The UK's best summers for heat and thunder

[BlueSkies_do_I_see]

I am interested in hearing from members the best summers that combined a mix of heat and thunderstorms. Obviously 2013 is shaping up well in this regard.

I remember July 2006 was hot but August less so.

We had warm Augusts in 1995 and 2003, but I cannot remember what the Julys were like for those years?

I believe 1976 was officially the hottest and driest summer on record? For 2013 to beat that we would have to be looking at an August to match our present July. Unlikely!

So presuming 2013 carries on in the same vein into early Sept, what is is up against for to compete with the classic British summers.

Edited July 27, 2013 by BlueSkies_do_I_see

[Djdazzle]

I am interested in hearing from members the best summers that combined a mix of heat and thunderstorms. Obviously 2013 is shaping up well in this regard.I remember July 2006 was hot but August less so.We had warm Augusts in 1995 and 2003, but I cannot remember what the Julys were like for those years?I believe 1976 was officially the hottest and driest summer on record? For 2013 to beat that we would have to be looking at an August to match our present July. Unlikely!So presuming 2013 carries on in the same vein into early Sept, what is is up against for to compete with the classic British summers.

July 1995 and 2003 were hot months, although 2003 was more unsettled than 1995.June this year was not a hot month, so even if August this year is record breaking, this summer won"t be as hot as 1976.If June 1995 had been a hot month, then the CET for that summer would have beaten 1976.

[Harve]

2004 is probably one of the best for a combination of heat and unsettledness - especially the August.

[Weather-history]

Summer 1994 was a very good one for heat and thunder especially July. SE England had a spectacular storm on 24th June 1994

[damianslaw]

Yes summer 1994 was an unsettled thundery and warm one, we were close to some serious heat over the near continent.

 

August 1997 was a very warm thundery wet month as well.

 

Summer 1999 had its moments.

 

Summer 2004 saw a number of thundery outbreaks.

 

Summer 2009 was the last thundery summer. The last three saw very little thundery activity.

 

This summer so far has seen very few thunderstorms overall,only in the last few days have most places heard there first thunder claps of the season, and many of these have been weak affairs. Indeed its been a very benign summer so far on the thunder/heavy rainfall front, but August is to come and it is the month of the year most likely to see cracking thunder lightening displays.

[Summer of 95]

May and June 1992 were also good for hot spells followed by thunder, unfortunately July and August were terrible so it isnt remembered as a good summer. 1996 and 2001 also had some "three fine days and a thunderstorm" weather. In fact theres only one year in the 90s, namely 1998, where I dont remember a thunderstorm here.

[Tim]

I believe 1976 was officially the hottest and driest summer on record? For 2013 to beat that we would have to be looking at an August to match our present July. Unlikely!

 

Bare in mind though the heatwave of 76 was at it's height from about the 20th of June on-wards so you'd need June to be very good as well!

[Thundery wintry showers]

Many of the summers that we associate with hot sunny weather have been remarkably thunder-free.  Thunderstorms were pretty rare during 1976, 1989, 1990 and 1991, and although 1995 had quite a thundery July this was more than offset by largely thunder-free months in June and August 1995. 

 

2004 and 2009 were good candidates for those who are more interested in thunderstorms than heat.  Some of the most thundery months of the past have tended to be cloudy and wet- Junes 1966, 1980 and 1982 for instance.

 

1994 was the first summer that crossed my mind- for those after a combination of heat and thunder, the period 24th June-4th August 1994 takes some beating.  Other candidates include 1983 and 2006 (particularly the July in both cases) and also 1975 (especially August 1975).

 

1996 did indeed have some good "three fine days and a thunderstorm" progressions- I remember some around the 7th June, the third weeks of July and August, and the first week of August.  Thundery activity for the summer quarter of 1996 was up on most recent years but statistically about average compared with the twentieth-century mean.  1997 was also good for this combination in some parts of the country, though statistically the most thundery month of that summer (June) also had a lot of dull wet weather.

Edited July 28, 2013 by Thundery wintry showers

[MP-R]

2001 was pretty good for thunder in this neck of the woods but not always associated with heat. The period 22nd June - 8th July was often very warm or hot with thunder on June 27th, July 7th and of course the highly impressive thunderstorms on the 3rd-4th July.

[sundog]

August 2000 wasnt a bad month for thunderstorms if i recall.

[Weather-history]

August 2000 wasnt a bad month for thunderstorms if i recall.

Indeedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXs4ZDQ6Qlc

[Methuselah]

I think I can recall some quite active storms during the summer of 1975...I'm also sure that I can recall a spectacular plume event sometime in either late July or early August 1980...a night of frequent blue-white lightning, I seem to remember...

 

Oddly enough, I'm almost certain that the, otherwise mediocre, summer of 1968 had some tasty thunderstorms...

[hillbilly]

will have to scratch my head,had lots of thunderstorms but cannot pinpoint them.The two I can pinpoint was one in 1984 we had just got a field of hay in and the last trailer into the barn and the heavens opened,pretty sure it was the same day York minster was struck and set on fire.The second being 1989 bringing cows in during 'the Halifax storm' my willies were half full of water when I got back to farm....198mm in two hours...the unofficial 2 hour uk record

[Methuselah]

will have to scratch my head,had lots of thunderstorms but cannot pinpoint them.The two I can pinpoint was one in 1984 we had just got a field of hay in and the last trailer into the barn and the heavens opened,pretty sure it was the same day York minster was struck and set on fire.The second being 1989 bringing cows in during 'the Halifax storm' my willies were half full of water when I got back to farm....198mm in two hours...the unofficial 2 hour uk record

How many have you got? 

[hillbilly]

How many have you got? 

sorry that's quite a funny miss spell ,I mean willies.....as in wellington boots

[cheeky_monkey]

1982 was thundery but not hot..1984 was warm and thundery 1989 was hot and thundery esp June..1994 the same esp July...2004 had warm thundery August...June 2005 had some big storms and was hot..thereafter my mind is a blank..if you like thunderstorms come and live in Alberta for example the summer of 2010 had more storms than all of the above years put together and then some!

[ARW WeatherMan]

sorry that's quite a funny miss spell ,I mean willies.....as in wellington boots

You said "willies..." again aha, pretty sure you mean WELLIES! haha

[Thundery wintry showers]

August 2000 wasnt a bad month for thunderstorms if i recall.

The statistics that I have access to suggest that it was an unusually thundery month in many parts of Ireland and also parts of western Scotland- there were several days in the second half of the month with a slack west to south-westerly flow and little or no frontal activity, which brought sunny spells and thundery showers, many of which kicked off over Ireland and then crossed the Irish Sea to affect western Scotland.  At Aldergrove near Belfast, sunshine was 31% above average, rainfall was 67% above average and there were 7 days with thunder. 

 

It wasn't quite as remarkable over most of England, Wales and eastern Scotland but most places had 3 or 4 days with thunder, which would fall into the above-average category away from the more thunder-prone regions of Britain.  The 21st was that annoying day when most of the rest of the country had major storms but in Tyneside I 'escaped' with sea fog.  I also remember the "three fine days and a thunderstorm" progression on the 23rd-25th, when the 25th was a hot sunny day in many areas and thunderstorms rumbled up the western side of Britain during the following night.

[cheese]

2009 was good for some parts. May and June in particular had really good storms in these parts, the May one was at night and lasted for around an hour if I recall. 2007 was also good storm-wise here, 2010 was decent with a nighttime storm in July.. basically any year that isn't 2012 or 2013.

Edited July 29, 2013 by cheese

[lesta_snow]

Had some amazing lightning and thunder the other night! The whole street was up! There was one which felt like a bomb had gone off! The next day in the leicester mercury we found out why it was so loud! It hit a house just down the road from us! Never heard anything like it!

[Weather-history]

August 2004 was very thundery

[BlueSkies_do_I_see]

Well in my lifetime I have never experienced 2 huge storms on the same day in Coventry until yesterday. Maybe 2013 will be talked about fondly on this forum for many years to come on threads such as this.one?

[Relativistic]

2013 hasn't been great here for thunderstorms. We've had some decent stormy weather in the last week but apart from that there's been nothing. And whilst I enjoyed these storms, they weren't exactly mental. A repeat of the storm we had in June 2009 would be brilliant.

Edited July 30, 2013 by 22nov10blast

[Metwatch]

2016 and 2019 i think they can be considered since 2013? 2023 as well to an extent.

[LetItSnow!]

I wasn't alive for it but by what I've read, summer 1994 was excellent for that as there was repeated thundery episodes in all three months, particularly July.

This video is excellent. I know this day was notorious for having a massive cluster of storms wallop the south-east of England and this (and the part two) video capture it.

I think there was also another very thundery spell on the 3rd/4th of August but the heat dissipated into the rest of August 1994.

Edited March 4 by LetItSnow!