Favourite calendar month of weather in your living memory?

[BlueSkies_do_I_see]

So it 10 years since the hot August of 2003, and it got me thinking.. Which is your favourite month of weather in your lifetime?

December 2010? August 1995?

I would have to say Dec 2010. Pretty dramatic and probably the nearest winter conditions to 1963 since I was born in the 70s.

[simshady]

Yeah...probably December 2010 too....playing in the garden with the kids...first time they'd seen real, heavy snow....and it lasted! A real white Christmas....perfect.

[cheese]

December 2010 by far. Temps down to -17.5C, a max temp of -7.1C on one day with close to a foot of snow and freezing fog, not to mention very sunny! Loved it. Loved every minute of it.

Edited August 15, 2013 by cheese

[cheeky_monkey]

tough one even though i lived through the Brutal winter of 2010-11 in Edmonton Alberta...its close call between Dec 1978 and February 1978

Edited August 15, 2013 by cheeky_monkey

[laserguy]

Dec 2010.... I see a trend developing here!  Just fabulous all round, an abiding memory out of myriads was going out to see if the car would turn over even though there was no chance of driving it, and the car's thermometer reading minus 8.5C  - in the early afternoon in full sun.

[hillbilly]

There are so many its hard to decide and I like the cold just as much as the heat.....will have to go for a cold month,december 1981 was colder here than 2010 with much more snow but my favourite has to be February 1986,didnt have the severe temps but where 2010 was calm feb 86 had a stiff east wind almost the whole month,it just froze you to the core ,living at 340m it was subzero the entire month average -1,1 deg.....there is yet to be a colder one since

[BlueSkies_do_I_see]

It seems Dec 2010 is a clear front runner here.

How rare is a December like 2010? It is not unprecedented. Dec 1981 was similar, as was Dec 1890. But that is 3 such Decembers in 120 years!

My memory of it was witnessing -18 in rural Shropshire and having to unfreeze the pipes on a ladder outside.

Edited August 15, 2013 by BlueSkies_do_I_see

[summer blizzard]

Perfect months for me would be...

 

Jan: 2010

Feb: 2005 (just wish we had colder air before)

Mar: 2012 (Perfect spring month - 15-25C, sunny)

Apr: 2007

May: 2008

June: 2005

July: 2011

Aug: 2011

Sep: 2007

Oct: 2012

Nov: 2005 (stupidly sunny and cold at night)

Dec: 2010

 

Sep and Oct i don't really care about.

 

Dec 10 wins for winter, Mar 12 wins for Spring, Jun 05 wins for summer and Nov 05 wins for Autumn.

Edited August 15, 2013 by summer blizzard

[simshady]

I remember seeing the satellite image of Britain covered with snow....everywhere was white...great image.

 

Same time i took this picture of my avatar<<

Edited August 15, 2013 by simshady

[Isolated Frost]

December 2010.

If it wasn't calendar, it would be November 24 2010 to December 25 2010 (add a day!), that was just incredible. Ice days, sharp frosts and heavy snow/thundersnow/sun and snow shrs.

 

December 3rd, Sunday, woke up at -12.2c and 42cm of snow here by the coast.

[BlueSkies_do_I_see]

I remember seeing the satellite image of Britain covered with snow....everywhere was white...great image.

Same time i took this picture of my avatar<<

There was a pretty much identical full UK snow covering satellite taken in Jan 2010 too.

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/pressreleases/2010/prjan10/snow.htm

Edited August 15, 2013 by BlueSkies_do_I_see

[Relativistic]

December 2010. Watching record after record tumble was awesome. Nearly a foot of lying snow and a low of -14C, not bad for around here. Lots of good memories. A shame my interest for meteorology was not as large back then otherwise I would have remembered a lot more. And a month like that isn't going to come around too often so I'll be waiting a long time to experience another one. I am pretty sure that month did spark some interest for meteorology in me, and without it I may not have been on here!

Edited August 15, 2013 by 22nov10blast

[ChezWeather]

June 2007 was fun! 

 

However this has to top it....

 

 

December 2010, over a foot of snow here, and it was around for weeks! 

Edited August 15, 2013 by ChezzieStorms

[Thundery wintry showers]

I'm actually torn between the November and December of 2010- the November was less statistically spectacular, but it had some of almost everything and the period 25th November-2nd December was as good as it gets for "thundery wintry showers" over much of the eastern half of Britain.  July 2006 is also a strong contender, and I'd place it ahead of August 1995 because it had more in the way of showery/thundery outbreaks thrown in, and in north-eastern parts of England it was even more spectacular heat and sunshine-wise.

 

Another contender for me is March 1995, which I enjoyed for its frequent combination of sunny spells and squally wintry showers and sharp temperature fluctuations during the unsettled spells, and then mostly warm dry sunny conditions on the occasions that high pressure took over.  The main downside of that month was that the cold snaps were not outstanding temperature-wise and so while snow frequently accumulated in Tyneside during the showers, it rarely stuck around for very long.

 

I find it hard to choose between those four but on reflection I probably enjoyed July 2006 marginally more than the other three.

