August 1995 Hot dry and sunny

[damianslaw]

On another chilly day for August. My mind is remembering back to the exceptional August of 1995. I think it was the warmest on record here, also driest and one of the sunniest. Only at the very tail end did rain fall. Many days reached a max of 25 degrees or more, with a few over 30 degrees. It came on the back of a very warm July and very dry 4 month period. 

Memories and statistics from others please post..

[LetItSnow!]

Here are the daily observations for Heathrow during Aug. 1995. Consistently hot though surprisingly warm nights. I wasn’t alive at the time so looking at the charts I always assumed because of the dry and hot nature of the month that radiative cooling would be more in force, though of course this is Heathrow so it gives a feel of how hot and heavy it must have felt in the city. 

 

In comparison, here are the daily observations for Carlisle   

Edited August 13, 2021 by LetItSnow!

[Coopsy]

I remember this year well. It was my last year at school and every day it felt like we played football in the heat in the summer term. I’m sure the dry warm and often hot weather went from June to end of August. 

I used to freeze a bottle of orange squash every night ready for the next day.

Once we broke up from school some of the lads went on holiday and the weather remained hot well into August for a change and we were roasting in the sun on the south coast. 

Good memories. 

[BruenSryan]

One of Ireland's most exceptional weather months without a doubt.

It was nationally Ireland's hottest month on record and remains so with persistent high pressure and hot easterly winds a lot of the time. The national record max temperature for August was equalled with 31.5C at Carlow on the 2nd - a joint record with August 1975. It holds the Irish record for most 30C days in a single calendar month with July 2013 (7). 

It was the driest August on record for many too with near rainless conditions at some isolated stations including 0.4mm at Bunclody (Wexford) all month and for almost all stations. It was also the sunniest August on record with the national record for August set at 283.9 hrs set at Rosslare in 1995. 

The mean temperature at Phoenix Park (Dublin) of 18.1C was over a full degree warmer than the previous warmest August way back in 1947. 

It was the literal opposite of August 1912 (coldest, wettest and dullest August on record at the time). We have certainly paid for it since on this island.. with most Augusts (with 2003 and 2010 being the main exceptions for Ireland) being dull, wet and average to mild temperatures.

[damianslaw]

5 hours ago, LetItSnow! said:

Here are the daily observations for Heathrow during Aug. 1995. Consistently hot though surprisingly warm nights. I wasn’t alive at the time so looking at the charts I always assumed because of the dry and hot nature of the month that radiative cooling would be more in force, though of course this is Heathrow so it gives a feel of how hot and heavy it must have felt in the city. 

 

In comparison, here are the daily observations for Carlisle   

Thanks for statistics. Not quite as warm maxima as I remembered then.. Carlisle tends to be warmer than here. Certainly the period to the 22nd was very warm, became quite cool after that.

No rain for Heathrow.

[A Face like Thunder]

This was the summer of the water leaks when '000s of water leaks were noted in the media. I have to say that on this occasion, the criticisms of the water companies were largely justified, and at times, water lorries had to be pressed into service when the taps ran dry following serious leaks. I was working in Leeds at the time and was glad that my office was one of the few to be air-conditioned!   

[hillbilly]

Here in the Pennines we never suffer with brown fields like farmers in drier parts of the country as even in the driest years we always have some sort of rain,except for that in 1995.Working on the farm the fields were brown for months,wells that had never dried even during 1976 were dry for months.Halifax almost ran out of water and some may remember on national news hundreds of lorries tankering water from all over Yorkshire to supply Halifax 24 hours a day for weeks.What an amazing hot dry summer that was ,oh to have another like it.

Rainfall for 3 summer months

1995  ...34.3mm

1976.....59.2mm

1984....103.4mm

2018....107mm

 

[iand61]

31 minutes ago, hillbilly said:

Here in the Pennines we never suffer with brown fields like farmers in drier parts of the country as even in the driest years we always have some sort of rain,except for that in 1995.Working on the farm the fields were brown for months,wells that had never dried even during 1976 were dry for months.Halifax almost ran out of water and some may remember on national news hundreds of lorries tankering water from all over Yorkshire to supply Halifax 24 hours a day for weeks.What an amazing hot dry summer that was ,oh to have another like it.

Rainfall for 3 summer months

1995  ...34.3mm

1976.....59.2mm

1984....103.4mm

2018....107mm

 

I remember us being out walking over Halifax during the bitter cold and snowy Christmas we had in 95 and stopped for a few and food near a reservoir, possibly Warley Moor.

the water level was very low and what was left was covered in thick ice and a far bit of snow and other than the boats at the sailing club, it could have been just flat fields.

what was most striking though was the frequent creaking and splashing noises of the ice breaking as the water was drawn off.

certainly not a place to mistake for a field.

