Summer 2013

[hillbilly]

It's a HUGE garden - so huge that I planted loads of laurel bushes at the midway point to create a hedge. Beyond those the garden can go to rack and ruin; outta sight,outta mind. The remaining section does indeed take two hours for me to mow,stopping only to empty the grass box. I've got to 'do' something with the garden 'cos this relentless keeping-on-top-of-it routine is becoming very tiresome. Moving would be a plan but the missus loves it here. I'd let her cut the damn stuff but it'd never get done. As for enjoying this weather, I couldn't even if it was my thing - gotta work soon and it'll be pushing 35C in that place.

 

Ah,autumn! I did raise the subject recently but no takers. It's not as if it's too early - give it a coupla weeks and we'll be saddled with the bane of the winter season - Xmas adverts!

*The above relates to the back garden only,don't get me started on the front one which is always immaculately presented!

if it is so big why not put planning in for  a house or bungalow,make 40,000 quid  and lose half your garden......cant lose.....just don't cut down the laurels

[Jax]

if it is so big why not put planning in for  a house or bungalow,make 40,000 quid  and lose half your garden......cant lose.....just don't cut down the laurels

I hate laurels, they spread and take over.

[GRHinPorts]

well, its now obvious that we arent getting another 06,03,95,90,76,75... junes passing without a widespread hot spell as those classic summers did.

 

could we get a 83?... unlikely now. after a dysmal spring/june 30 years ago it turned on june 25th.. (my wedding day) and the rest of summer was fantastic. its looking unlikely now that there will be a pattern change anytime soon.

 

hopefully some thing nice will evolve down the line, but i cant think of 1 summer where the first half was 'normal' (at best) then hot and sunny from mid july onwards...ill be happy to be proven wrong on this.

 

1991 would seem to be one example of a summer that took off after June. June that year was a chilling 12.1(!) on the CET which I can only imagine how upset the general public would be if they had to endure that this year. Nevertheless both the following July and August broke the 17 barrier which a quick look through the records is something that only happens on average in about 4 months of every decade.

 

It is perhaps rare for the second half of summer to be massively better than the first half but not completely unheard of.

[summer blizzard]

1991 would seem to be one example of a summer that took off after June. June that year was a chilling 12.1(!) on the CET which I can only imagine how upset the general public would be if they had to endure that this year. Nevertheless both the following July and August broke the 17 barrier which a quick look through the records is something that only happens on average in about 4 months of every decade.

 

It is perhaps rare for the second half of summer to be massively better than the first half but not completely unheard of.

 

It was fairly normal in the 1990's. 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997. It's only post 2003 that the later half of summer has gone by the wayside.

[Summer of 95]

It was fairly normal in the 1990's. 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997. It's only post 2003 that the later half of summer has gone by the wayside.

 

1994 was more a decent June/July, bad August (though nowhere near as bad as recent Augusts) one, though as a general rule it's true that 90s summers had an iffy month, it tended to be June. 

 

But on the whole, 90s summers seem like a golden age now. Since 2006 there have been 7 summer months I'd class as very poor: July 2007, August 2008, July 2009, July 2010, August 2011, June and July 2012; and two that came very close, June 2007 and July 2011. Notably two of them, July 2010 and Aug 2011 (plus July 2011), make the list not for rain but for being horrendously dull which seems to be an epidemic in summer post-2006.

 

By contrast between 1989 and 2005 I'd class only two as very poor, August 1992 and June 1997, plus Junes 1990, 1991 and 1998 in the close category. The three worst summers of that period, 1993, 1998 and 2002, did not have a really bad month between them.

[NeilN]

I was only eight at the time but I remember 1993 as a very poor summer. Spent most of it indoors as it was very wet. Never forgot a day trip to Rhyl with my Mum and my oldest sister on August Bank Holiday that year. It was so dull and cool. Felt like November instead of August!

1994 - Always reminds me of my other sister being born. That was a wonderful summer to me bar some dodgy days. So warm!