[Bottesford]

August 1995 or July 2006 really stand out as good ones. I had more fun in 2006 so maybe that just beats it!

[Eskimo]

February 2013. Had the deepest fall of snow in my lifetime. 

[johnholmes]

Favourite calendar month of weather in your living memory?

 

Well that depends on various factors. Do you mean the most severe winter weather, the hottest, so not easy at my advanced years to give an answer but I'll try

 

Recent then December 2010 has to be one of the most obvious, 35cm of lying snow at 9am on 1 December, the heaviest probably ever in this area.

I remember the winters of 1947, 1962-63 onwards so take your pick from the edge of the Derbyshire Peak District for those two. They are certainly the most extreme winters I remember.

Summer heat? August 1947, 1975, 1976, 1995 and onwards have all had their moments. As to storms,(thunder) then I am afraid my memory lets me down, I do recall absolute huge storms as a kid but no idea what year. One in about 1982 I think in the Manchester area with very large hail.

In terms of wind then late 1961 I think it would be with sever damage in the local area close by Sheffield which suffere really badly.

Dense fogs prior to the clean air act made some winter days memorable if that is the right expression, literally not being able to see more than past your extended arm, even inside the width of a room, after 2-3 days of this, was hard to see across, so you can imagine what it was like trying to breathe!

Lots of memorable days, weeks, months, winters and summers. For most of you to equate to what you know then for winter late November into early December 2010 and the summers of 1995, 2006 and this year probably?

 

I forgot spring! It has to be this year, both here and over the actual blizzard weekend in the Lakes and even 2-3 weeks later in central and northern Wales and the Peak District, I don't ever recall seeing quite so much snow in so called spring before this year.

Edited August 15, 2013 by johnholmes

[BlueSkies_do_I_see]

Thanks for sharing those memories. I am envious that you remember 1947 winter.

We have had quite a few memorable times in just the last 3 years. Twice in 2010 were exceptional for cold - Jan and Dec. Then in 2011 we had an incredible April and latter part of Sept for early and late in the season heat. 2012 was exceptionally wet especially April and June. So far in 2013, March and July have been remarkable for cold and heat respectively.

Edited August 15, 2013 by BlueSkies_do_I_see

[Downburst]

July 1995 France. Might have been December 2010 Ireland but for the loss of water due to freezing pipes over Christmas, it was a kind of medieval pretty quickly after that happened.

[cheese]

Coldest day ever at Church Fenton.. 6 December 2010.

 

[feb1991blizzard]

Jan   - 1987

Feb - 1991

March -   2013 (Rivalled by 1987)

April  - 2012

May  - 2010

June - No Interest

July - No interest

August - No Interest

Sept - No Interest

Oct - 2008

Nov - 2010

Dec - 2010 (Was alive but too young to remember 1981 properly, Rivalled by 1990 which contained a bigger single snow event and 2 inches of lying hail on xmas day but 2010 more consistently record braking)#

 

 

EDIT : I can see why some would go for other months over my Jan and Feb selections as the snow was crammed a week or so in both of those but they were events of such magnitude they override the Jan / Febs of 84 - 86 and feb 96 in my opinion.

Edited August 15, 2013 by feb1991blizzard

[Eskimo]

Coldest day ever at Church Fenton.. 6 December 2010.

 

-7.1 Max? :O

[Summer of 95]

Nice to see June 2005 mentioned, a fantastic month that had everything- record cold nights, heatwaves, thunder, hail.

Just about all the months in 1995 had something memorable save February which was a mild westerly dross month- March, July, August and December stand out but there was plenty to remember in April and May (crazy temperature swings), June (that really hot end) September (some torrential downpours), October (that hot Sunday), January (probably the most changeable month I can remember) and November ( some good early frosts).

It has to be December 2010 overall though, the coldest month here since 1963 and coldest December since the 19th century. To get a subzero month after all those winterless years...

[Eskimo]

January - 2009 (Snow)February - 2013 (Snow)March - 2013 (Cold & Snow) April - I find April the most boring month. May - 2013 (Latest snowfall)June - 2006 (Heat) July - 2013 (Storms) August - 2003 (Heat)September - 2009? (Indian Summer) October - 2008 (Earliest snowfall)November - 2008 (Atlantic Storms) December - 2010 (Cold) Confined to the last 10 years. 

Edited August 15, 2013 by PerfectStorm

[feb1991blizzard]

Nice to see June 2005 mentioned, a fantastic month that had everything- record cold nights, heatwaves, thunder, hail.Just about all the months in 1995 had something memorable save February which was a mild westerly dross month- March, July, August and December stand out but there was plenty to remember in April and May (crazy temperature swings), June (that really hot end) September (some torrential downpours), October (that hot Sunday), January (probably the most changeable month I can remember) and November ( some good early frosts).It has to be December 2010 overall though, the coldest month here since 1963 and coldest December since the 19th century. To get a subzero month after all those winterless years...

 

 

That's another good one March 1995, a pasting on the first Thursday night in the month down in the Midlands but then plenty of convective snow for the next 20 days so long lasting as well.