The June / European Monsoon - Does it exist?

[Paul]

The European or June Monsoon is a buzz phrase that we often hear about, and it's back in the media again at the moment with the return of westerly winds, but does it exist? Is there a frequent pattern for late Spring blocking to come to a halt in June with a more Atlantic, westerly based spell of wetter weather setting in?

Personally I think there's something to it as we do seem to have frequent westerly incursions around this time of year, but it could be a trick of the memory, as @Jo Farrow says, with it being the start of summer and with plenty of outdoor events on the go. What are your views?

@Weather-history - maybe one for you, any stats that could back up the theory?

[Weather-history]

14 minutes ago, Paul said:

The European or June Monsoon is a buzz phrase that we often hear about, and it's back in the media again at the moment with the return of westerly winds, but does it exist? Is there a frequent pattern for late Spring blocking to come to a halt in June with a more Atlantic, westerly based spell of wetter weather setting in?

Personally I think there's something to it as we do seem to have frequent westerly incursions around this time of year, but it could be a trick of the memory, as @Jo Farrow says, with it being the start of summer and with plenty of outdoor events on the go. What are your views?

@Weather-history - maybe one for you, any stats that could back up the theory?

Met office wrote a blog on this in 2012, so it is not so much a theory but a recognised phenomenon but like anything when it comes to meteorology it's not a guarantee that it will happen.

https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2012/06/08/what-is-the-european-monsoon/

It stands out if there have been a dry period before it or the previous May had been pretty good and the following June is poor or a June with two distinct halves. 

May (very good) and June 1990 (poor), May (very dry) and June 1991 (wet)

June 1997 and 2004 had two distinct halves. 

 

 

[cheeky_monkey]

is it a buzz phrase? this terminology had been knocking about for decades..first came across it during geography at school some 30 years ago.

[MP-R]

I've only ever heard of it on N-W. Looking back through my records, a convincing 'monsoon' only appears to have happened in 2004, 2009 and 2016. So it's essentially as common as a beasterly is before Christmas lol.