Memories of 1984

[Sunny76]

2 hours ago, Weather-history said:

 

Interesting because for the Manchester Summer Index 1984 is ahead of 1989 and comfortably ahead of 1990

1984 271

1989 262

1990 229

I do feel summer 1990 is overrated by a lot of people. June 1990 was poor and I think the August heatwave at the start has distorted people's perception, somewhat. Mid August 1990 up here was atrocious. 

June 84 rainfall at Manchester was 30mm

June 90 rainfall was 84mm

June 84 sunshine  161hrs

June 90 sunshine 105 hrs

I remember summer 1990 being hot and sunny, mostly in July and the early part of the school holidays.

It turned cooler in early September.

[Summer8906]

14 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

The summer was quite bland if I remember. It was poorish compared to 89 and 90.

Not sure.  Exceptionally poor June in 1991 (which wasn't good) but then, warm, fairly sunny, but sometimes changeable July (IIRC there were repeated spells of about 4 days of warm sunshine, then 4 days of warm thundery weather, then rinse and repeat), and then a warm, very dry and sunny August which was kind of like a cooler version of 1995, but probably the equal of 1995 for sunshine and anticyclonic influence.

One of the better summers for weather of my lifetime and certainly better than the vast majority of summers from 2007 onwards.

Edited August 16, 2022 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

5 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

I remember summer 1990 being hot and sunny, mostly in July and the early part of the school holidays.

It turned cooler in early September.

Yes, I wouldn't call summer 1990 at all overrated - but I was in the far south (Hampshire) and I think the south had it particularly good this year.

June was poor (mostly dull, cool but fairly dry), and so was the first week or so of July but from about July 10th to August 15th, or so, ISTR it being continuously dry and sunny and often hot or very hot. Cloudy days were rare in this period and quite a novelty. I'm actually not sure I have experienced so much near-continuous warm, sunny weather in summer for so long in the UK as I did during these weeks - even in 1995.

The second half of August was more changeable but had very little rain in the south (I only recall one wet day, Sunday 20th) and a further anticyclonic, sunny spell from about the 21st, so still good.

Add to that the fine weather in March, parts of April, May, the first half of September, and the first half of October, and the overall impression of 1990 (despite the poor start) was of a very warm, sunny year.

The period from 1989 to 1997 was very notable indeed for fine summers. Of those years, all but 1992 and 1993 had two out of three months I'd rate as "good" summer months.

 

Edited August 16, 2022 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

Back on topic after being distracted by various 90s summers...

1984 was a year I remember clearly, and notable for the consistently good summer. None of the three months were truly exceptional but all contained repeated moderate spells of fine, sunny weather. In particular, I remember quite a long fine period for about two weeks in mid June, in the second and third weeks (which certainly included the weekends of 9/10 and 16/17 June). I remember the 18-20 June period being notable for large Cu development in warm, sunny weather and some hints of thundery showers - but it was anticyclonic.

Following some nondescript cloudy weather (but fairly warm at times) the next warm spell was throughout the first week of July, I recall a thundery spell forecast around the 8th/9th which failed but it then turned much cooler and wetter for the second week, which was perhaps the worst week of summer. The third week of July was dry, sometimes sunny (but sometimes cloudy) with temps about average but then it turned a lot warmer on Saturday 21st, with a dull morning followed by warm sunny afternoon. Sun 22nd was sunny and warm but it rapidly turned fairly thundery with both the 23rd and 24th being warm to hot but with a lot of Ac cast about. A notable storm occurred overnight 24th/25th (NW Sussex) of the type that seemed to be quite common in the 80s, in the sense that it came from a Biscay low rather than a generalised Atlantic breakdown. Also, it was then followed by one dull day (25th) followed by a rapid rise of pressure - if only 21st-century thundery spells would have this form, as these days the "price" of summer thunder seems to be a prolonged unsettled period.

