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

[Carl46Wrexham]

Fed up to the back teeth of it now. Slate grey skies, rain and wind. The fact that the nicest weather I have experienced this year came in April is a damning indictment of this so called summer.

If I had paid for this summer I would be preparing to demand a refund.

We had a sustained settled spell of weather in April, yet June and July have abjectly failed to deliver...sorry but the odd nice day here and there does not cut it for me. Especially not after the 35mm of rain the past 24 hours has delivered. Shove this summer where it belongs...in the bin along with its 2007-10 predecessors!

[Turnedoutniceagain]

Never mind Carl, only 6 weeks 'til September !!

[Carl46Wrexham]

Actually looking forward to September.....I'll bet anything it'll be early September when we get glorious weather.

I'll wager that when this year is over, we will look back on it and reminisce about the two months of lovely summer weather we had..........

....in April and September!

Edited July 18, 2011 by Carl43Wrexham

[laserguy]

Ha,the fact that it's summer at all is bad enough for me, but apart from the dreadful hot snap in early June it could have been much,much worse. Today is wonderful - cool,gusty and heavy overcast and with a substantial shower on its way. The days are just starting to get noticeably shorter - wish they'd get a move on. Ye only six weeks 'til Sept (which is also capable of delivering heat but somehow feels different and the days are much shorter) but my dread is that somewhere in that period a hot spell will materialise,ugh no. Each day safely traversed without any such horror is a bonus and one day closer to the end of this horrible season. Can ye tell I'm a winter type of person?

[TonyH]

You guys obviously were n't around in the 1980s then?

If this Summer seems THAT bad

[Thundery wintry showers]

I had a feeling that this would happen- as soon as many of us get a spell of generally dull wet windy weather, instead of it giving people a reality check re. what's gone before, the rest of the summer gets tarred with the same brush as the current weather!

It's perhaps not quite as extreme as what happened last year which got lumped together with 2007-09 as a summer of dross, with July and August emphasised and June rather glossed over.

[TonyH]

You what, has n't this Summer been incessantly cool, dull and wet then TWS??

[EaasmanG]

I had a feeling that this would happen- as soon as many of us get a spell of generally dull wet windy weather, instead of it giving people a reality check re. what's gone before, the rest of the summer gets tarred with the same brush as the current weather!

Yeah what went before was the coolest June since 1991 and with a mean max of a summery, bakeriffic 16°C and two warm days.

The mean minimum temp also been consistently below average this summer, and now my mean max has gone below average, and provisionally could end up below 17°C (over 1.5 degrees below average) if the latest forecast verifies. And now July has once again become the wettest month of the year.

I've been collating weather records for years and the "reality" is that this is the crappest summer since 2007. None of 2008, 2009 or 2010 were as bad as this, in my records, taking into account sunshine, rainfall, temperatures. End of.

[Eabie]

Only good thing about high heat and humidity, IMO, is the possibility of severe thunderstorms. But I've never liked heat in and of itself, and if there's a long spell of 30+ degrees weather and it delivers no storms (as sometimes happens) I get really disappointed. This is my first British summer and I'm enjoying it, to be honest. The moderate (some would even say cool) temperatures are lovely. There is a fair bit more showery rain here than where I'm from (it just started raining again now as I write this in fact), but I love watching the rain from indoors anyway.

My hometown in Canada was 34 C yesterday - part of the heat wave going on in North America right now - and is projected to hit that high again today. I find weather like that headache-inducing and almost nauseating. If it delivers a cracking good storm it can be worth it, but otherwise I'll settle for England's temperate climes.

[95 Degrees]

Yeah what went before was the coolest June since 1991 and with a mean max of a summery, bakeriffic 16°C and two warm days.

The mean minimum temp also been consistently below average this summer, and now my mean max has gone below average, and provisionally could end up below 17°C (over 1.5 degrees below average) if the latest forecast verifies. And now July has once again become the wettest month of the year.

I've been collating weather records for years and the "reality" is that this is the crappest summer since 2007. None of 2008, 2009 or 2010 were as bad as this, in my records, taking into account sunshine, rainfall, temperatures. End of.