[Thundery wintry showers]

Summer 1993, though cool everywhere, had significant regional variation re. sunshine and rainfall totals- broadly speaking it was a dull wet summer in western Britain and in Scotland, but many parts of eastern England had near or below average rainfall and slightly above average sunshine.

 

June 1994 was something of a NW-SE split month thanks to westerly winds.  The majority of the country was drier and sunnier than average with slightly above-average temperatures but much of northern and western Scotland and north-western England had a dull month with below-average daytime maxima.  June 1995 had the reverse, drier and sunnier than average in most parts of the country, very sunny in western Scotland, but dull in parts of eastern England

[cheeky_monkey]

I think that July 1994 is an often forgotten Hot month esp in the south..a bit like July 1983

[Ben_Cambs]

Not sure about how other areas have done, but for my location there hasn't been a single day of thunder at all this summer, or infact at all or since 28th August last year. Certainly this year has been worse than recent years, which of course haven't exactly been great either! Looking quiet convectively for the forseeable future for here at least. Hard to believe some years in the 1990's recorded over 20 thunder days for my location.

 

As for a general view of summer so far, it's been OK, the start was very nice but followed by a poor period of cool and windy conditions, though it has improved a bit since then. Certainly would take this June over last June but I do hope we get some interesting weather in July and August, because this June has been pretty boring to be honest in terms of any exciting weather such as thunderstorms.

[Weather-history]

I think that July 1994 is an often forgotten Hot month esp in the south..a bit like July 1983

Summer 1994 was a great one for lovers of thundery plumes.

[mushymanrob]

It was fairly normal in the 1990's. 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997. It's only post 2003 that the later half of summer has gone by the wayside.

 

my point though is that classic hot summers mostly have hot spells before july, 90, 94, 95, from memory certainly did. so did 75, 76.

 

the jurys out atm on 91, as i dont recall it being good (but due to personal problems these memories might not be accurate ) 83 was the classic rubbish june/great july august.

 

so its not a rule, but it does appear that most great summers start in some way before july, even if the best spells are in july/august. i sincerely hope that 13 follows 83!

[Summer of 95]

July 1999 was another good 90s month that gets forgotten: warmer, drier and sunnier than August 2003 here.

[johnholmes]

Not sure about how other areas have done, but for my location there hasn't been a single day of thunder at all this summer, or infact at all or since 28th August last year. Certainly this year has been worse than recent years, which of course haven't exactly been great either! Looking quiet convectively for the forseeable future for here at least. Hard to believe some years in the 1990's recorded over 20 thunder days for my location.

 

As for a general view of summer so far, it's been OK, the start was very nice but followed by a poor period of cool and windy conditions, though it has improved a bit since then. Certainly would take this June over last June but I do hope we get some interesting weather in July and August, because this June has been pretty boring to be honest in terms of any exciting weather such as thunderstorms.

 

this post is rather amusing, out of 3+28 days summer, 28 August last year to 28 June this year that leaves another 64 days of this summer left??

[summer blizzard]

Was looking on another forum i visit (lots of pro-mets on) and observed a conversation between our Matt Hugo and one of the other mets. It seems that the long range ECMWF 30 day models keeps July warm however the other guy said this...

 

Hi Matt,

 

I like the science here behind your forecast. I'm seeing a nice little warm up for the UK July 8-13, but the overall low-frequency pattern (interannual timescales) doesn't favor for stable warmth over the UK beyond this little warm up. I'm thinking things turn colder yet again around July 20th. I'm seeing a very strong warm signal late in July over north western Russia as the MJO pushes back over the Maritime Continent-West Pacific sector. Unfortunately for the UK, it spells cooler than average weather more likely than warmth

 

 

So a transient picture then perhaps.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Summer 1994 was a great one for lovers of thundery plumes.

Indeed- I think that period from 24th June to 4th August was pretty hard to beat for its frequency of those- the last 11 days of that spell in particular.

 

July 1999 was another good 90s month that gets forgotten: warmer, drier and sunnier than August 2003 here.