So the 26th was fine again and it was fine and warm until the 30th, I think the hottest days of the year at around 31 or 32C occurred in these days. Then another dry cold front and failed thundery breakdown followed by a cool and changeable interlude for the first 5 days or so of August.

It then turned dry and settled, and warm,  again though there were frequent cloudy days as well as sunny days until about the 16th. Then a notably sunny period until about the 23rd, another failed thundery breakdown and the rest of August was more changeable, though without significant rain where I was.

Persistently dry and warm sums up the summer of 1984 for me though it was perhaps not quite as sunny as some of the other fine summers. Still somewhat sunnier than average though.

As for the rest of the year: being in the far south, January was a terrible winter month in all honesty, mild and persistently wet, we missed out on all the excitement down here. If only the low track had been 200 miles further south! Feb was the one decent month in one of the mildest and wettest winters of the 80s; often settled, rather cold and sunny. March was cloudy and nondescript and sometimes a little damp, but April was notably sunny and, over Easter (which was very late, on the 22nd) notably warm. May by contrast started fine but quickly became cyclonic easterly (it was very similar to May 1994) so cold, dull, wet weather dominated much of the month.

The final four months of the year had little to write home about weather-wise, being persistently dull and changeable with unremarkable temps; warm weather in Sep and cold weather in Nov and Dec were near-absent, the period seemed very Atlantic-dominated. Most notable weather event was a very warm and sunny end to Oct and first day or two of Nov.

[Methuselah]

My memories of 1984 are:

Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms; Some horribly hot & humid weather in August, and; My Daughter throwing away all my 'poisonous' tomatoes -- the red ones!

Edited August 16, 2022 by Ed Stone

[Weather-history]

I remember some hot sunny days during the second half of August 1984, the August Bank Holiday was a good one.

8 sunniest summer on record for the NW region and 9th driest summer on record for the region and that is why the Manchester Summer Index was so high.   The spring of 1984 was the driest on record for the region, so March to August 1984 was exceptionally dry up here.  Drought was a definite concern and hosepipe bans were being enforced

 

 

[Summer8906]

1 hour ago, Ed Stone said:

My memories of 1984 are:

Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms;

I'm pretty sure that was 1985; certainly, during a family holiday in Scotland that year, we had it on all the time.

1 hour ago, Ed Stone said:

Some horribly hot & humid weather in August,

On the other hand, that definitely wasn't 1985.

1 hour ago, Ed Stone said:

and; My Daughter throwing away all my 'poisonous' tomatoes -- the red ones!

Edited August 16, 2022 by Summer8906

[Don]

On 16/08/2022 at 16:34, Summer8906 said:

I'm pretty sure that was 1985; certainly, during a family holiday in Scotland that year, we had it on all the time.

You are indeed correct, Dire Straits Brothers in Arms was definitely released in 1985 and was classic dad rock!!  Awesome all the same though!

[Don]

I remember the hot Easter in 1984 and the hot August!

[cheeky_monkey]

On 15/08/2022 at 23:05, Weather-history said:

 

Interesting because for the Manchester Summer Index 1984 is ahead of 1989 and comfortably ahead of 1990

1984 271

1989 262

1990 229

I do feel summer 1990 is overrated by a lot of people. June 1990 was poor and I think the August heatwave at the start has distorted people's perception, somewhat. Mid August 1990 up here was atrocious. 

June 84 rainfall at Manchester was 30mm

June 90 rainfall was 84mm

June 84 sunshine  161hrs

June 90 sunshine 105 hrs

i remember 1984 as a very warm muggy quite thundery summer..bit like 1994...not as good as 1989..maybe better than 1990 ..if you like heat and T-storms that is

[damianslaw]

Spring and summer 84 exceptionally dry in the Lake District. Only 1995 since drier. I recall brown grass in the local park. Only 1995 and 2018 has brought same conditions. This year we stayed deep green despite the relative dryness.

[damianslaw]

On 16/08/2022 at 14:22, Summer8906 said:

Yes, I wouldn't call summer 1990 at all overrated - but I was in the far south (Hampshire) and I think the south had it particularly good this year.