I agree quite alot with this EaasmanG, it hasn't been a terrible summer like 2007 but I would currently rate it as quite poor with just one three day hot spell, 2008, 2009 and 2010 all had at least one 1 week warm/hot spell whist for me so far until we get one this is a below average summer in my opinion, sunshine amounts have been average but has not often felt warm enough with a consistent wind pegging real feel temperatures back, I think the next two weeks could make or break summer and if the possible warm/hot spell doesn't happen at the closure of the month I can't see another hot spell happening and this will likely go down as a slightly below average summer if that happens.

[reef]

Im actually enjoying this summer quite a bit. I absolutely detest heat and apart from a couple of days at the end of June it has been without it. The only complaint I have is that although not much rain has fallen it seems to be spread over many days and annoyingly, usually in the middle when I want to get out and do things.

I think its a bit premature to be saying this summer is the worst since a certain year as its only half way through. If the current pattern were to continue to September then it would be a very strong contender for a poor summer. However certainly in my neck of the woods it would take some doing to beat 2007 and 2008, which had 371mm and 257mm of rain and were duller than average.

So far this summer is around average for temperature, sunshine and rainfall in my locale. That in itself is probably a shock to the system for many as 'average' summers have generally been on the poorer end of the spectrum in the last 20 years. Phrases like 'modern summers' amuse me as there are many who probably remember some quite terrible summers before the 1990s (and they were actually a lot more common than good ones!).

[Richard2901]

Yes, I am thoroughly sick fed up of the awful summers we've been enduring up here since 1998. Most summers were good between 1989 and 1997 but 2003 was the only good summer between 1998 and 2006 with 1999, 2005 and 2006 mixed and the others poor.

Poor barely begins to describe what we've been subjected to since 2007. It's been more like Icelandic/Faeroese summers than British summers. There's not even been one decent summer month since July 2006 whereas even in the 1960s 6 out of 10 summers had at least one good month. The East of Scotland has been suffering the most from the exceptional high frequency of southerly tracking lows as instead of being in the rain shadow with west and south west winds we get vile northerly and easterly winds giving copious amounts of rain.

The Met Office regional rainfall series for Eastern Scotland http://www.metoffice.../Scotland_E.txt shows that 3 of the last 4 summers plus 2002 and 2004 i.e. half of the previous 10 ranked amongst the 12 wettest summers of the past century. 2011 looking a safe bet to add to that list given that some parts must be close to having had their whole seasonal average rain already

This summer so far is worse than 2008, 2009 and 2010 and barely any better than 2007 - the worst summer of the past 60 years. It's an unprecedented 5th poor summer in a row, the previous worst sequences being 4 in a row (1960-63 and 1977-80). There's been no wind at all from the SW quarter in July and practically none in June either, apart from the first few days, resulting in persistently low temperatures, well above average rainfall and below average sunshine (albeit nowhere near as bad as 2007 when the first half of summer unbelievably had less sun than the first half of the previous winter ) .

I have only recorded 20C once since 4th June - on the 3rd July when it reached all of 20.1C. Truly dire and it looks like we'll be lucky to top 15C the rest of this week. Annual total so far of just 5 days reaching 20C and 2 of those were in the first third of April!!

Thank goodness that foreign holidays are cheap and affordable nowadays unlike during the woeful summers of the 50s and 60s. I go abroad three times a year compared to just once before 2008 and don't bother with UK holidays anymore

[Michael Fishermans Friend]

Jeez man you had a mixed 2006?!? down here it was one of the best since 1976! - yeah as previous people have mentioned go back to the late 70's and most of the 80's bar 83 and 89 and there were far poorer than now and certainly cooler!

[bobbydog]

look on the bright side - no plagues of flies, wasps or any other of the little gits who make your life a misery during the summer. having said that, the kids have got 6 weeks holiday soon!.....

[Lake District Blizzard]

Jeez man you had a mixed 2006?!? down here it was one of the best since 1976! - yeah as previous people have mentioned go back to the late 70's and most of the 80's bar 83 and 89 and there were far poorer than now and certainly cooler!

