2013 - overview, thoughts opinions

[damianslaw]

Further thoughts - take out October and December and I'd rate 2013 up there with goodies such as 1995 and 2010, alas Oct and Dec have let it down.

[Summer of 95]

Better than the previous two years, but then that isn't difficult.

 

Jan- 7/10 That snowy spell would have been talked about for years had it happened between 1991 and 2008. Amazingly the first time I've measured 10cm in Shrewsbury in January since moving here in the late 80s. Would have got 9 but for the lack of really low temperatures- which was a constant theme of 2013.

 

Feb 5/10 Only 2 mornings with 1cm lying snow disappointing given how cold the month was, and again no really cold nights. But a nice lack of southwesterly dross.

 

March 6.5/10- oh if only. If only it could have produced the minima you'd expect of the coldest in 50 years, if only that snowfall of the 23rd-25th had not produced ridiculous variation across small distances (Wrexham 30cm, Shrewsbury 10cm, Crewe nothing- 15cm in all 3 would have suited everybody!), if only there wasn't so much cold, cloudy, dry rubbish. Could have been a memorable month like Dec 2010, instead much of the country got a colder version of March 1996.

 

April 4/10 Pretty rubbish month, cold but no snow (unlike April 2012) and nothing over 17C the whole month.

 

May 5/10 Nothing much save a taste of warmth early on (23.5C on the 7th wasn't beaten till July).

 

June 6/10 Another "if only" month- if only all the dry, anticyclonic weather we had could have produced some proper warmth. Even though it was OK for sunshine it didn't even beat June 2012's highest max despite far more favourable synoptics.

 

July 7.5/10. Pretty good, spoilt only by that cloudy weekend 20-21st and the wet last week that made it wetter than average. A little disappointed not to hit 30C.

 

August 5/10 Such a promising start- 29.5C on the 1st and the only overhead storm since 2011 on the 3rd. Thereafter it descended into the same cloudy, tedious crap that has plagued every August since 2007.

 

September 5/10 Pretty unremarkable, though still managed to be sunnier than August which is becoming the norm here.

 

Oct/Nov/Dec- 1.5/10 each. Challenging 2002 for the worst final quarter I can remember. 37 consecutive days with some rain in Oct/Nov but only one of them over 20mm- it was unending cloud, drizzle and mild dross. Then a horrid December with only 2 air frosts.

[AderynCoch]

A decent year overall, thanks largely to a long-awaited good summer. I wasn't here for the first four and a half months, but by all accounts it was a very good second half of winter.

 

The last three months have been a letdown unfortunately.

[Carl46Wrexham]

Liked : March - Proper snowy spell. The best since the winter of 2010.

  July - Genuine summer hot spell...the first for over 7 years.

 

The rest of the year? Pretty meh really apart from......

 

December- well what can be said for December? A gruesome brutally hateful month....wind and rain a seemingly ever present feature...sunshine...and frost a rare privelige...snow non existant....a wretched month that has brought flooding, wind damage, left tens of thousands of people in the dark over Christmas and ruining the festive season as a result. Hateful...hateful...hateful.....and just to put the tin hat on it, my plans to let some fireworks off for my kids this evening, left in tatters by.....wait for it....more rain!!!!!! Who says the UK weather is unpredictable? This month has proven that claim to be a lie....it has been all too predictable.

 

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

Edited December 31, 2013 by Carl46Wrexham

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Carl, agree with that sig! not that I have had much rain, protected by the hills, but Wrexham isn't

[Hotspur62]

Highlights-March coldest in my lifetime and pretty snowy here.July was glorious and hot and best summer month for 7 years.

Lowpoints-October-Too wet for those who had to work in it!! and December for just lack of any cold,frost or snow(been spoilt a bit over last 4 or 5 years for cold and snow).This December major disappointment for both.

 

Hopes for 2014-Very cold and snowy February,pleasent Spring followed by glorious summer,seasonal October and early start to winter in early December ala 2010.Not too much to ask for is it lol?

 

Happy new Year to one and all!!

[Summer of 95]

Liked : March - Proper snowy spell. The best since the winter of 2010.

  July - Genuine summer hot spell...the first for over 7 years.

 

The rest of the year? Pretty meh really apart from......

 

December- well what can be said for December? A gruesome brutally hateful month....wind and rain a seemingly ever present feature...sunshine...and frost a rare privelige...snow non existant....a wretched month that has brought flooding, wind damage, left tens of thousands of people in the dark over Christmas and ruining the festive season as a result. Hateful...hateful...hateful.....and just to put the tin hat on it, my plans to let some fireworks off for my kids this evening, left in tatters by.....wait for it....more rain!!!!!! Who says the UK weather is unpredictable? This month has proven that claim to be a lie....it has been all too predictable.

 

Good riddance to bad rubbish

 

I feel for you- we just managed to set ours off before the heavy stuff arrived. If we'd waited another half hour it would have been another washout like Nov 5th (lucky we chose the dry evening of the 4th!)

 

Absolutely rubbish October-December.

[Coast]

C4's Liam Dutton on 2013:

 

Highs and lows of 2013′s weather

 

With the chapter in the weather annuals for 2013 now closed, the Met Office has been doing its sums and has worked out how last year turned out compared to average. In comparison to 1981-2010 average, the mean temperature was 0.1C below normal, rainfall was 94 per cent of average and sunshine was 4 per cent higher than usual.

 

There were of course regional variations embellished within these figures, but more importantly, there were some significant highs and lows through the year which would cast aside what the annual figures would lead you to believe. I thought I’d take a look back through 2013 and dig out some of the reports that captured everything that last year had to offer.

 

January snow

 

Following a mild start to 2013, the weather turned much colder mid-month, with much of the country blanketed in snow, leading to significant disruption.

 

Coldest spring in 50 years

 

Spring 2013 was the coldest that the UK had experienced since 1962, with heavy snowfall and strong winds causing severe drifts. Transport was badly affected and farmers struggled to recover livestock buried in deep snow drifts.

 

Warmest summer since 2006

 

After years of disappointingly wet summers, summer 2013 finally came up trumps – delivering a prolonged heatwave that lasted around 20 days.

 

St Jude’s day storm

 

A vigorous storm hit southern parts of the UK early on the 28October, with damaging gusts of wind. Four people were killed in south east England, 600,000 homes were left without power and train services suspended.

 

December storms

 

A powerful jet stream five miles above the Atlantic ocean delivered storm after storm across the UK, bringing widespread disruption and flooding.

 

Videos to go with the above at: http://blogs.channel4.com/liam-dutton-on-weather/highs-lows-2013s-weather/5655#sthash.k0YU3IYH.dpuf

[Bottesford]

Exciting March with significant lying snow - did enjoy that. 

But the overall cold spring was problematic in the garden and it took until the end of June for any warm weather to show up. North Sea low cloud was an omnipresent problem during spring and early summer leading to many cool & cloudy days. My wedding weekend was treated to a big Atlantic depression (one of the only ones of the summer it seemed!) so my view of April-June period was generally poor.

 

July was mostly great - a proper summer month at long last. I think the cold spring had tempered it somewhat as we didn't reach 30c and a number of days including notably a weekend were ruined by our friend North Sea low cloud. So nothing like the superb July 2006 but by far better than anything since. Decent slice of storms too.

August was ok but nothing like June. After that I can't remember a lot as I was so busy getting ready to move country!

 

Highlights - March & July. 

Low points - April-June cold low cloud issues.

[laserguy]

Pretty tedious apart from the incredible March blizzards. December promised so much but completely failed to deliver around here. I'm envious of all those who got my share of the storms whilst all I could do was wistfully watch the scenes on the news.