June was poor (mostly dull, cool but fairly dry), and so was the first week or so of July but from about July 10th to August 15th, or so, ISTR it being continuously dry and sunny and often hot or very hot. Cloudy days were rare in this period and quite a novelty. I'm actually not sure I have experienced so much near-continuous warm, sunny weather in summer for so long in the UK as I did during these weeks - even in 1995.

The second half of August was more changeable but had very little rain in the south (I only recall one wet day, Sunday 20th) and a further anticyclonic, sunny spell from about the 21st, so still good.

Add to that the fine weather in March, parts of April, May, the first half of September, and the first half of October, and the overall impression of 1990 (despite the poor start) was of a very warm, sunny year.

The period from 1989 to 1997 was very notable indeed for fine summers. Of those years, all but 1992 and 1993 had two out of three months I'd rate as "good" summer months.

 

Talking about 1990, I remember day after day start of school summer holidays being glorious here, we went on a 2 week holiday from 3 August, remember a deterioration in conditions on the return. 

[mushymanrob]

If you view the stats for sunshine, rain and temperature, then the summers of 04 and 05 were pretty ordinary. They were not even "nearly" good summers... unlike 84 (overshadowed by 83) and 96 (overshadowed by 95). 89-91 were nearly good summers, 90 had a heatwave of which daily temperature records still stand, but had a poor june.
But 83 had a poor june too... the first half anyway.

Lots of heavy snow showers in feb, from the northwest. A warm spell in april, a thunderstorm in may, a pleasant summer but one whos stats suggest it was better than i remember!

[mushymanrob]

On 24/03/2022 at 15:26, damianslaw said:

 and 07-12 were quite good

WHAT? am i reading that right?.... 07, 08, 12 were 3 of the worst summers on record!!!  LOL

[Thundery wintry showers]

The original post you quoted was suggesting that summers 1996, 2004 and 2005 were quite good in comparison to 2007-2012.

[Summer8906]

On 06/09/2022 at 20:11, cheeky_monkey said:

i remember 1984 as a very warm muggy quite thundery summer..bit like 1994...not as good as 1989..maybe better than 1990 ..if you like heat and T-storms that is

The impression of 1984 where I was in Sussex was one of consistent warmth and dryness, but rather variable cloud. Sunnier than average, but not dramatically so. So one which would score highly on the warm/dry measures but only moderately good on the sunshine measure.

1989 in particular seemed considerably sunnier, as well as being very warm and very dry. I wonder if 1989 was another one (like 1990) where the far south was particularly favoured? Certainly experiencing those two summers on the trot (ignoring June 1990) seemed something very different and when much of 1991 (again, excepting June), and May and June 1992, were also good it really felt like our summers might have been transitioning to something warmer and sunnier.  Of course July and August 1992 broke the trend...

Edited September 10, 2022 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

On 26/08/2022 at 00:49, Don said:

You are indeed correct, Dire Straits Brothers in Arms was definitely released in 1985 and was classic dad rock!!  Awesome all the same though!

My dad loved it, certainly - but even as an early teenager, so did I.

[Don]

1 hour ago, Summer8906 said:

My dad loved it, certainly - but even as an early teenager, so did I.

Yes, same here and I loved it too (still do) at just 9 years old!

3 hours ago, mushymanrob said:

WHAT? am i reading that right?.... 07, 08, 12 were 3 of the worst summers on record!!!  LOL

Not if you don't like heat lol! 

[mushymanrob]

4 hours ago, mushymanrob said:

WHAT? am i reading that right?.... 07, 08, 12 were 3 of the worst summers on record!!!  LOL

 

2 hours ago, Thundery wintry showers said:

The original post you quoted was suggesting that summers 1996, 2004 and 2005 were quite good in comparison to 2007-2012.

ah yes... i wasnt reading it right, i see what he means now

[danm]

26th April 1984: