August 1991: a decent summer month

[Weather-history]

August 1991 was a good summer month but its virtually forgotten.

CET: 17.1 (+1.3)
England and Wales rainfall: 27.8mm (10th driest on record)
Sunshine: 208.9hrs (121%)

Scotland
Temp: 14.0 (warmest since 1984)
Sunshine: 141.3hrs (sunniest since 1984)
Rainfall: 61.6mm (driest since 1984)

Northern Ireland
Temp: 15.0 (1990 was slightly warmer)
Sunshine: 151.8hrs (sunniest since 1977)
Rainfall: 38.4mm (driest since 1983)

For Wick, it was the warmest August since 1947
Leuchars, the sunniest August since 1976.

Hastings recorded only 3mm of rainfall with 147% of the expected sunshine.

Maximum temperatures were nothing special, the highest maximum at Manchester Airport was just 26.6C on the 31st but 20+C was recorded on 21 days.

Heathrow recorded 27.9C on the 21st with only 1 day being sub 20C for the whole month.

The good spell continued into the early part of September with Heathrow recording 29.7C on the 1st of September.

1st August-10th September CET: 17.0
England and Wales rainfall 1st August-13th September: 28.3mm

So it was a very pleasant month.

 

Guardian review of the month

 

[Sunny76]

44 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

August 1991 was a good summer month but its virtually forgotten.

CET: 17.1 (+1.3)
England and Wales rainfall: 27.8mm (10th driest on record)
Sunshine: 208.9hrs (121%)

Scotland
Temp: 14.0 (warmest since 1984)
Sunshine: 141.3hrs (sunniest since 1984)
Rainfall: 61.6mm (driest since 1984)

Northern Ireland
Temp: 15.0 (1990 was slightly warmer)
Sunshine: 151.8hrs (sunniest since 1977)
Rainfall: 38.4mm (driest since 1983)

For Wick, it was the warmest August since 1947
Leuchars, the sunniest August since 1976.

Hastings recorded only 3mm of rainfall with 147% of the expected sunshine.

Maximum temperatures were nothing special, the highest maximum at Manchester Airport was just 26.6C on the 31st but 20+C was recorded on 21 days.

Heathrow recorded 27.9C on the 21st with only 1 day being sub 20C for the whole month.

The good spell continued into the early part of September with Heathrow recording 29.7C on the 1st of September.

1st August-10th September CET: 17.0
England and Wales rainfall 1st August-13th September: 28.3mm

So it was a very pleasant month.

 

Guardian review of the month

 

I thought it was ok, and compared to the Augusts we get now, I would say it’s good.

I remember some nice warm or hot sunny days during the month, but mixed in with more unsettled weather. Summer 1991 was a strange one. It took ages to warm up, with a cold June, a warm to hot start during early July, with some overnight storms on the first Friday night. August saw an improvement.

Off the back of 1989 and 90, it was probably seen as very average to poor at the time.

[cheeky_monkey]

i do remember Aug 1991..was particularly hot and sunny in the last week -10 days of the month..was very dry also ..in Essex it was warmer and drier than 1989..and drier than 1990 but slightly cooler but not by much though

[damianslaw]

A decent month but nothing exceptional or memorable about it. Don't recall much rain. Lots of fine warm sunny days but no major heat. It came on the back of the hot August in 1990 and great summer of 89, compared to them it was distinctly average. I spent a week in Torquay and don't remember any rain or cool weather.

Overall the third very good school summer holiday period in a row, after 4 shockers, 2 more poor ones were on the way.. before 3 good ones, excellent in the case of 1995.

[Thundery wintry showers]

 

The statistics at Waddington suggest that August 1991 was quite noteworthy around these parts:

• Maximum temperature: second highest (after 1990) since 1975 (narrowly beating even 1976).  Only 1995, 1997 and 2003 were subsequently warmer.
• Rainfall: only August 1995 was significantly drier.
• Sunshine: only 1949, 1975, 1976, 1989, 1990 and 1995 produced sunnier Augusts in a record from 1949.

If that month had been inserted into a period of generally dodgy summers it would have stood out more, but because it came straight after 1989 and 1990, it would have seemed nothing special.  It also probably suffered due to being consistent rather than outstanding, with no especially hot or sunny spells that would particularly stick in the memory.

[Summer8906]

Yes, no-one mentions this one much but it was one of the finest Augusts of my lifetime, and with 1989 and 1990 the only occasion I can remember with three consecutive really good Augusts.

I seem to remember the first few days being unsettled but then constant high pressure and sunny weather, though without very high temps. A lot of 25C days. I recall camping in the New Forest around mid-month and getting sunshine almost every day, though one day was dry and cloudy.

Summer 1991 was generally good down here though June was very poor. July I remember being warm, with some spells of heavy showers but a lot of fine if rather humid weather.  In those days I tended to place more value on July/August than June - and perhaps still do - so any year with a good July/August and bad June (1997 being another) I would rate as a good one overall.

Edited August 27, 2021 by Summer8906