Belgium/Germany/Holland, I think most parts of the continent are more reliable for warmth/heat and sunshine, particularly the further south you go. However, nowhere is 100% reliable for heat and sunshine unless you go to the Mediterranean- on rare occasions central and southern France can end up cool and cloudy for significant periods, if you get slow moving fronts stuck over the region- we may be comparing 90% reliability with, say, 50% or below for most parts of Britain, but it can be a real shock if you catch one of their cool cloudy interludes. For reliable dry settled weather you'd definitely have to go to the Mediterranean because elsewhere thundery downpours are common (it rains for a smaller percentage of the time than in Britain but when it rains, it really rains).

I remember when I was younger I had a misconception that everywhere south of Paris had Mediterranean type summers but over the last decade I've found out how wrong I was.

[TonyH]

I'm getting fed up of people getting fed up with British Summers

full washout tomorrow, i get fed up of wet sundays, then it dries up at 7pm

Well is it ?

[95 Degrees]

Having had numerous holidays to various parts of France and to a lesser extent Belgium/Germany/Holland, I think most parts of the continent are more reliable for warmth/heat and sunshine, particularly the further south you go. However, nowhere is 100% reliable for heat and sunshine unless you go to the Mediterranean- on rare occasions central and southern France can end up cool and cloudy for significant periods, if you get slow moving fronts stuck over the region- we may be comparing 90% reliability with, say, 50% or below for most parts of Britain, but it can be a real shock if you catch one of their cool cloudy interludes. For reliable dry settled weather you'd definitely have to go to the Mediterranean because elsewhere thundery downpours are common (it rains for a smaller percentage of the time than in Britain but when it rains, it really rains).

I remember when I was younger I had a misconception that everywhere south of Paris had Mediterranean type summers but over the last decade I've found out how wrong I was.

I think summers and even winters in Central/SW France/West Germany although not quite as similar in winter remind me of the climate of the NE corridor in the U.S (New York,Baltimore etc.), warm summers with average high temperatures in the mid 20s but not allways reliable to be sunny or warm and can be plagued by nasty fronts and occasional severe t-storms in summer, but when half the time there not they can easily reach the 30s and beyond and heatwaves can last 1+ weeks, but due to them being wetter/cloudier/slightly cooler than the med they don't classify as that climate but Sub-Continental climates instead, New York is slightly cooler and snowier in winter though than Central France/West Germany.

[Bottesford]

Northern Spain certainly doesn't get hot & dry summers. Being exposed to the Atlantic and being very mountainous its climate is actually somewhat similar to here with summer maxes in the low 20s, a fair bit of rain and cold, snowy winters.

Eastern Europe is generally good for very warm & sunny weather. A couple of years back in late June to early July I went by train from here to Ukraine stopping off in Berlin & Warsaw. For nearly the whole time maxes were around 25c and mins not much below 20c. There were two 'poor' days - one in Berlin where it felt cool under drizzle (didn't stop the gay pride parade!) and one in Kiev when I took the day trip to Chernobyl. It actually suited the mood having low cloud & drizzle being in the place like that however!

Britain definitely can't keep up with Eastern European summers (nor winters) but no surprise really being where we are!

[Jon Somerset]

Since I got used to continental summer most years on holiday I think I've developed an expectation of better weather here. But we have had great summers, particularly in the early 90's and that set us up to expect them as the norm.

It feels as if we have been very unlucky here with some of the best weather landing on weekdays and then becoming cool and miserable at the weekends. The SE has definately had better summers than the rest of us - but last year it was the other way round.

I'm unsure if it's wishful thinking, or a real change in the weather patterns. But I did seriously consider living by the med for a while to get the long decent days of sun and heat - which I love. Knowing we can get them here but not getting them for several years now increases the frustration which is reflected by many on this forum.

[bobbydog]

Northern Spain certainly doesn't get hot & dry summers. Being exposed to the Atlantic and being very mountainous its climate is actually somewhat similar to here with summer maxes in the low 20s, a fair bit of rain and cold, snowy winters.

Eastern Europe is generally good for very warm & sunny weather. A couple of years back in late June to early July I went by train from here to Ukraine stopping off in Berlin & Warsaw. For nearly the whole time maxes were around 25c and mins not much below 20c. There were two 'poor' days - one in Berlin where it felt cool under drizzle (didn't stop the gay pride parade!) and one in Kiev when I took the day trip to Chernobyl. It actually suited the mood having low cloud & drizzle being in the place like that however!

Britain definitely can't keep up with Eastern European summers (nor winters) but no surprise really being where we are!

did you know you're not allowed to wear y-fronts in russia? - chernobyl fallout....

Edited July 17, 2011 by bobbydog

[Turnedoutniceagain]

Dare I use the term - " A Modern Summer" ???

[paul tall]

Dare I use the term - " A Modern Summer" ???

Haha, The Modern Summer indeed!