Indeed.  I think it is often forgotten because there were so many warm dry sunny Julys during the period 1989-1999, and yet in some parts of the country there has only been one significantly sunnier-than-average July since!  The first week of July 1999 was also pretty good for convection/thunderstorm lovers over many parts of England before anticyclonic weather took over in the second week.

[Cheshire Freeze]

July 1999 was another good 90s month that gets forgotten: warmer, drier and sunnier than August 2003 here.

 

Correct, the summer of '99.......the summer before I started secondary school and the summer of latino pop music. Lou Bega, Ricky Martin etc etc lol.

[Cheshire Freeze]

The first week of July 1999 was also pretty good for convection/thunderstorm lovers over many parts of England before anticyclonic weather took over in the second week.

 

Ahhh summers when we actually had storms. I remember going the Conwy/Menai centre with school in (1998 I think it was). Some cracking storms that week. I remember watching lightning flashing over the Welsh mainland one night. Went on for a while.

 

Possibly around this time, though I really can't remember the date. It was around the world cup 1998 so this would fit.

 

Edited June 28, 2013 by CreweCold

[Summer of 95]

Correct, the summer of '99.......the summer before I started secondary school and the summer of latino pop music. Lou Bega, Ricky Martin etc etc lol.  

 

Yeah if one song defined that month it was "Livin La Vida Loca"!  Sadly can't listen to that song now without being reminded of those horrible Halifax adverts a couple of years later, one of which featured its tune 

[East_England_Stormchaser91]

Indeed- I think that period from 24th June to 4th August was pretty hard to beat for its frequency of those- the last 11 days of that spell in particular.

 

Indeed.  I think it is often forgotten because there were so many warm dry sunny Julys during the period 1989-1999, and yet in some parts of the country there has only been one significantly sunnier-than-average July since!  The first week of July 1999 was also pretty good for convection/thunderstorm lovers over many parts of England before anticyclonic weather took over in the second week.

You say July 1999 for thunderstorms in the first week. I can surely tell you, at being 8 years old, I still have photographic memory of the absolutely spectacular lightning show that was displayed on the night of 3rd July 1999. Never felt so scared in my life back then, but now I look back and think if only I could re-live that night. 

I'd say it would put Florida storms and many other Tropic storms a good match up for the intensity of the lightning, it was out of this world. I remember also walking to school and still being able to see it in the distance and hearing the low massive booms as it bullied its way off Northwards.

[AderynCoch]

I don't know about 1999 but 3rd July 2000 had a good thunderstorm here.

[Weather-history]

I don't know about 1999 but 3rd July 2000 had a good thunderstorm here.

[Weather-history]

Ahhh summers when we actually had storms. I remember going the Conwy/Menai centre with school in (1998 I think it was). Some cracking storms that week. I remember watching lightning flashing over the Welsh mainland one night. Went on for a while.

 

Possibly around this time, though I really can't remember the date. It was around the world cup 1998 so this would fit.

 

[Roger J Smith]

This has been the warmest summer in many years in Fantasy Island which is running about 3 degrees ahead of Real Britain, the people there are in t-shirts and shorts and having marvellous summery adventures while fighting off the effects of sunburn. It looks to get even hotter in Fantasy Island in about a week to ten days, oh I mean tomorrow, forgot about their time zone.

[Mountain Snow]

This has been the warmest summer in many years in Fantasy Island which is running about 3 degrees ahead of Real Britain, the people there are in t-shirts and shorts and having marvellous summery adventures while fighting off the effects of sunburn. It looks to get even hotter in Fantasy Island in about a week to ten days, oh I mean tomorrow, forgot about their time zone.

 

They always get the best weather, had some decent thunderstorms the other week and not forgetting that massive beast from the east last December, just not fair.  

[hillbilly]

I hate to say it but its almost july with little on the horizon to resemble summer it is starting to look ominous.ok,at least it is dry but once again today the sun could only poke its head out for a few moments. where is the summer?