Summer 2016

[Nick L]

7 hours ago, 'ColdIsBest' said:

Anything below 24c is too cold for me in the summer.

Then you're in the wrong country.

[Nick L]

Regarding storms, I have seen absolutely bugger all here in Aylesbury. But I stayed in Kent last Thursday night, and with it being pretty much the storm capital alongside Lincolnshire it didn't let me down! Had a great night time light show.

[Azazel]

Well seeing as this is the last day of summer, my thoughts:

IMBY Summer of 2016 started off abysmally. June was absolutely ghastly with endless cool and grey days, however since July, Summer seems to have redeemed itself in terms of usable/warm weather. Much better than last year in terms of warmth and sun.

Not a single storm though. Not one. First time in my 31 years of life that i don't remember seeing a storm in the summertime.

For that reason alone, this summer gets a 6/10.

[MP-R]

5 minutes ago, Azazel said:

Well seeing as this is the last day of summer, my thoughts:

IMBY Summer of 2016 started off abysmally. June was absolutely ghastly with endless cool and grey days, however since July, Summer seems to have redeemed itself in terms of usable/warm weather. Much better than last year in terms of warmth and sun.

Not a single storm though. Not one. First time in my 31 years of life that i don't remember seeing a storm in the summertime.

For that reason alone, this summer gets a 6/10.

Very similar assessment from me! At least I'm not the only one who has, for the first time, not recorded a single day of thunder in the entire summer. Fortunately I saw a thunderstorm on Saturday driving to Bedford but other than that...

I'll do a more detailed look at the summer in due course but overall it was definitely one that produced harbingers early on, then didn't really get going until the second half.

01st-12th June produced consistently warm and often sunny weather with 27C once or twice. 13th June onwards was very disappointing with a lot of cloud and days with tiny amounts of precipitation that meant a day with above average number of precipitation days but well below average actual precipitation, and likewise, a good 150hours less than average sunshine. Overall 5/10.

This continued into early July with predominantly changeable, usable but rather cloudy weather, interspersed with the odd sunny day. It wasn't until midmonth that a vast improvement took place with the sudden heatwave which was fantastic. The remainder of the month was better temperature wise and offered more sunshine but still retained a rather changeable theme. Overall 6.5/10

August has actually been the best summer month here, which I think was alluded to by some forecasts but I can't remember which ones exactly. After the horror show that was 01st/02nd, it has been an often benign month with consistently warm (sometimes hot) temperatures and good sunny spells - just sadly any less settled weather has fallen on weekends, and thus has affected a lot of personal events that required good weather. Good weather on weekends, surpassing 30C and the odd storm or two would have brought this month up to a solid 9, as the total sunshine value would probably also be average or above. Overall 7.5/10.

Overall, I give the summer 6.3/10. Not a bad one but not a particularly good one. Often usable given how dry it's been here, but could have been much better had there been less cloud and a few more storms. August definitely the dark horse of this summer, bringing long overdue prolonged settled weather.

[B87]

June was one of the worst Junes on record, but July was average and August will end up quite good. Overall the summer will be slightly warmer, normal rainfall, but much cloudier than average.  September looks like it'll make up for the terrible June though, and I will still see 3-4 months of summery weather as normal.

If I had to rate the months...

June: 2/10

July: 5/10

August: 7/10

 

Edited August 31, 2016 by B87

[Mapantz]

This Summer has been the best Summer in the last 6 years, here. If I was to be told every Spring, that Summer would be like this, I'd be pretty happy (apart from the lack of a few storms)

I'll be happy with some dry and warm-ish spells through the first part of Autumn, as it'll make for good fishing, but i'm also ready for some Atlantic storminess to bring in gales and the threat of showers with hail and thunder mixed in! I seem to fare well for thunder outside of the Summer season.

[B87]

I'd be happy now with a repeat of September 1959, October 2011, and then Nov 1994.

[Nick L]

11 minutes ago, Mapantz said:

This Summer has been the best Summer in the last 6 years, here. If I was to be told every Spring, that Summer would be like this, I'd be pretty happy (apart from the lack of a few storms)

I'll be happy with some dry and warm-ish spells through the first part of Autumn, as it'll make for good fishing, but i'm also ready for some Atlantic storminess to bring in gales and the threat of showers with hail and thunder mixed in! I seem to fare well for thunder outside of the Summer season.

I think that sums up my view of this summer as well. Unpleasant warmth has been restricted to a handful of days, but there have been an abundance of sunny, warm and usable days which passed my "beer garden test"! But the one thing that has really let it down for me is the total absence of storms here, so I'll give it a 7.5/10. But then again, I never expect decent storms in the UK, it's always a big ask.

Edited August 31, 2016 by Nick L

[cheese]

June - poor. Cloudy and wet.

July - reasonable. Average temperatures, sunshine and well below average rainfall.

August - reasonable. Warmer than average, average sunshine, but well above average rainfall. Hasn't felt wet due to most rain falling on 2 days.

All in all, not too bad. 

Like others though, an appalling year for storms. I don't exaggerate when I say I have only heard thunder on one day this year. My last overhead storm was in October last year.

Edited August 31, 2016 by cheese

[I remember Atlantic 252]

15 minutes ago, cheese said:

June - poor. Cloudy and wet.

July - reasonable. Average temperatures, sunshine and well below average rainfall.

August - reasonable. Warmer than average, average sunshine, but well above average rainfall. Hasn't felt wet due to most rain falling on 2 days.

All in all, not too bad. 

Like others though, an appalling year for storms. I don't exaggerate when I say I have only heard thunder on one day this year. My last overhead storm was in October last year.

Aug best month here as well, hope Sept will better it, but GFS 06Z bleurgh, but probably accurate

not nice chart

[cheese]

Thought you said ECM was going to be accurate instead?

