Memories of 1989

[I remember Atlantic 252]

22 minutes ago, SunSean said:

September 12th 1989 is my birthday so perhaps that thunder symbol was just me being conceived 

Would absolutely love another 1989 again. Those 4 months, May, June, July & August were amazing with endless sunshine!

11 days after Atlantic 252 went on air! 

[hillbilly]

On 19/12/2023 at 20:58, Summer8906 said:

Indeed, an epic summer as far as I'm concerned - one of the very best. In my remembered lifetime only 1995 would come close to 1989, indeed dare I say it maybe 1989 even exceeds 1995 a little. I think 1976 would still be the winner for my entire lifetime, but sadly I don't remember it. It's possible that as my very earliest memory (of anything at all, not weather) occurred in 1975, I just perceived 1976 as a normal summer, any poor summers preceding it being before my earliest memory.

I remember June 1989 as being persistently warm and sunny, often hot, from around the 10th (the charts would suggest the 11th, ISTR all four Sundays being sunny, including the 4th even though it was in the cool changeable spell) until Monday 26th when Atlantic cloud encroached in and the rest of the month was briefly unsettled, only for summer to return on July 2nd, continuing the long run of fine Sundays which started back in May.

I also remember the cool and thundery period mid-week around the 6th.

I don't however remember the brief blip on the 22nd at all, maybe it only affected the east (I was in NW Sussex).

Don't specifically recall what happened on Aug 10th but do remember there was another short unsettled, rather drizzly period this week. I do however remember thunderstorms being forecast sometime around Sun 13th which surprised me as it was a non-descript day with stratus cloud, neither warm and thundery nor cool Pm.

August was the least settled of the 3 months but started fine and summer returned perhaps around the 17th, though late Aug was less hot than earlier in the summer.

I missed two weeks from around Sat 22nd July to Sun 6th August, was in central-western France (Limousin, near the Auvergne border, west of Aurillac) but the weather there was much the same (not hotter save for one day which perhaps reached around 35). There were severe thunderstorms twice during this period in France, once on Sun 23rd followed by a cooldown (apparently including a tornado which amazed me at the time - a tornado in Europe? I assumed they were more or less restricted to North America and Asia). and then again towards the end.

So yes, 1989 was far better than many recent hot summers as all three months were good. Only 1976, 1984 and 1995 can equal that (1984 was less brilliantly good, but all three months were good).

July 1990 is another month I consider underrated by many. 1989 and 1990 together were a pair of notably fine summers, but I think in both cases the south had it particularly good. (And it was less wet down here in the intervening winter!)

 

 

 

I always remember 1984 slightly better than 1989 here.It was drier overall with a severe drought and although 1989 had a slightly better June,1984 had a better August which are as rare as hens teeth.

[hillbilly]

The most memorable thing i remember about 1989 is the switch from wet to dry.Having endured almost 5 years of wet weather working on the farm the land was boggy for all the summers of 1985-1988 and getting stuck with the tractor in early April 1989 it suddenly became dry.All the land dried parched and went back to times not seen since the great summer of 1984.It also managed to throw in the blip of the 'Halifax storm',19th May which debatedly holds the UKs 2 hour rainfall record which i was lucky enough to witness.

Edited December 22, 2023 by hillbilly

[cheeky_monkey]

On 19/12/2023 at 13:58, Summer8906 said:

Indeed, an epic summer as far as I'm concerned - one of the very best. In my remembered lifetime only 1995 would come close to 1989, indeed dare I say it maybe 1989 even exceeds 1995 a little. I think 1976 would still be the winner for my entire lifetime, but sadly I don't remember it. It's possible that as my very earliest memory (of anything at all, not weather) occurred in 1975, I just perceived 1976 as a normal summer, any poor summers preceding it being before my earliest memory.

I remember June 1989 as being persistently warm and sunny, often hot, from around the 10th (the charts would suggest the 11th, ISTR all four Sundays being sunny, including the 4th even though it was in the cool changeable spell) until Monday 26th when Atlantic cloud encroached in and the rest of the month was briefly unsettled, only for summer to return on July 2nd, continuing the long run of fine Sundays which started back in May.

I also remember the cool and thundery period mid-week around the 6th.

I don't however remember the brief blip on the 22nd at all, maybe it only affected the east (I was in NW Sussex).

Don't specifically recall what happened on Aug 10th but do remember there was another short unsettled, rather drizzly period this week. I do however remember thunderstorms being forecast sometime around Sun 13th which surprised me as it was a non-descript day with stratus cloud, neither warm and thundery nor cool Pm.

August was the least settled of the 3 months but started fine and summer returned perhaps around the 17th, though late Aug was less hot than earlier in the summer.

I missed two weeks from around Sat 22nd July to Sun 6th August, was in central-western France (Limousin, near the Auvergne border, west of Aurillac) but the weather there was much the same (not hotter save for one day which perhaps reached around 35). There were severe thunderstorms twice during this period in France, once on Sun 23rd followed by a cooldown (apparently including a tornado which amazed me at the time - a tornado in Europe? I assumed they were more or less restricted to North America and Asia). and then again towards the end.

So yes, 1989 was far better than many recent hot summers as all three months were good. Only 1976, 1984 and 1995 can equal that (1984 was less brilliantly good, but all three months were good).

