Your Wishlist For Summer 2013 (a Light Relief From Winter Thread)

[Ben_Cambs]

A 'consistent' summer with temperatures around 23-25C during the day, with rainfall at night and some decent thunderstorms would be most welcome.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I thoroughly enjoyed Summer 1996, and also that of 1994- both have indeed been largely forgotten in the minds of many because of how exceptional 1995 was. I think the same could be said of 1975 being eclipsed by 1976, and to a certain extent 1989 being eclipsed by 1990 (1989 was generally the drier and sunnier of the two summers, but 1990 is remembered more often because of that phenomenal heatwave around the 3rd August).

1975, 1994 and 1996 all had a good deal of variety as well as above-average warmth & sunshine and below average rainfall over most of the country.

Edited October 14, 2012 by Thundery wintry showers

[Milhouse]

The last 6 Julys have all seen above average rainfall. I might also be right in saying no July in that time has seen above average sunshine. Shocking.

[Thundery wintry showers]

By my calculations, the UK areal average sunshine (according to the Met Office) over 1971-2000 was 172.4 hours. By this measure, it's been even more grim than that for sun-lovers- other than the exceptional one in 2006, we have to go back to 1999 for the most recent sunnier-than-average July! That said, those of 2008, 2009 and 2011 came out within five hours of the long-term average.

[Aaron]

July 2011 here had less than 36mm.. July 2010 was above average but not significantly so at around 51mm.. while July 2009, 2008 and 2007 were all wet with over 100mm.

Edited October 14, 2012 by Aaron

[lightningst]

I want a summer just like the one we have had nothing over 25c and lots of thundery breakdowns

[Mark Neal.]

Just a decent summer, June,July & August being dominated by High Pressure. Not a brief spell of warm and settled weather in April & then again in September now that is not too much to ask for! Surely?

[Guest pjl20101]

Think the problem with this Summer we just had was the very strong easterly QBO, with the PDO being very cold as well and MEI in weak el niño. All culminating in quite a disrupted pattern. Having said that in Bucks where I am there wasn't as much rain in the second half of the Summer to what there was in the first half. Still did not bode well and boded very badly for the harvesting season. Can see a bit of an improvement for Summer 2013 although I still reckon we will get ricketty spells.

[William of Walworth]

Plenty of us summer lovers would settle for just a noticeable improvement in 2013 rather than a super-spectacular one, which is unrealistic scenario (I bid high in post 1, but I'd settle for less so long as sunshine.warmth and dry featured more often -- particularly in late June!).

Don't have any problem with thunderstorms, but my take is similar to Milhouse's in his recent post -- appreciation level will depend on the prevailing conditions into which the storms arrive ...

Edited October 16, 2012 by William of Walworth

[Lettucing Gutted]

Another Summer just like the one previous please.

I wish for a very cold Arctic and a raging southerly tracking Subtropical Jet and a raging southerly tracking southern arm of the Polar Jet. This combined with a gentle and highly amplified northern arm of the Polar Jet with a sub 540 HPA upper level trough digging all the way down from the North Pole into Scandi and Western Europe to create the coldest ever summer Continental Polar Northerly blast to rival the likes of even 2nd June 1975, July 1888 and August 1912. This should reload all summer long.

[Weather-history]

I wish for a very cold Arctic and a raging southerly tracking Subtropical Jet and a raging southerly tracking southern arm of the Polar Jet. This combined with a gentle and highly amplified northern arm of the Polar Jet with a sub 540 HPA upper level trough digging all the way down from the North Pole into Scandi and Western Europe to create the coldest ever summer Continental Polar Northerly blast to rival the likes of even 2nd June 1975, July 1888 and August 1912. This should reload all summer long.

Lol a more intense version of this from July 1993

[Thundery wintry showers]

One past summer month that I would love to get the chance to re-live would be June 1975. Cold showery northerlies lasted until the 4th and brought unusually widespread snow on the 2nd, but an abrupt switch to southerly winds brought widespread temperatures of 25-28C by the 7th. High pressure then brought a dry sunny spell until the 13th, followed by a few cool showery days with fairly widespread thunder and hail. A brief south-westerly spell followed on the 18th-20th with a traditional NW-SE split, then high pressure dominated during the last third of the month (yes, ideally timed for Bottesford's wedding!), and generally in the right place to promote abundant sunshine. It got quite hot again for a time, but the last few days had some unusually cold nights due to a sluggish incursion of Arctic air.

I doubt that we'll ever see a summer month quite like it again- to have a day of widespread snowfall, two frosty interludes, two heatwaves, exceptionally high sunshine totals and a general shortage of rainfall, all in the same summer month, takes a lot of doing.

Edited October 19, 2012 by Thundery wintry showers

[William of Walworth]

I wish for a very cold Arctic and a raging southerly tracking Subtropical Jet and a raging southerly tracking southern arm of the Polar Jet. This combined with a gentle and highly amplified northern arm of the Polar Jet with a sub 540 HPA upper level trough digging all the way down from the North Pole into Scandi and Western Europe to create the coldest ever summer Continental Polar Northerly blast to rival the likes of even 2nd June 1975, July 1888 and August 1912. This should reload all summer long.