1985 was by far the most horrendous summer in this area, much more so than any other of the 80's or 2007/8/9 by a mile, it would be interesting to see what peoples perceptions of 1985 were like in other parts of the country

[Optimus Prime]

I'm quite surprised this thread has come from someone living in the east when you look at the stats

East Anglia

2010;

July was the 5th warmest on record and 2nd warmest my mean minimum temperature

2009;

August 9th warmest on record by mean average temperature

The east has done well, much better than the UK in general in recent summers.

[Teesdale]

1985 was by far the most horrendous summer in this area, much more so than any other of the 80's or 2007/8/9 by a mile, it would be interesting to see what peoples perceptions of 1985 were like in other parts of the country

Dont think its been that bad a summer so far in this neck of the woods it was much wetter in 07/08/09. Just an average summer here so far.

Yes 1985 was a very poor summer in Cumbria. 3rd wettest of the century in parts of the Lakes.

[Richard2901]

Jeez man you had a mixed 2006?!? down here it was one of the best since 1976! - yeah as previous people have mentioned go back to the late 70's and most of the 80's bar 83 and 89 and there were far poorer than now and certainly cooler!

Yes, July 2006 was exceptionally warm and sunny here but it was really the only good month. August was terrible - the dullest summer month here since August 1979 but was since surpassed by June 2007 (dullest June ever recorded) and August 2008 (dullest August since 1963).

Didn't think much of June 2006 either as while most of the country had a glorious first third, many days were spoiled here by dreaded cloud off the North Sea. The second half of the month was fairly unsettled although rain amounts were fairly small.

Much preferred 2005 to 2006 as there were more weeks of good weather just never anything outstanding like July 2006. However a prolonged spell of horrendously cold and dull weather at the end of July really spoiled that summer.

[Guest]

I had a feeling that this would happen- as soon as many of us get a spell of generally dull wet windy weather, instead of it giving people a reality check re. what's gone before, the rest of the summer gets tarred with the same brush as the current weather!

It's perhaps not quite as extreme as what happened last year which got lumped together with 2007-09 as a summer of dross, with July and August emphasised and June rather glossed over.

No such danger here, July is on course to be a sneaky wee warm month, running at 1C above average as of today. It has been a cracking month. Wet at times because of thunderstorms, the rest of the time it has been warm and fairly sunny.

[damianslaw]

Dont think its been that bad a summer so far in this neck of the woods it was much wetter in 07/08/09. Just an average summer here so far.

Yes 1985 was a very poor summer in Cumbria. 3rd wettest of the century in parts of the Lakes.

I have vague recollections of 1985 being 7 at the time, I remember it being poor compared to 1984 which was a very dry summer in the lake district - I have pictures of the brown grass on the local rec, not many an occasion this has happened. There was a run of very poor summers in the 80's in these parts, 1986 although quite dry was very cool, 1987 was wet and 1988 saw a terrible July and Aug - I remember the summer holidays being a rainfest.

This summer so far rates far better than the 1985-88 summers, it also hasn't been especially wet unlike 2007 and 2008 and to a lesser extent 2009. I would rate it so far as fairly average but dissapointing in terms of maximum temps. Summers do have a knack of delivering poorer conditions during the second half, August can be a cloudy wet affair in the Lake District and on average sees much more rain than Feb, Mar, Apr, May, June and July. Its rare for August to be our best summer month, we have seen exceptions in recent years such as 1995, but I never hold out for August. So if we see a continuation of the recent type of weather for the rest of July, mmm this summer could very much end up being classed as another poor one with every chance of it ranking worse than 2007 and 2008, but equally there is equal chance of it being rated as our best since 2006 if we see a change in fortunes. My own hunch is it will rate as preety similiar to last year which in my book despite the lack of warmth and lengthy dry spells was very average indeed.

In all honesty it has so far been a very typical british summer.

Edited July 18, 2011 by damianslaw

[Thundery wintry showers]

I was in Leeds during June 2006 and the first 12 days were fantastic there, and gave a strong taste of what was to come during July. The weather was mostly sunny and dry and quite calm with temperatures generally in the mid 20s, and a few sharp showers fell on the 4th and 7th and some thunderstorms on the 12th. However, from the 13th onwards westerlies on the northern flank of ridges from the Azores High brought mostly dry cloudy and windy weather. In Cleadon, the records from my AWS point to a similar scenario to what Richard2901 describes with cool onshore winds in the first third, a brief hot interlude around the 12th and then cloudy windy westerlies. But further south, closer to the Azores High ridges, most of the rest of the month continued sunny and dry, so perceptions of the month will depend on how far south you were.