July 1990 is another month I consider underrated by many. 1989 and 1990 together were a pair of notably fine summers, but I think in both cases the south had it particularly good. (And it was less wet down here in the intervening winter!)

 

 

 

I'm just old enough to remember the summer of 1976..if I'm ranking summers in my lifetime that i remember whilst living in the UK it would be this:

1. 1995

2. 1976

3. 1983

4. 1989

5. 2003

1984 would be in the top 10 somewhere but doesn't make the top 5

[Robert1981]

8 hours ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

11 days after Atlantic 252 went on air! 

I use to listen to that station everyday shame it went of air. 

[stewfox]

Remember going to work April 1989 in the snow.

[SummerShower]

32 minutes ago, stewfox said:

Remember going to work April 1989 in the snow.

I remember snow falling here on Tuesday and Wednesday 4th and 5th April but not laying.

 

I also remember 2 really good storms on the afternoon of July 6th (homegrown) and overnight into the 7th (think from a plume).  Maybe a forgotten event this one, might have just been a local occurrence.

[stewfox]

45 minutes ago, SummerShower said:

I remember snow falling here on Tuesday and Wednesday 4th and 5th April but not laying.

 

I also remember 2 really good storms on the afternoon of July 6th (homegrown) and overnight into the 7th (think from a plume).  Maybe a forgotten event this one, might have just been a local occurrence.

I lived in Woking.  I remember it as it was so odd for April

[ANYWEATHER]

Arrrr, it was the Summer of love for me, moving swiftly on to the weather, Violent thunderstorms in May and a hot summer to follow

[Greyhound81]

1989 is probably the start of the transition to warmer weather in this country.  There have been weeks and months of cold weather since 89, but it seems to be the end of a run of colder than average years going back to 1960 (maybe even before then).

 

Probably the first warm summer in my lifetime that I can remember.  Too young to remember 83 and 84.

 

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by Greyhound81

[LetItSnow!]

8 minutes ago, Greyhound81 said:

1989 is probably the start of the transition to warmer weather in this country.  There have been weeks and months of cold weather since 89, but it seems to be the end of a run of colder than average years going back to 1960 (maybe even before then).

 

Probably the first warm summer in my lifetime that I can remember.  Too young to remember 83 and 84.

 

 

Some consider it to be the October 1987 storm and the mild winter and spring that followed, but then the summer and autumn of 1988 were pretty cool. When the cold November ended and we had a weak easterly in early December, the winds backed west on the 7th and the winter was over. In some way this day was the first day of a new regime in the UK's climate (bar a few interludes) to this day.

[Summer8906]

On 22/12/2023 at 18:37, SummerShower said:

I remember snow falling here on Tuesday and Wednesday 4th and 5th April but not laying.

 

I also remember 2 really good storms on the afternoon of July 6th (homegrown) and overnight into the 7th (think from a plume).  Maybe a forgotten event this one, might have just been a local occurrence.

I remember this one, I wasn't living too far from Basingstoke.

I remember it was an unusual setup, the week started warm and sunny but not too hot and with low humidity, then, IIRC, hot humid and thundery air arrived on a warm front moving from SE-NW. This produced some thundery showers for a day or two and some more general overnight thundery outbreaks around the evening of the 7th. Dull, misty, warm and very humid weather with some showers then prevailed on the 8th and 9th before the anticyclone built back in and the next two weeks were fine.

Also remember the April snow event not laying much though I do recall a thin covering on the hills. Notable about this was the sudden change from warm and sunny to the most wintry period of the entire autumn/winter/spring.

Edited December 25, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

16 hours ago, LetItSnow! said:

Some consider it to be the October 1987 storm and the mild winter and spring that followed, but then the summer and autumn of 1988 were pretty cool. When the cold November ended and we had a weak easterly in early December, the winds backed west on the 7th and the winter was over. In some way this day was the first day of a new regime in the UK's climate (bar a few interludes) to this day.

Also much of 1991 was rather cool, though critically, this excluded July and August.

Much of late 1992 and parts of 1993 were also cool, particularly summer and autumn.

The move towards mildness from December 1987 primarily affected the winter, the summer was variable (1988/92/93 cool but 1989-91 warm), and the spring and autumn continued to have frequent cool periods for a few more years.

Edited December 25, 2023 by Summer8906

[LetItSnow!]

Something interesting reading the Met Office report for August 1989 is how sunny it was for most of England and Wales. It states that, at the time it was the third sunniest August on record, the sunniest since 1947 in many places and even the sunniest at a few local spots. I had always had in my head that the core of the good weather that summer came in July and that the other months were generally good, but it seems that August 1989 was one of those months that didn't feature extreme temperatures but was often fine, perhaps like August 1981? The highest max that month was only 30C and it wasn't quite as good in Scotland so that's why it's not talked about more. Absolutely glorious summer on paper with mostly fine, warm/hot and dry conditions with little interruptions from early May until mid-October. Trevor Harley writes "May to August averaged over 9 hours sunshine a day, beating even 1959 and 1976".

 

Also, Sean, it appears mid-September was more volatile than I realised, particularly the 10th-13th period. I haven't heard any posters talk about thunder in September 1989 as far as I can recall so perhaps a bit of a forgotten spell.

On 22/12/2023 at 08:40, SunSean said:

September 12th 1989 is my birthday so perhaps that thunder symbol was just me being conceived