Summer of Heaven

[DiagonalRedLine]

 
How do you like to have your Summery weather? Does it need to be hot and thundery? Cool with a few warm spells? Cool and wet? etc.
 
For me, it needs to be generally on the warm side with little in the way of frontal rain and cloudy conditions. However, there would be some instances of intense, hot plumes coming up from Spain and France - some being fairly long lasting, and some breaking down to some spectacular thunderstorms with torrential hail and thunder. Night-time storms with big flashes of lightning and loud thunder included, too. A Summer personally wouldn't be the same without storms.
 
Hot days, though, wouldn't occur too often as I would probably find it would get too much after a while, although there would be a threat of record-breaking temperatures with one day briefly reaching 40*C. Perhaps towards mid to late July.
 
When it comes to dry days, they would consist of very little cloud with wall to wall sunshine at times. Wouldn't be a wet Summer apart from the stuff that comes from storms.
 
That is like my 'Summer of Heaven'. 
 
What about you guys - what does Summer need to be like for you?

[simshady]

Prefer it to be cool, whether wet or dry. Hot weather and thunderstorms just don't do it for me.

[Daniel*]

My Summer of Heaven would surely have connotations of Hell.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

would be an entire summer of temps between 21-24C, light winds with little humidity, and mostly sunny

 

if it is hot, which is not my favourite weather, i just hope there is storms, or what a waste

[I Cumbria Marra I]

Max temps between 22-30c, loads of sun, light winds, no cloud except from thunderstorms, two severe thunderstorms a week, has to be lower than 15c at night though.

[Captain Shortwave]

A perfect summer for me would come out with an average maximum of around 25C, so I went for the mix of warm and very warm conditions, the occasional plume thrown in at times too. I don't mind the rain in summer if it comes in the form of showers, so showers and thunderstorms are great too.

[cheese]

Most days between 20-25C but with a heatwave thrown in for good measure - with temperatures reaching the low 30s, and one or two very warm (>20C) nights - for interest's sake.

 

Rainfall in the form of showers and storms - not keen on frontal rain in summer but if it's overnight I can tolerate it.

[DiagonalRedLine]

Hot and sunny with night-time thunderstorms, at all times. It's definately not the time for cool and wet, especially since we get that throughout all of autumn, winter and spring,

 

If it was up to me though, the meteorological summer would last from 1 January to 31 December.

That's a good point, to be fair. Although it's possible to get warm/hot weather even in Spring and Autumn, Summer is the main season where the hottest conditions do seem the most likely. Can be a bit of a funny time of year really (not in a bad way, though), because although I really enjoy cold and snowy weather, sometimes, when it reaches Summer, don't want it to be in such a hurry to leave. Plus, there's those shorter nights which I kinda dread and end up missing the longer daylight hours and warm conditions. 

 

Also, was meant to have added it earlier, but have now included a poll.

[NPUK]

Cool for me, I do enjoy night time thunderstorms but my dog has an extreme phobia and wrecks the house so I cannot enjoy them while he is in distress.

[PeteB]

I like wearing a t-shirt and shorts so I'd say 24-30 with night time temperatures 18 or so.

 

Pete 

[summer blizzard]

March-July i'd prefer dry, sunny and 20-25C with a large diurnal range.

 

August-Oct i prefer cool and wet (Aug 10 was great).

 

..

 

If i had to pick one i'd go cool and wet. I guess i'm a true winter lover. 

[March Blizzard]

17C-22C, plenty of sunshine, the odd cooler day and the odd warmer day, a few thunderstorms, the odd wet day and night time temperatures of around 7-12C would be my ideal summer.

I guess I'm easily pleased, my selection isn't too far from a typical British summer anyway.

[Summer of 95]

Average high 25-30C, 2 or 3 storms per month, highest max in the 30s, no max below 20, minimum 200 hours sun per month. Not too much to ask is it?

[Lettucing Gutted]

I chose the "Quite cool. Temps ranging between 15 to 20*C. Nothing warmer" option for my ideal "Summer Of Heaven".  So far I appear to be the only 1 who chose this option.  Additionally as well as cool, I would like summer to be dry and only slightly wet at worst with any wetness due to light rain, light showers and drizzle.  I would also like any storms and showers to be of the "Low Precipitation" form (as the Americans say ).  I hate heavy rain, floods and monsoons as well as heat.  As long as its cool/cold I don't mind whether its sunny or cloudy.  I also prefer calm or light breezes.  No blowtorch Azores/Bartlett High and Atlantic Low driven hairdryers or muggy Atlantic mush please.

