Memories of 2011

[Sunny76]

Mostly forgettable, apart from the warm sunny April, with a hot Easter weekend, around 28-29c. Don' t think we've had a warmer one since. I was in Brussels on the Good Friday, when some afternoon storms broke out, and I think these may have been the same ones that hit London on the Saturday. 

No storms during the summer, and a very poor one.

A mild autumn and very mild Christmas. This was the poorest winter 2011-12, during the colder years of 2008-13.

[LetItSnow]

Being 10 at the time it's these years I start to have memories of the weather properly.

Vague memories of the winter fizzling out after the extreme December - I remember my 10th birthday, February 22nd, 2011 being a cold and grey day as I spent it at Leeds Castle in Kent. No snow, just cold with grey leaden skies. I think it was an attempt at easterlies that failed.

The spring is what I remember most about this year, I remember March fairly well for it's pleasant sunny days but quite cool nights. April 2011 is etched in my brain as even as a 10 year old, not going on weather forums or knowing about the C.E.T. or anything, I knew just how exceptional it was. Very, very warm. Very late Easter that year I seem to remember - we went on a family meal around East Sussex on around the 23rd to 25th and remember it feeling incredibly muggy and warm, but even moreso I remember thunderstorms in the area as my father was standing outside smoking and I could hear thunder quite loudly in the distance. Driving home in the evening I remember a mass of black cloud to our west as we came back to Kent. We actually put the roof back up for fear it was going to poor with rain - it never did though and it stayed dry the rest of the night. Does anyone else remember any isolated thunderstorms around this time?

The summer I don't remember much about, though I know it was very cool. The thing I remember the most is a forecast for torrential storms on the night of the 27th - again, being afraid of thunderstorms this terrified me! I remember anxiously cloud watching that evening, was a warm evening, but any ominious clouds went away and it ended up being a clear night in NW Kent - however, it all went off with a bang the next day almighty! June 28th, 2011 was a very stormy day. I remember it being a very cloudy day and not particularly warm, but we had three rounds of thunderstorms during the afternoon which dropped an almighty amount of rain and thunder. It was enough to make the news as I remember a news report about a lightning strike hitting a home nearby. I remember once the storms had passed it turned unusually cool and cloudy.

I remember the autumn fairly well, mostly because of the spell of heat at the end of September and early October. IIRC, I spent October 1, 2011 by the beach. I remember it being a cloudless day, hot and sunny and loads of people lapping the sun up. As a 10 year old, even I thought it was bizzare. I remember a thundery spell on what I believe was October 25, 2011. November and December of 2011 I have pretty much zero memory of, though I do remember a very mild Christmas and the news reports of it that followed. I also remember a little bit about the very stormy spell across Scotland on December 8.

[Harry233]

Yeah a year to forget imo as well. In my mind what sticks out.

January: Continued exceptionally cold from that extraordinary December. A few days of snow but nothing too major. A milder interlude followed midmonth with a slight thaw but temperature still struggled. Turned colder and snowy again towards the end.

February: A horrible depressing month, mild, wet and very dull. Nearly on par with 2002. Can’t recall any good from the month. 7/8.c maxima a 2/3.C minima pretty much the whole month. Only a couple of frosts.

March: Quite mild and sunny but unsettled. There was a quite a notable snowy spell I think maybe the weekend of the 12/13th but not too sure. Other than that just a slightly better than average March.

April: A phenomenal month. Very warm, dry and sunny for the vast majority. The average maxima for me was 16.6.C compared to 2007’s 16.1.C so even warmer. Most days with beautiful warm sunshine but still with cool enough nights. Only brief cooler/wetter spells that last only one or two days at a time. 

May: Unsettled month, record breaking wet for western Scotland. However I only recorded slightly above average rain, quite sunny as well but unsettled. A few days of warm sunshine would always finish with a wet and cool spell. Notable gale on the 23rd. Brought down some trees in Perth.

June: Unsettled and rather cool, the month started very warm and settled with temperatures in the mid 20’s. Rest of the month was pretty cool and wet with the occasional warmer and drier day thrown in. Some very cool nights around the middle of the month. Did improve in the last week with some warm, sunny weather.
 

July: Another unsettled month but like June had a very good start and finish with unsettled weather in between. Wet for the most part but quite sunny, notable very wet days on the 6th and 15th which brought some really bad flooding to Perth. Cool nights were very notable during this month too.

August: Dismal, cold, wet and dull rounded off a poor summer. Very little in the way of sunshine or warmth at all. 

September: A good month at last, quite warm and settled but still with some heavy rain from time to time. Notable warm spell in the closing days which brought the warmest day of 2011 to me on the 30th.

October: Very Mild and quite dull but not especially wet. Only very wet at the start.

November: Exceptionally mild otherwise unremarkable.

December: Very stormy, mild and wet. Most notable for hurricane bawbag on the 8th. Caused a fair bit of destruction. 
 

Not a year to remember unfortunately 

[A Face like Thunder]

Friday 29th April was a bank holiday for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton and was, I recall, a scorcher for the time of year!  

[SummerShower]

January.. was quite cold actually, especially both at the start and end of the month.

