Summer 2016

[cheese]

Interesting. Can't say I've noticed any dates in May being thundery here - in fact, I think the last time we got a thunderstorm in May was 2009. It's been remarkably thunder-less in recent years.

[B87]

42 minutes ago, cheese said:

Yes, cracking month. Every day was above 20C, consistently in the upper 20s, the grass became very parched. We had under 10mm until the final part of the month when we got torrential downpours and thunderstorms (n o complaints from me). July 2014 was a good month too.

August 2013 wasn't too bad either, slightly warmer than average. It's funny that in August 2013 we got thunderstorms on my birthday (22nd) and in August 2015 we also had storms on my birthday. Both days also had a max temp of 26C. Must be a thundery date. 

 

We had 1 day below 21c that month (2nd with 17.9c), though the average was 27.0c (the 3rd warmest July avg max at Heathrow). 6 rainy days, but only 25mm so a bit drier than average, but the sunshine was very good; 268 hours with the CS, almost 300 with the KZ.

[MP-R]

45 minutes ago, cheese said:

Interesting. Can't say I've noticed any dates in May being thundery here - in fact, I think the last time we got a thunderstorm in May was 2009. It's been remarkably thunder-less in recent years.

I suppose it varies depending on location. May is quite a reliably thundery month in this neck of the woods, perhaps more so than high summer some years. May have something to do with the prevalence of easterlies which are generally more unstable the further south in the country one is. However, even rPm setups have proven quite thundery such as May 19th-22nd 2014 and May 20th-23rd 2005. The latter brought more than 5 separate thunderstorms over 2 days haha.

[cheese]

May, June, July and August all seem to get a similar number of thunder days on average, but May just seems to have been lacking locally in recent years.

[Relativistic]

4 hours ago, cheese said:

Yes, cracking month. Every day was above 20C, consistently in the upper 20s, the grass became very parched. We had under 10mm until the final part of the month when we got torrential downpours and thunderstorms (n o complaints from me). July 2014 was a good month too.

August 2013 wasn't too bad either, slightly warmer than average. It's funny that in August 2013 we got thunderstorms on my birthday (22nd) and in August 2015 we also had storms on my birthday. Both days also had a max temp of 26C. Must be a thundery date. 

 

July 2014 was a superb month for thunderstorms back in Chelmsford. It seemed for a while that every night would bring a belting storm, fantastic stuff!

Also July 2013 was consistently warm/ hot, with a decent storm on my birthday (27th).

On balance though, I'd definitely have July 2014 over July 2013. I'm not sure I've seen more lightning strikes in a single month than I did in July 2014.

Edit: Funny how the Summer 2016 thread is currently being labelled as "hot" on the list of threads.

Edited May 27, 2016 by Relativistic

[B87]

5 minutes ago, Relativistic said:

July 2014 was a superb month for thunderstorms back in Chelmsford. It seemed for a while that every night would bring a belting storm, fantastic stuff!

Also July 2013 was consistently warm/ hot, with a decent storm in my birthday (27th).

On balance though, I'd definitely have July 2014 over July 2013. I'm not sure I've seen more lightning strikes in a single month than I did in July 2014.

July 2014 was a good month here; average high of 25.8c with 246 hours of sun.  A shame that August 2014 ruined what would've been a good summer.

[MP-R]

17 minutes ago, Relativistic said:

July 2014 was a superb month for thunderstorms back in Chelmsford. It seemed for a while that every night would bring a belting storm, fantastic stuff!

Also July 2013 was consistently warm/ hot, with a decent storm on my birthday (27th).

On balance though, I'd definitely have July 2014 over July 2013. I'm not sure I've seen more lightning strikes in a single month than I did in July 2014.

Edit: Funny how the Summer 2016 thread is currently being labelled as "hot" on the list of threads.

If I could pick and choose, from recent years, I'd love June 2014 followed by July 2013 followed by the weather of July 2014 in August and August 2013 in September. 

[B87]

11 minutes ago, MP-R said:

If I could pick and choose, from recent years, I'd love June 2014 followed by July 2013 followed by the weather of July 2014 in August and August 2013 in September. 

For me, a mix of June 2010, July 2013, August 2013 and September 2011 if we are choosing months since 2010.  