[hillbilly]

14 minutes ago, iand61 said:

I remember us being out walking over Halifax during the bitter cold and snowy Christmas we had in 95 and stopped for a few and food near a reservoir, possibly Warley Moor.

the water level was very low and what was left was covered in thick ice and a far bit of snow and other than the boats at the sailing club, it could have been just flat fields.

what was most striking though was the frequent creaking and splashing noises of the ice breaking as the water was drawn off.

certainly not a place to mistake for a field.

Yes,unlike 1976 where the drought ended in flooding the 1995 drought never really ended at all.The whole winter 1995/1996 was very dry and many resevoirs in 1996 were almost as low as they were in 1995.Christmas 1995 was indeed very snowy and very cold[sorry after xmas],you would indeed have been in a cold place at Fly flatts resevoir,i dont think the boats would have been going so far.

[philglossop]

August 1995 was a cracking end to a fabulous summer. I've got photos taken from Peak District around my late Nans home in Holmesfield and its brown fields everywhere- especially around the wooden pole above Totley.

We lost my Aunt in the July after some horrendous thunderstorms on the night Monday 10th (the best display in my lifetime here in Plymouth)  and she died the following night- so I remember not sleeping much that week. Dartmoor was parched dry for weeks- and coming home from her funeral at Moretonhampstead- it was announced Robbie had left Take That (funny what you remember!). 

 

Burrator reservoir was as low as 1976 and it was just as Roadford was coming online but we nearly went into rationing again like 1976. 

 

 

[LetItSnow!]

Interesting looking at the rainfall patterns setting this summer up, and after too. There was a big yoyo-ing from very wet to very dry periods that started in the late '80s. 1988-1992 generally was very dry bar the odd extreme interlude (winter 1990, Jun. 1991), then it turned very wet from the summer of 1992 until the spring of 1995. A period of very wet winters in particular. After one of the wettest winters on record (Jan. 1995 was the wettest since Jan. 1948) it really began in Apr. 1995 which was the driest nationwide since 1984. Then of course the extremely dry and hot summer. There was a brief break in Sep. 1995 which was exceptionally wet but the dry theme continued in October and never truly broke until the summer of 1997. 1996 was an exceptionally dry year in places, as well as cold. Indicative of a blocked pattern. Indeed, the only appreciably wet months in the entire year was November. We then went into an exceptionally wet period from summer 1997 until the winter of 2002/3. We've had two periods like it since (spring 2003 to autumn 2006 & winter 2010 to spring 2012). Interestingly, it's mostly been wet since late 2013. We're overdue a run of dry years though certainly not welcome. I like the rain!

[damianslaw]

3 hours ago, LetItSnow! said:

Interesting looking at the rainfall patterns setting this summer up, and after too. There was a big yoyo-ing from very wet to very dry periods that started in the late '80s. 1988-1992 generally was very dry bar the odd extreme interlude (winter 1990, Jun. 1991), then it turned very wet from the summer of 1992 until the spring of 1995. A period of very wet winters in particular. After one of the wettest winters on record (Jan. 1995 was the wettest since Jan. 1948) it really began in Apr. 1995 which was the driest nationwide since 1984. Then of course the extremely dry and hot summer. There was a brief break in Sep. 1995 which was exceptionally wet but the dry theme continued in October and never truly broke until the summer of 1997. 1996 was an exceptionally dry year in places, as well as cold. Indicative of a blocked pattern. Indeed, the only appreciably wet months in the entire year was November. We then went into an exceptionally wet period from summer 1997 until the winter of 2002/3. We've had two periods like it since (spring 2003 to autumn 2006 & winter 2010 to spring 2012). Interestingly, it's mostly been wet since late 2013. We're overdue a run of dry years though certainly not welcome. I like the rain!

Slightly off topic, but yes I've commented on the warm and dry periods of the last 30 years or so, coming in distinct patches. We seem to have been in a very wet long period by and large since late 2013 but not without some dry periods notably Spring - summer 2018 and 2020. Interestingly the very dry period 95-97 coincided with solar minima period and coming out of it, ditto 2010-2012... the very wet autumn of 2000 coincided with peak solar maxima.. winter 13-14 also peak solar maxima... followed by the very wet December of 2015.. 

1996 and 2010 were our driest years of the last 30 or so I think, and also the coldest... both at low solar cycle. 

[MP-R]

1 hour ago, damianslaw said:

 

1996 and 2010 were our driest years of the last 30 or so I think, and also the coldest... both at low solar cycle. 

And conversely, 2003 was also very dry, drier than 2010 here, but it was a warm year (only Feb and Oct being colder than normal), and not associated with low solar activity from memory.