The 'I don't care at all about how unpopular my wishlist would be if it verified!' post par excellence!

Congratulations for that (pretty extreme after all!) but all in all, for those who prefer actual summers, your scenario is about as likely to come about as a 1976ish 'heatwave filled long hot for three or four months' one.

So I can compromise with you in confidence!

Edited October 21, 2012 by William of Walworth

[William of Walworth]

Well I've been in hibernation since October, but I'm just starting to peep out and see whether anyone's prepared to start talking about summer again yet?

Even, or especially, with this ridiculously prolonged winter continuing late ...

Here's my main question of concern right now : we've had a LOT of dry (yes and also cold) weather of late, and not too many signs yet in the forecasts for that to change significantly all that soon.

Every year I have my irrational yet understandable! paranoia about an overly dry spring (or winter!) 'using up' the UK's dry weather 'quota' too damned early ....

Please reassure me that a lot of dry weather now doesn't necessarily condemn us to a washout May/June/July/August!

Edited March 30, 2013 by William of Walworth

[hillbilly]

a lot of cold lovers here ,il like my winters to be winter and my summers to be summer,an odd blip on that is ok but im not asking for a july with a cet of 11

[summer blizzard]

I'll take June 2005, July 2006 and August 1995 please.

I'm not a fan of heat but i am of extremes and the sun most of all so i'd love such a true classic.

[Terminal Moraine]

I won't go into detail about my hopes for the summer; best not to incur the wrath of the majority, even though if it turns out exceptionally cold and wet( oops meteorological tourettes there) I really won't have had any control over it.

Let's just say if it's got to be warmer than average I hope it's exceptionally thundery

[laserguy]

My wish is a simple one - that I wish it was all over and done with, instead of the position now of feeling like I'm staring down the barrel of a gun.

[MP-R]

A repeat of summer 2003 would be most acceptable.

Funnily enough, that summer came to my mind too. Had a bit of everything with the emphasis being on dry, sunny and warm/hot.

1. Anticyclonic spells to be predominantly dry and sunny, rather than cloudy, and cyclonic spells to be predominantly bright and showery with some thunder, rather than dull and wet.

2. A high frequency of setups with a Euro high and Atlantic trough.

3. A recognition that you can like certain types of unsettled weather (e.g. warm sunshine mixed with thundery downpours) without being "anti-summer" or being a fan of all unsettled weather. I tend to get irritated when I see a change from persistent rain and 14C to sunshine, thundery showers and 23C described as "more of the same, miserable and unsettled with rain or showers".

I see that Bottesford is getting married on my birthday (22nd June). I generally hope for a mix of sunshine and convective activity on that day, although one work-around is to have the downpours hit my location and miss the location of the wedding. However, there isn't really much of a clash as a dry sunny day is generally my second preference (the 22nd June 2010 was particularly good on that front) and so I wouldn't be complaining if we did get a large and reasonably 'clean' anticyclone on top of us.

You've summed my opinions up perfectly haha. I would certainly like frequent sunny anticyclones to gradually heat up as the week goes on giving a stonker of a weekend, only to be brought to an end by a big rash of thunderstorms late Sunday to give a fantastic lightning display. Then, as you say, I enjoy the rPm showery regimes, especially the slack ones like August last year, as they bring warmth, some sun, that humid feel and nearly always a thunderstorm to this part of the world (Bristol). If that could fall on Monday-Wednesday then a brief northerly to freshen the air followed by the next high pressure to set up shop, that would be perfect.

I am a fan of variety rather than monotony, whether cyclonic or anticyclonic, so long as sunshine is plentiful, temperatures are at worst normal and rainfall is sufficient but not excessive. So that means - frontal rain at night please!

[Bottesford]

As I set out my garden for the year I long desperately for something decent this year. We really need a dry (but not too dry) and most importantly sunny summer.

My ideal summer would be a bit like as TWS described except the wetter/thundery bits really need careful timing. So many times I've sat in the office all week in blazing sunshine for it to turn to crap Friday evening.

I'd really like to see some proper heat too- it's been many years now since we've seen any.

I intend to move house in autumn so this is the last summer in this place - it'd be nice to finally make use of its fantastic ability to keep cool at all times. Plus this is my second year really getting into gardening - after last year please mother nature gimme a break this time!

[Tamara]

Pleasantly warm, low humidity with some lovely sunshine, a few small fluffy clouds and a refreshing breeze. There - simple and undemanding

[Methuselah]

Some big, juicy imported thunderstorms; we haven't seen too many of those, of late...

Edited March 31, 2013 by Rybris Ponce
I think I got that wrong!

[recklessabandon]

Dryish, low humidity and relativley sunny. Doesnt need to be hot, if it is dryish and sunny with low humidity it will feel pleasant regardless. The chances of this on our Island? Around 5%.....

[joggs]

Sat in the garden with a lovely hazy sultry sun.Then around 8pm a spanish plume heading up the country.Rinse and repeat for 2 months,july n august lol

[Summer Sun]

Same as every summer