The only other average August since then was 2012, but it was cloudier than normal.

[cheese]

I'd like June 2003, July 2013 and August 1997 when taking all summers into consideration, but post-2010, same as B87. There have been some decent summer months in the past 5-6 years.

Edited May 27, 2016 by cheese

[MP-R]

30 minutes ago, B87 said:

For me, a mix of June 2010, July 2013, August 2013 and September 2011 if we are choosing months since 2010.  

The only other average August since then was 2012, but it was cloudier than normal.

Ah yes 2010 was a very good June too - certainly sunnier than 2014 here though not as warm overall. If September 2011 could have happened the other way around with the heatwave at the beginning and the unsettled first two thirds in the last two thirds, that would also be brill.

[Lake District Blizzards]

You really can make a very good summer out of the last few years.

May 2016

June 2014

July 2013

August ermm id pick 2012 but 2013 and 2014 were ok

September 2014

[Scorcher]

 

2 hours ago, Relativistic said:

On balance though, I'd definitely have July 2014 over July 2013. I'm not sure I've seen more lightning strikes in a single month than I did in July 2014.

 

In NW England July 2013 was definitely the better month- in fact I believe according to weather-history's Manchester summer index, the summer of 2013 was the best overall since 1995 in these parts.

[Fourty Point Three Degrees]

My pick n mix for the perfect summer, 

May 2016

June 2000

July 2006

August 1990

September 2014

[Matthew.]

I'd go for 3 months like April 2015 relative to the Summer average. An above average month temperature wise but the main thing would be High Pressure sat right on top of the Uk giving a remarkable amount of sunshine with many cloudless days.

[B87]

If we can use all years, then my ideal year would be the following:

Jan 2008

Feb 1998

Mar 2012

Apr 2011

May 1989

Jun 1976

Jul 2006

Aug 1995

Sep 2006

Oct 2011

Nov 1994

Dec 2015

[Matthew.]

25 minutes ago, B87 said:

If we can use all years, then my ideal year would be the following:

Jan 2008

Feb 1998

Mar 2012

Apr 2011

May 1989

Jun 1976

Jul 2006

Aug 1995

Sep 2006

Oct 2011

Nov 1994

Dec 2015

Completely agree with June 76' and if August 95' was as sunny as August 76' then that aswell. I think i would struggle with all that mild in winter though would go for something fresher cleaner air, maybe winter of 2014/15 with polar Nw. 

[cheese]

My ideal year:

January 1963

February 1947

March 2013

April 2015

May 1998

June 2003

July 2013

August 1997

September 2006

October 2013

November 2012

December 2010

Edited May 27, 2016 by cheese

[summer blizzard]

Jan: 2010

Feb: 2010

Mar: 2012

Apr: 2007

May:2008

Jun: 2006

Jul: 2006

Aug: 2014

Sep: Don't care

Oct: Don't care

Nov: 2005

Dec::2010

[cheese]

August 2014 was one of the vilest months I've ever experienced! 

[summer blizzard]

39 minutes ago, cheese said:

August 2014 was one of the vilest months I've ever experienced! 

For the August-Oct period i generally don't much care so long as the heat (or rather humidity) dies back however August 2014 was an exceptionally extreme month and by far the closest i've come to seeing a tornado. While other summer months have produced the very early cloud look, august 2014 saw right over my street a visible center of rotation with vertical vorcities inside. It was a little scary but exceptional and during the Aug-Oct period i'd take extremes over anything else. 

[cheese]

Hmm, I prefer August to be warm, and never cool. Such a waste I find, given August often delivers the hottest temperatures of the year.

[hillbilly]

1 hour ago, cheese said:

August 2014 was one of the vilest months I've ever experienced! 

Not as bad as 1986,a real shocker,there has not been a colder one since !

 

[Matthew.]

Here's a old saying which favours this Summer- 

 'If the Oak before the Elm then we'll only have a splash but if the Elm before the Oak then we'll surely have a soak!'

[markyo]

Only 3 weeks to go then the nights start getting longer,very happy chappy!! But i suspect in the minority!

[Summer Sun]

45 minutes ago, markyo said:

Only 3 weeks to go then the nights start getting longer,very happy chappy!! But i suspect in the minority!

Still a good 6 to 7 weeks before any changes become noticeable though