Augusts since 1975

[Sunny76]

All this talk about how poor August is, compared to June and July, especially over the last 15 years, has made want to ask the question.

How good or bad was August between 1975 until 2005.

From what I’ve read, 1975 was a hot and sunny one, followed by another very hot august in 1976. 
 

What was 77,78,79 and so forth like?

August 2021 is possibly one of the worst in recent times, but I do recall 1986 having a very cloudy one. However, I remember 1987 having at least one week of hot sunny weather, and the same goes for 1988.

Your thoughts?

 

[Duncan McAlister]

It always seemed to be nice in the 90s and early 2000s as soon as the schools went back in Scotland (or at least that was my perception!)

Certainly 1995, 97, 99, 2000, 01, 03 and 04 stand out from that time as having a lot of good weather with 95, 97 and 03 being notably warm, record-breakingly so in the case of 1995 and 2003 (still, I believe, Scotland's warmest ever month and daily max respectively?).

[LetItSnow!]

4 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

All this talk about how poor August is, compared to June and July, especially over the last 15 years, has made want to ask the question.

How good or bad was August between 1975 until 2005.

From what I’ve read, 1975 was a hot and sunny one, followed by another very hot august in 1976. 
 

What was 77,78,79 and so forth like?

August 2021 is possibly one of the worst in recent times, but I do recall 1986 having a very cloudy one. However, I remember 1987 having at least one week of hot sunny weather, and the same goes for 1988.

Your thoughts?

 

Augusts from 1977-1980 were generally poor to very poor. 1977 had a N/S split with the north being dry & sunny but the south exceptionally wet & thundery, but cool everywhere. 1978 was poor everywhere & 1979 was violently unsettled & known for the Fastnet Yacht Disaster where an area of low pressure killed 15 people & destroyed about 100 yachts. 1980 was also poor, very cloudy with warm minima making up for cool maxima, somewhat like Aug. 2008.

 

1981 had the infamous daytime darkness storms on the 6th & overall was the best August since 1976, though still unremarkable otherwise. 1982 was non-descript from what I've researched.

Two hot, dry & sunny Augusts in 1983 & 1984, but that was made up for by four very poor Augusts, particularly 1985 & 1986. 1987 & 1988 both had some hot spells but also a lot of poor weather. 1987 had some extreme thunderstorms. Then 1989-1991 all varied warm to hot (record breaking heat at times), 1992-1994 were generally cool & poor. Then the truly extreme Augusts of 1995 & 1997 occured, but otherwise August was pretty unremarkable from 1996 to 2002. 1998 was quite warm and dry in the south but poor in the north. 1999 was cool but extremely thundery & wet so that would have been interesting to witness. Since 2006 August has been on a downward spiral. Indeed, the warmest weve reached since then is 17.6 last year. Aug. 2021 will not be breaking this spell.

[Polar Bears in Doncaster]

August 1990 was very hot.

August 1984 was a good one too.

[Polar Bears in Doncaster]

August 1975 and 1976 were very hot - the latter followed by a very wet September.

[Weather Enthusiast91]

I remember the August of 2003 which was a hot and dry month. I was about to start secondary school and I recall falling asleep in a tent which we had in my back garden, I was also wearing a t-shirt that night. This was followed by a very warm and dry September which lasted up until the equinox when some much needed rain arrived and temperatures were back to around normal for the time of year.

I don't remember August 2006 being anything particularly noteworthy. July was certainly a hot month that year, but the August was a lot closer to average. September that year was fairly warm, mainly during the first half.

[mushymanrob]

Heres a link to the CETs since 1650s... compare each August annually ...

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/cetml1659on.dat

[Sunny76]

August 1994 was mediocre,  but I still remember some warm sunny days. 
 

1992 was a letdown after 3 sunny Augusts, and 1993 was more or less the same.

1995 was a classic. Nothing has come close since. 

[mb018538]

On 19/08/2021 at 19:36, Sunny76 said:

August 1994 was mediocre,  but I still remember some warm sunny days. 
 

1992 was a letdown after 3 sunny Augusts, and 1993 was more or less the same.

1995 was a classic. Nothing has come close since. 

There will obviously be another hot and sunny august somewhere down the line….the question is when? You just fancy June and July to deliver the good much more reliably, even if the first half of June were still in warm up mode for the UK.

[damianslaw]

Last warm sunny dry August was 2003. Quite a topsy turvy run of Augusts in the 75-05. Ones of acclaim 75, 76, 83, 84, 89, 90, 91, 95, 96, 03. Many though very poor. 

[MP-R]

On 18/08/2021 at 21:23, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

I remember the August of 2003 which was a hot and dry month. I was about to start secondary school and I recall falling asleep in a tent which we had in my back garden, I was also wearing a t-shirt that night. This was followed by a very warm and dry September which lasted up until the equinox when some much needed rain arrived and temperatures were back to around normal for the time of year.

