Your Overall Thoughts On Summer 2011

[Richard2901]

An utterly vile summer - one of the worst ever with no redeeming features. It was comparable to the very worst of the 60s summers for lack of warmth and persistence of cold, dull weather.

I recorded below average maxes on 66/92 days with 41 of those being at least 2ËšC colder than average compared to just 9 days that were at least 2ËšC warmer than average. A shocking 3 days only reached 21ËšC and just 6 days reached 20ËšC.

Dyce recorded a mean max below 16.5ËšC in all three months for the first time since 1963, the only other summer in 70 years of records that this has happened. In addition the mean max was closer to the record cold summer of 1948 than the likes of 1995 and 2003 got to the record warm summer of 1976.

As well as being cold it was also very wet and dull with a ridiculous number of depressing, gloomy overcast days particularly during the second half. Dyce recorded the joint highest number of sunless days (with 1978) since 1958.

Here are my own readings compared to estimated 1981-2010 averages and also previous years records (back to 2005 for temps and rain and 2007 for sun). All three months colder, duller and wetter than average

Mean Max Temperatures

June: 16.0ËšC (-0.1)

July: 16.2ËšC (-2.2)

August: 16.4ËšC (-1.6)

Summer: 16.2ËšC (-1.3)

2010: 17.8ËšC, 2009: 17.7ËšC, 2008: 17.4ËšC, 2007: 16.6ËšC, 2006: 18.6ËšC, 2005: 17.7ËšC

Rainfall

June: 78.0mm(142%)

July: 63.8mm (118%)

August: 105.0mm (194%)

Summer: 246.8mm (151%)

2010: 178.6mm, 2009: 210.0mm, 2008: 198.0mm, 2007: 261.4mm, 2006: 98.0mm, 2005: 124.8mm

Sunshine

June: 163.2hrs (96%)

July: 137.4hrs (83%)

August: 117.2hrs (73%)

Summer: 417.8hrs (84%)

2010: 443.0hrs, 2009: 505.1hrs, 2008: 420.7hrs, 2007: 352.4hrs

If I was awarding it a score it would be 1/10 and it would only be that high because it wasn't quite as awful as 2007. Just disgusting and all the worse for being the 5th poor summer in a row and the 10th poor summer in 14 years

[Evening thunder]

I've just looked at the MetO anomaly maps and realised this summer gave both the 5th July and 5th August in a row of below average sunshine totals for the SW! Also all of these months except for July 2010 have had below average Max temps. No what I would call 'heatwaves' in this time either.

Given that these two months are about 2C warmer than June on average, and the holiday season is in these months, that is pretty poor really. Thank goodness for some Junes like 2010 although it would have been nice not to have work/exam pressure then...

I hope this pattern for this part of the country breaks soon or it will simply not be good enough.

[philglossop]

Its not been a "bad" summer, but just average down here. We had the heights of 27c here in early June, then the period 30th June until the afternoon of 5th July when the weather broke did really feel like summer (we were on holiday in the New Forest)- and would say that the Sunday 3rd July was the warmest day of the year- as we headed to the beach for the only time this year. After that high point July wasn't bad, but never got truly warm again here in Devon. August was generally non descript, but it was very noticeable in the last week that Autumn was on the way, temps only at 6c in the morning of 29th.

[carinthian]

Okay a slightly below average temperature wise. The coolest Summer since 2008 coming in at 15.3c. Rainfall the 9th driest we've recorded since 1955 with 117 mm of rain

After a fairly slow start to the Austrian Summer it just got hotter and hotter. Indeed the 10 day heatwave last month was one of the 10 hottest since records began in 1767 with 38C being recorded for each day. September continues in a similar vein with rather oppressive heat but with increasing storm activity, mainly in the south and east.

C

[SP1986]

I thought summer was a good one here, at least by the coast.. no true it wasn't overly warm but it was mostly dry and sunny - what rain did fall came from heavy showers.. I'd say it was an average type summer for this coastal location - lots of sunshine, moderate temperatures and isolated cases of heavy rain.. no complaints.

The one thing that strikes me though in particular is how much better the quality of the summer was here than just a little further inland. We had much more sunshine here than say Manchester, Warrington, and it's something I could even verify as a personal experience, often seeing blue sky here and banks of cloud to the east.

[davehsug]

Totally unremarkable. Only things to mention would be the overall dryness & whilst there were few cool days, there have been a lot of cool or very cool nights, which hasn't done much to help enjoying the outside. And of course NO THUNDERSTORMS!

[Interitus]

I recorded below average maxes on 66/92 days with 41 of those being at least 2ËšC colder than average compared to just 9 days that were at least 2ËšC warmer than average. A shocking 3 days only reached 21ËšC and just 6 days reached 20ËšC.

I would suggest that this is even worse than it at first appears because a 2ËšC threshold is closer to your lowest possible summer maximum than your highest possible maximum i.e. 2ËšC less than average might be significantly cold whereas the equivalent significant warmth maybe 3 or 4ËšC above average.

[Evening thunder]

Its not been a "bad" summer, but just average down here. We had the heights of 27c here in early June, then the period 30th June until the afternoon of 5th July when the weather broke did really feel like summer (we were on holiday in the New Forest)- and would say that the Sunday 3rd July was the warmest day of the year- as we headed to the beach for the only time this year. After that high point July wasn't bad, but never got truly warm again here in Devon. August was generally non descript, but it was very noticeable in the last week that Autumn was on the way, temps only at 6c in the morning of 29th.

Interesting as over here I'd say it has been below average here my ratings though maybe not 'bad'. But when we get 3 months below average in summer it's already gone much of the way to being 'poor' IMO. July and August being cloudier than usual as well. Interesting the difference 50 miles or less can make on the summer, or difference in personal preferences.

The 3rd July only reached an average max here with a chilly min of 5.7C. There were a few short warmer spells in my location. There has only been two days where it really got over 24C here (25.6C, 26.4C)

Not too wet overall, but enough dull damp days without much interesting.

and of course, a huge lack of thunder yet again.

Probably not as bad as some like 2008 in my back yard, but cooler than them overall. A few really chilly sub 15C max's as well that didn't occur in recent years. It would be interesting to do a summer index like Mr Data has done if anyone knows the method or he's happy to share it.

An interesting fact here is the most consecutive days that reached over 20C this year was in April.

Edited September 5, 2011 by Stormmad26

[damianslaw]

My last comment on summer 2011 as a whole - not one redeeming feature. Instantly forgettable and a blink and you missed it affair for this part of the country, in a word dissapointing.

[Jon Somerset]

Deeply disappointing summer here after the promise of June. We have seemed to be stuck in a pattern of edges of low pressure, and even when high pressure arrived fleetingly in early August cloud continued stopping temperatures from rising. Summer ended here in July, really and since then it has felt like an extended Autumn. The only plus for Somerset is that we had some thunderstorms this year.

A poor effort. 3/10

[Summer of 95]

Those poor children are returning to school equipped with dictionaries that contain the entry:

Boring, adjective

Tedious, tiring, dull (q.v.; especially when meaning "cloudy"), without excitement. Opposite of "interesting". Used in reference to the weather in Shropshire between May and August 2011. (Summer of 95, published on Netweather.tv 2011)

[PeteB]

A summer with no weather to speak of, not much sun, not much rain, below average temperatures and no storms. Don't think we had a single day in June, July or August with unbroken sunshine, probably a first here.

Pete