I'd have rated 2005 as a great summer, and indeed better than 2006, had it not been for the relentlessly cool and dull last third of July 2005.

I didn't find the summers of 2009 and 2010 at all bad in Norwich btw. 2009 had slightly warmer, drier and sunnier than average conditions in June, a warm unsettled July characterised by thundery downpours with sunshine in between, and August, after a cloudy first third, became sunny and warm after midmonth. 2010 had a memorable spell from 22 June to 4 July with lots of sunshine and daily maxima in the range 25-29C, and cool cloudy weather didn't really set in that summer until the last week of July there.

[Milhouse]

What this year is missing so far is at least a week of very warm/humid conditions. It doesnt have to necessarily be a completely dry week but a spell of decent temperatures has not featured this summer at all. Going back as far as i can remeber we have always had at least one prolonged spell of warmth (at least 5 days).

Last year it was the period between the 24th June and the 10th July where we saw 2 seperate occasions where 30c was reached.

2009 also saw a hot spell late June and early July. I remember the Wimbledon forecast showing a whole week of temperatures into the 30s. It remained warm until the 5th July.

Late July 2008 also saw a week of high 20s coupled with some warm nights but nothing especially hot.

2007 is the odd one out with no proper warm spell

2006 obviously had decent spells in June and July

2005 had a very warm second half to June and a the middle third of July also saw a warm period.

As far as i remember the first few weeks of June 2004 were hot, as was the first week of August

2003 of course was a very warm summer almost throughout.

even 2002 became very warm at the end of July.

So far this summer has not delivered anything long lasting and thats why i'm still rather underwhelmed.

[AderynCoch]

So far this summer has not delivered anything long lasting and thats why i'm still rather underwhelmed.

I agree with this. We've had some brief interludes of warmth (and some very high temperatures in late June, but not widespread), but this summer needs a longer spell of warm/hot weather to be looked back on as "good". Not necessarily weeks of 30-35C, but at least a week of widespread 25-30C would be very nice.

So far this hasn't been a "good" summer, it just hasn't been that bad overall either (despite the recent deterioration of the weather).

[Thundery wintry showers]

I can't deny what Millhouse has pointed out- this summer has been characterised by consistent rather than fluctuating temperatures, and thus the incidence of above-average temperatures (say, by upwards of 2-3 degrees) has been down on what we'd typically expect in an average or even fairly cool summer (typically a cool summer would have a mix of warm, average and cold with the cold outweighing the warm). We had one interlude of above-average temperatures which lasted a couple of days (2/3 June) and another exceptional but very brief heatwave (26/27 June) and remarkably, that seems to have been our lot.

So while I've generally taken the "expectations are too high" line I can certainly see a fair case for those who would like at least the odd spell (say upwards of a few days) with temperatures above the long-term average being underwhelmed.

[damianslaw]

I can't deny what Millhouse has pointed out- this summer has been characterised by consistent rather than fluctuating temperatures, and thus the incidence of above-average temperatures (say, by upwards of 2-3 degrees) has been down on what we'd typically expect in an average or even fairly cool summer (typically a cool summer would have a mix of warm, average and cold with the cold outweighing the warm). We had one interlude of above-average temperatures which lasted a couple of days (2/3 June) and another exceptional but very brief heatwave (26/27 June) and remarkably, that seems to have been our lot.

So while I've generally taken the "expectations are too high" line I can certainly see a fair case for those who would like at least the odd spell (say upwards of a few days) with temperatures above the long-term average being underwhelmed.

Its a rare summer that passes by without a spell of say 5 days with temps consistently maxing in the mid 20's - 2007 has been a recent exception it has to be said. Agree so far this summer has been devoid of such a spell, 2 good days on the 2/3 June and 26/27 June but that has been it. Hopefully we may see just a spell to end July... now is normally the most likely period of the summer for such a spell to occur.