I remember that cold front! Warm and sunny morning, black sky encroaching from the northwest, then sudden sheets of torrential rain. Water actually started pooling in our school yard. By the end of the school day, sun was back out but much fresher.

Anyway, back to Augusts, and since 2003: 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2016 were all decent or good here. 2007 was very dry and quite sunny too but on the cool side - 29th July-24th September was a dry period in particular. 2019 and 2020 were both 50/50 months. The only shockers I can think of were 2008, 2011 and 2014 (this August is becoming a drier version of a shocker in terms of sunshine).

Before 2003, I have many memories of good spells of weather in August. In fact, growing up in the 90s it was often better than May and June. 

[Weather Enthusiast91]

1 hour ago, MP-R said:

I remember that cold front! Warm and sunny morning, black sky encroaching from the northwest, then sudden sheets of torrential rain. Water actually started pooling in our school yard. By the end of the school day, sun was back out but much fresher.

 

Ah memories. 

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by Weather Enthusiast91

[Weather-history]

Guardian reviews of Augusts 1988-2003

1988  198919901991

 

1992  1993  1994 1995  1996 

 

1997  1998  1999 2000 

 

2001    2002   2003 

[B87]

August is supposed to be the sunniest month of the year by percentage in London, yet in 1997, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2020 and almost certainly 2021, April was a sunnier month!

August, according to the averages, is an almost carbon copy of July (excluding the shorter days). It rarely seems to be the case these days. 

Edited August 20, 2021 by B87

[North-Easterly Blast]

Warm and dry Augusts are the exception rather than the norm - in recent decades I can only think of 1995 and 2003 - cannot recall much else away from those years.  1997 was the second warmest on record but still had close to, or above average rainfall.  Prior to that you have to go back to 1975 for a significantly warm and dry one - although 1976, 1983, 1984 and 1990 still all had a good deal of warm and dry weather.  Most recently August 2020 was pretty warm at 17.6 CET, 12th warmest on record and equal to seven other Augusts according to the CET, but also on the wet side.  August 2019 was also a reasonably warm one too though with average rainfall.

With all this talk of how poor August has been recently, we can say that the coolest of recent times is 14.9 in 2014, and we have not had a cooler one than that since 1993.  There were a fair number of cool Augusts (sub 15*C CET) in the 1950s and 1960s, and in 1985, 1986 and 1993, and we have only just managed a sub 15 August once since then, in 2014.  So all this to me suggests that we do not seem to be able to achieve a really cool August (CET below 15*C) any more, and it is now very unlikely that this month will manage it.

[sarahng]

I particularly remember August 99 as that was the year of the total eclipse visible from the UK.  I think it was on the 11th?  The weather was not good leading up to the date, and the day itself was very cloudy and we didn't see anything of the eclipse in my location - such a shame!  It was very eerie though as it got very dark for an hour or so and all the birds stopped singing.

[Weather Enthusiast91]

1 hour ago, sarahng said:

I particularly remember August 99 as that was the year of the total eclipse visible from the UK.  I think it was on the 11th?  The weather was not good leading up to the date, and the day itself was very cloudy and we didn't see anything of the eclipse in my location - such a shame!  It was very eerie though as it got very dark for an hour or so and all the birds stopped singing.

Gosh, that brings back memories. I didn't realise it was that long ago though. 

Edited August 20, 2021 by Weather Enthusiast91

[hillbilly]

4 hours ago, North-Easterly Blast said:

Warm and dry Augusts are the exception rather than the norm - in recent decades I can only think of 1995 and 2003 - cannot recall much else away from those years.  1997 was the second warmest on record but still had close to, or above average rainfall.  Prior to that you have to go back to 1975 for a significantly warm and dry one - although 1976, 1983, 1984 and 1990 still all had a good deal of warm and dry weather.  Most recently August 2020 was pretty warm at 17.6 CET, 12th warmest on record and equal to seven other Augusts according to the CET, but also on the wet side.  August 2019 was also a reasonably warm one too though with average rainfall.

With all this talk of how poor August has been recently, we can say that the coolest of recent times is 14.9 in 2014, and we have not had a cooler one than that since 1993.  There were a fair number of cool Augusts (sub 15*C CET) in the 1950s and 1960s, and in 1985, 1986 and 1993, and we have only just managed a sub 15 August once since then, in 2014.  So all this to me suggests that we do not seem to be able to achieve a really cool August (CET below 15*C) any more, and it is now very unlikely that this month will manage it.

Yes you are right,we havnt had any August's remotely close to being as cold as some of those 80s August's and all those '85 to '88 were garbage but what the 80's did have was being able to make up with 3 amazing August's all better than any August in the last 18 years with 1983,1984 and 1989.Even 1981 and 1982 were decent in these parts.