[I remember Atlantic 252]

8 minutes ago, cheese said:

Thought you said ECM was going to be accurate instead?

ay the other day, but on 00Z's now GFS just looks more 'sensible' for UK's weather, Atlantic air and showery under 20°

[Captain Shortwave]

The final day of the summer here and it is dry, bright though it is clouding over. Temperatures around 22-24C so a little above par. Sums up the summer down here to be honest. But an overall view of the summer from me is this;

June - First half was dull, wet and fairly cool though not by CET standards (Low maxima but minima were near average), pretty much what you would expect with high pressure to our north and low pressure over Europe, a fairly warm upper flow but low cloud and rain prevent this from being utilised (Northern and western areas were warm and sunny). The second half of June was about as average as you can get. 3/10

July - Very dry down here with the exception of one day which was at the end of the one notable hot spell during this month where a huge thunderstorm dumped a good deal of rain and hail, as well as frequent lightning. Temperatures were a little above normal and sunshine was near normal. Overall a 6/10

August - Very dry again, pretty sunny and generally warm with only a couple of days being cool as polar maritime spells were very limited. Again we had a hot spell during the second half of this month with 30C breached again. Just one day I can remember where we had rain throughout most of the day. 8/10

Overall a decent summer with a few thunderstorms dotted around during all 3 months, June being the most common, I missed the major thunderstorm events in July (Stuck in a traffic jam in Peterborough and simple had to watch the monster develop to my east) and August (Was in south Essex whilst my location was around 20 miles away from the severe storm which hit Lincolnshire). It has been in general a fairly warm summer with decent amounts of sunshine, nothing special but far from the horror show some were expecting. Strangely many expected the summer to deteriorate as the transfer from El Nino to La Nina occurred, this in the end didn't happen with the movement in the ENSO state toned down along with the unsettled conditions that were predicted to go along with the ENSO state change. Thanks for Tamara for correcting me on a few things in this regard.

Overall a 6/10 from me, I would rate this summer as being a little better than 2014. The poor spell was forgivable and to be honest we haven't seen a UK wide spell of poor weather at all, it has been more of a case where one region was poor whilst others were fine and warm.

Edited August 31, 2016 by Captain Shortwave
Hopefully this reads better and is more factually correct :)

[cheese]

32 minutes ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

ay the other day, but on 00Z's now GFS just looks more 'sensible' for UK's weather, Atlantic air and showery under 20°

Not for September, which has tended to be warm and settled in recent years. 

[lassie23]

A long hot summer IMBY draws to a close, only to be replaced by a long warm Autumn, by the looks of things.

[stainesbloke]

Summer here definitely one of two halves. Most of June (apart from a few lovely days early on) was dreadful - so gloomy and it didn't stop raining. First half of July started to dry up but was relentlessly gloomy again. Then that wonderful but brief heatwave after mid-month. August started horribly but quickly improved to become easily the best month of the summer and the best August for many years. So I'll give this summer 7/10, fairly good with some warmth and some thunderstorms but far too much cloud at times. 

[I remember Atlantic 252]

3 hours ago, cheese said:

Not for September, which has tended to be warm and settled in recent years. 

yes it has, hopefully 06Z was a wobble, 12Z more like it 

[snowtimenow]

2 hours ago, lassie23 said:

A long hot summer IMBY draws to a close, only to be replaced by a long warm Autumn, by the looks of things.

Long warm Autumn,  I really bloody hope not.  

[markyo]

Looking like this miserable,overly pleasantly nice August may continue in to  September.lowering sun making it feel less oppressive heat wise but still with that clear sky. Oh lord,i just wish for that return to that clag overcast muck that we all love and enjoy.......that may be pushing it a bit

[lassie23]

21 minutes ago, snowtimenow said:

Long warm Autumn,  I really bloody hope not.  

Same here, snow in October would be nice

[cheese]

A mild, sunny October would be nice. By November, warm and settled weather is almost impossible to achieve - although last November proved that it can happen. 18C with full sunshine in November is certainly an odd experience. Mild weather in November is usually accompanied by cloud/rain.

Edited August 31, 2016 by cheese

[Froze were the Days]

Late Spring and June was far more interesting for me and no doubt others in the south east, heavy showers and storms mixed with cooler days and although wet far more interesting than July and particulary August when all that has prevailed has been the Atlantic (far to the north west) which has kept us dry as a bone, sunny and warm to very warm and most annoyingly humid. Last poorish summer here was probably 2012...roll on a chillier Autumn but I doubt we'll get one.

[hillbilly]

This summer will definitely go down as one to forget here I was going to class it as poor and I believe I made a comment in the 2nd week of August that no matter how good it was for the remainder of august I would still call it poor.I do believe however a couple of weeks of reasonable good weather does make all the difference but yet again all those weeks of june ,july and early August being mostly cloudy lots of showers yet not too wet and dogged by constant cool winds  with only odd days here and there do not make a summer.What makes it worse for me is this year was the lack of nice spring weather ,the good days we got were plagued with cool winds and added to a decade of mostly poor summers just make it all the worse.Overall just saved from being poor 5/10

[March]

Really nice summer. Solid 8/10. Last summer was a 6/10, 2013 probably a 9/10. On par with 2014 I think. 

[B87]

1 hour ago, cheese said:

A mild, sunny October would be nice. By November, warm and settled weather is almost impossible to achieve - although last November proved that it can happen. 18C with full sunshine in November is certainly an odd experience. Mild weather in November is usually accompanied by cloud/rain.

I think most Novembers have a couple of sunny 16-18c days in the first week.  It's the 2nd week onwards where there is zero chance of mild or warm temps.