[damianslaw]

1 hour ago, MP-R said:

And conversely, 2003 was also very dry, drier than 2010 here, but it was a warm year (only Feb and Oct being colder than normal), and not associated with low solar activity from memory.

2003 sandwiched in the middle interestingly... alas 2017 wasn't especially dry.. if looking at 7 year intervals.. 1989 was though..

[cheeky_monkey]

The difference between Aug 1995 and say July 2006 and Aug 2003 was its lower humidity it didn't feel as oppressive as 2006 or 2003..was often quite windy and hot too from memory

[LetItSnow!]

Here is the table of observations at Heathrow for Jul. 1983, Aug. 1995, Jul. 2006 & Jul. 2018, our hottest months, all for comparison. 

[Thundery wintry showers]

I remember being surprised by Heathrow's average minimum being relatively high in August 1995 in the Royal Meteorological Society's Weather Log (+2.8 on the 1961-1990 average).  Most sites were between 4 and 5C warmer than average by day and between 1 and 2C warmer than average by night.  Uncomfortably warm nights were a widespread issue during the first few days of August 1995 when the heat was at its peak, but apart from that, temperatures were generally falling to around 12-15C at night even in the hotter spells, perhaps bearing out the points about low humidity.  Perhaps Heathrow was affected peripherally by the London urban heat island.

Sunshine totals included 295 hours at Heathrow (158%), 284 at Manchester/Ringway (174%), 250 at Durham (160%) and 254 at Glasgow/Abbotsinch (172%).  I remember noting that Abbotsinch had a particularly anomalously sunny year in 1995 with every month having above average sunshine, and the year's total was 127% of the average.  Manchester also fared particularly well with only February and September falling very marginally short of the average.

August 1995 was generally a bit hotter than August 1947.  Averaged nationally August 1947 was slightly the drier and sunnier of the two, mainly because it was more exceptional over much of Scotland and Northern Ireland, where unusually some of the normally wet areas of western Scotland saw no rain at all in August 1947.  However in central and eastern England August 1995 was generally sunnier than August 1947.

I remember a thunderstorm with hail on 27 August 1995 in South Tyneside - it was rather localised but thunder was reported quite widely in eastern England on that day. 

Edited August 17, 2021 by Thundery wintry showers

[HafrenLMP1]

17 hours ago, cheeky_monkey said:

The difference between Aug 1995 and say July 2006 and Aug 2003 was its lower humidity it didn't feel as oppressive as 2006 or 2003..was often quite windy and hot too from memory

I was going to mention this; from memory, while it was a long period of hot, dry weather, I don't remember it being uncomfortable. I'd often come home from work, and sit in the garden listening to the cricket on TMS. Great memories.....

[reef]

Summer 1995 was notable here for its dryness and high levels of sunshine rather than temperature. Indeed, the average temperature for the entire summer here was 16.2C, which is cooler than summers 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 and mostly likely this one too (currently 16.4C). There was almost a constant onshore breeze so only 16 days topped 25C and 3 days 28C.

It shows how things have warmed when a well known 'hot' summer had a mean only 0.2C above the current 1991-2020 average!

I think a summer like that now would be ideal, but I doubt its actually possible anymore and would be a good degree or more warmer. 2018 is closest as it had identical sunshine (698hrs) and only 18mm more rain. It was of course 1.3C warmer on average.

Edited August 17, 2021 by reef

[cheeky_monkey]

3 hours ago, reef said:

Summer 1995 was notable here for its dryness and high levels of sunshine rather than temperature. Indeed, the average temperature for the entire summer here was 16.2C, which is cooler than summers 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 and mostly likely this one too (currently 16.4C). There was almost a constant onshore breeze so only 16 days topped 25C and 3 days 28C.

It shows how things have warmed when a well known 'hot' summer had a mean only 0.2C above the current 1991-2020 average!

I think a summer like that now would be ideal, but I doubt its actually possible anymore and would be a good degree or more warmer. 2018 is closest as it had identical sunshine (698hrs) and only 18mm more rain. It was of course 1.3C warmer on average.

Maybe due to 1995 being an easterly summer (esp Aug) much like 1983..so if you are close to the east coast neither summer would have been as hot as the rest of the country

[damianslaw]

7 hours ago, cheeky_monkey said:

Maybe due to 1995 being an easterly summer (esp Aug) much like 1983..so if you are close to the east coast neither summer would have been as hot as the rest of the country

Yes it was a very easterly summer 1995, east coast didn't do as well temp wise. June was cool until later on. Western parts saw continuous heat. March 95 through until Jan 97 was an exceptional period for lack of westerlies. Atlantic was shut dead.