1997 you say was wet,that may be the case but i think you will find that came in lumps as the most of August 1997 was again amazing,very warm and sunny,in fact in these parts it was only average rainfall at 60mm anyway.

For me you can look at the stats all you like but when it rains almost every day and the rest is mainly cloudy or a cool stiff Northerly wind it doesnt make up an average August,it is not too much to have a week of mainly dry,sunny and warm weather in an Average August.Yes it hasnt been that wet in total rainfall and it hasnt been that cold but in my book unless things pick up a lot very quickly this August will be pinned with lots of other recent August's firmly in the Poor list!

[hillbilly]

2 hours ago, sarahng said:

I particularly remember August 99 as that was the year of the total eclipse visible from the UK.  I think it was on the 11th?  The weather was not good leading up to the date, and the day itself was very cloudy and we didn't see anything of the eclipse in my location - such a shame!  It was very eerie though as it got very dark for an hour or so and all the birds stopped singing.

I was going to travel down to Cornwall to watch the eclipse but decided not to at the last minute but i believe i didnt miss too much as i am sure no one saw it anyway as it was cloudy for everyone.

 

[Sunny76]

I remember the day of the August 99 eclipse. I was leaving London for Toronto at the time(where I eventually stayed until March 2001). We took a charter flight from Heathrow to Paris first,  before boarding another plane to take us on to Toronto, where they put me in first class(think people were superstitious about flying that day, so I remember there being lots more space on the plane).

Anyway I digress. On the descent into Paris, the clouds started turning reddish, and just as we landed on to the runway, the floodlights came on and the sky went pitch black dark. Paris was probably in the line of the eclipse. We were given some special glasses to use, when leaving the plane and watched the sun gradually come back out. Even 21 years on, it’s something I will never forget.

[HafrenLMP1]

16 hours ago, sarahng said:

I particularly remember August 99 as that was the year of the total eclipse visible from the UK.  I think it was on the 11th?  The weather was not good leading up to the date, and the day itself was very cloudy and we didn't see anything of the eclipse in my location - such a shame!  It was very eerie though as it got very dark for an hour or so and all the birds stopped singing.

All the build up, and then it was grey & overcast; people came out into the work car park to watch - and not a lot was seen. Had to wait to get home to watch the highlights on TV.

Biggest let down, since the previous biggest let down.......(probably England going out of that years cricket World Cup before the song had been released).

[Sunny76]

The supercell storm of 1981 was a better experience. For anyone who wasn’t born then or in the south of England at the time, the pitch black darkness was similar to a total eclipse, and it went on for ages lol.

[A Face like Thunder]

On 19/08/2021 at 13:28, mushymanrob said:

Heres a link to the CETs since 1650s... compare each August annually ...

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/cetml1659on.dat

Thank you for these interesting stats. Overall figures are of course creeping up and even 2010, which looks like a 'cool' year, is distorted by the winter figures.

[MP-R]

15 hours ago, hillbilly said:

Yes you are right,we havnt had any August's remotely close to being as cold as some of those 80s August's and all those '85 to '88 were garbage but what the 80's did have was being able to make up with 3 amazing August's all better than any August in the last 18 years with 1983,1984 and 1989.Even 1981 and 1982 were decent in these parts.

1997 you say was wet,that may be the case but i think you will find that came in lumps as the most of August 1997 was again amazing,very warm and sunny,in fact in these parts it was only average rainfall at 60mm anyway.

For me you can look at the stats all you like but when it rains almost every day and the rest is mainly cloudy or a cool stiff Northerly wind it doesnt make up an average August,it is not too much to have a week of mainly dry,sunny and warm weather in an Average August.Yes it hasnt been that wet in total rainfall and it hasnt been that cold but in my book unless things pick up a lot very quickly this August will be pinned with lots of other recent August's firmly in the Poor list!

Agree! While not a dry month, it’s also not normally a wet month, with any rainfall totals often coming from thunderstorms or downpours. 2004 and 2012 were classic examples. 

July 2006 was also wetter than average here...

[A Face like Thunder]

11th August 1999, and I was stuck in W Sussex preparing for my mum's funeral whilst Mrs FLT was in Cornwall watching the total eclipse with her family. As it turned out, I had the better view (90%) as the sun was shining and it was hot until the start of the eclipse (? 11am) when it suddenly turned chilly and dark and the birds came into roost for 8-10 minutes. It was an eerie experience, a bit like (as has been said) the 'day into night' experience in S London in August 1981. My one regret is that I may not see a total eclipse in my lifetime, my dad having been present at Marske-on-Sea in N Yorkshire for the previous total eclipse in the UK in June 1927,