[DiagonalRedLine]

...minimum 200 hours sun per month. Not too much to ask is it?

As longs as the the sunny weather can stand up against the ferocious powers of the Shropshire Sunshine Shield, then that shouldn't be a problem.

[cheese]

March-July i'd prefer dry, sunny and 20-25C with a large diurnal range.

 

August-Oct i prefer cool and wet (Aug 10 was great).

 

..

 

If i had to pick one i'd go cool and wet. I guess i'm a true winter lover. 

Why would you want cooler, wetter conditions to arrive in August? You're wasting at least two good months of solid summer weather!

[summer blizzard]

Why would you want cooler, wetter conditions to arrive in August? You're wasting at least two good months of solid summer weather!

 

Late summer heat seems to come with higher humidity since 04 at least (horrid month). I quite like the cool refreshment that comes with an early Autumn.

[Milhouse]

Ive gone for a temp range of 20c-30c and some storms. Sounds ideal to me to have pleasant warmth in the low 20s interspersed with hotter periods culminating in a thundery breakdown, then back to pleasant and warm again.

[hillbilly]

Easy 1995 but 1984 or 1989 would be a good second!!

[Severe Blizzard]

Lots of hot and dry sunny weather with low humidity when having a break between lots of thunderstorms.

Thundery conditions at least once a week when higher humidity would be acceptable. Occasionally more than one day of thunderstorm activity per week.

Absolutely no frontal rain, drizzle or humid muck without storms.

No annoying persistent breezes with chilly conditions, except a light breeze during the hottest days and squally wind during the huge and unprecedented number of thunderstorms in Guildford. 

No frustrating missing thunder events and getting NOTHING. If a nearby location gets 3 hours of thunder and we get only 1 hour, fine, but it would be our turn on another occasion.

Thunderstorm forecasts which favour Guildford which don't get downgraded or go tits up for a change.

Surprise thunderstorms when nothing is forecast would be nice.

No interesting events when away on holiday so I don't miss anything.

Lots of pleasant sunny weather during my Cornwall holidays.

Absolutely NO ATLANTIC MUCK at ANY time.

 

and, oh yes, summer lasts from April to October. Not asking a lot, is it?

 

Best examples of my 'dream' summers would be 1983, 1989, 2003 or 1959 if I had been alive back then. 

[Arctic Hare]

Unfashionably, I'm not much of a summer storms fan. I'd be more than happy with 90% of the days being 22-25 °C and sunny, not too humid and with a light breeze, with some overnight rain to stop things getting too parched and to reduce the fire risk. Maybe the odd cooler, cloudier day just to make me appreciate the warm, sunny conditions more than if I got too used to them!

 

That said, if there is going to be a heatwave, then the hotter the better. I'd be more interested in 39 °C than 37 °C, or more realistically in 32 °C than 30 °C. Once it's up that high then there's not a lot of difference in feel (humidity is more important) so I like to see the numbers really rocket.

 

Similarly, if there is going to be a storm, then make it a real doozy -- the one that came up the M5 in July 2013 is a good example. That hit these parts at 4am, which wasn't ideal, but it put on one heck of a show!

[DiagonalRedLine]

Surprise thunderstorms when nothing is forecast would be nice.

No interesting events when away on holiday so I don't miss anything.

Yeah, that's a great thing when you believe nothing is going to happen... and then suddenly, from nowhere, the sky is flooded with dark menacing clouds and an explosive storm starts breaking out. Does appear to be the case at times that some of the most amusing weather arises when it's not anticipated to happen. Just like with snow in Winter when a channel Low is expected to produce a snowfall that's meant to get no further North than Southern Midlands, but then, by some miracle, the front drifts further North and gives Northern areas a snowy surprise. I wonder if I don't think about wanting storms this week, hopefully the weather demons will get upset and chuck a load of super storms this way?

Surprise storms is an additional thing I would no doubt include for my desired Summer, too.

Agree with your other point, too. There's not much worse than going somewhere but, simultaneously, all the brill weather happens back at home. It's as though the weather does it deliberately.

Not missing interesting weather events when away would be something else that I'd want Summer to deliver; in fact, something that would be applicable all year round.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I went for the 20 to 30C with some storms option.  

 

More specifically:

Dry and sunny with temperatures generally in the low to mid 20s for approximately 50% of the time.

Bright and showery for 30%, some heavy downpours mixed in with some thunder, temperatures generally low 20s.

Hot and thundery for 20% (Spanish plume type conditions), temperatures generally mid to high 20s, plus the occasional day or two in the low 30s.