February.. boring!  Nothing of note during the month.  The highlight was some moderate rain on 26th

March.. can't remember the beginning but there was some nice weather in the 2nd half.

April.. amazing.  Sunny all month practically with many warm days in the 2nd week.  The real warm spell iirc kicked off on 19th with maxima of 24C+ widely, daily until 25th.  It peaked at 27.8c which at the time was the highest since 1949.  The only rain I remember was on 1 day, around the 5th I think.

May.. can't remember too much, but a warm humid day on 6th followed by a deluge on the 7th, thunder in places too.

June.. good start, shocking 2nd half, but a hot day on 27th followed by a weak thunderstorm on 28th

July.. in my opinion not as bad a month as people make out.  Many days were usable and actually quite warm by day (maybe cool at night).  Don't remember much rain, but certainty no heat.  Boring perhaps, but definitely usable.

August.. hot first 3 days.. a short heatwave touching 30c in places.  Very wet on the 18th, a washout.  Generally quite poor

September.. not a bad month which culminated in that phenomenal heatwave that lasted into October.  I can't decide which was more exceptional, this heatwave or the easter one?  

October.  Phenomenal start, then was generally dry and there continued to be some nice days thrown in especially mid month

November.. standout was the spanish plume on the 3rd/4th (the latest such occurrence I remember).  Notable as we hadn't had that many plumes since 2006.  We had 2 inches of rain overnight, with constantly rumbling thunder

December.. unremarkable, but I think areas further north had a storm on the 8th and snow around 16th.  Very mild Christmas

Not the most interesting year but certainly not without its moments.

[LetItSnow]

On 13/04/2022 at 13:54, LetItSnow! said:

Being 10 at the time it's these years I start to have memories of the weather properly.

Vague memories of the winter fizzling out after the extreme December - I remember my 10th birthday, February 22nd, 2011 being a cold and grey day as I spent it at Leeds Castle in Kent. No snow, just cold with grey leaden skies. I think it was an attempt at easterlies that failed.

The spring is what I remember most about this year, I remember March fairly well for it's pleasant sunny days but quite cool nights. April 2011 is etched in my brain as even as a 10 year old, not going on weather forums or knowing about the C.E.T. or anything, I knew just how exceptional it was. Very, very warm. Very late Easter that year I seem to remember - we went on a family meal around East Sussex on around the 23rd to 25th and remember it feeling incredibly muggy and warm, but even moreso I remember thunderstorms in the area as my father was standing outside smoking and I could hear thunder quite loudly in the distance. Driving home in the evening I remember a mass of black cloud to our west as we came back to Kent. We actually put the roof back up for fear it was going to poor with rain - it never did though and it stayed dry the rest of the night. Does anyone else remember any isolated thunderstorms around this time?

The summer I don't remember much about, though I know it was very cool. The thing I remember the most is a forecast for torrential storms on the night of the 27th - again, being afraid of thunderstorms this terrified me! I remember anxiously cloud watching that evening, was a warm evening, but any ominious clouds went away and it ended up being a clear night in NW Kent - however, it all went off with a bang the next day almighty! June 28th, 2011 was a very stormy day. I remember it being a very cloudy day and not particularly warm, but we had three rounds of thunderstorms during the afternoon which dropped an almighty amount of rain and thunder. It was enough to make the news as I remember a news report about a lightning strike hitting a home nearby. I remember once the storms had passed it turned unusually cool and cloudy.

I remember the autumn fairly well, mostly because of the spell of heat at the end of September and early October. IIRC, I spent October 1, 2011 by the beach. I remember it being a cloudless day, hot and sunny and loads of people lapping the sun up. As a 10 year old, even I thought it was bizzare. I remember a thundery spell on what I believe was October 25, 2011. November and December of 2011 I have pretty much zero memory of, though I do remember a very mild Christmas and the news reports of it that followed. I also remember a little bit about the very stormy spell across Scotland on December 8.

Another spell that I forgot to mention, but can't make out whether it was 2010 or 2011. I remember into the night of the 5th/6th of June some big thunderstorms here in NW Kent. I don't remember anticipating anything - IIRC it had been a quiet evening, but towards 8-10 ish that night an almighty deluge of rain came out of nowhere, like turning a tap on, followed by very loud thunder and quite intense lightning. These storms lasted all through the night. Then the next day, the 6th, was a firecracker of a day. I was out that day with my mother and remember being in the back of the car driving through torrential thunderstorms across the Kent/Surrey border. It seemed like one of those days where a thunderstorm was never all that far away, constantly stormy. I know for a fact it was the 5th and 6th of June I remember but not sure if it was 2010 or 2011. Anyone remember any big storms around the Kent/Surrey area on either of those days/nights?

[Summer18]

Winter 2010-11 after December was quite dull, the January I remember being cold and a localised snow event on around the 19th February is all that sticks out. I only remember that one because I was due to have my first driving lesson that day but it was cancelled.

April was amazing, one of the best weather months I can remember. The only rain I can recall were thunderstorms on Easter Saturday. The heat also felt like July on some days. 

The summer itself was crap but the end of September and early October made up for it a bit. October 1st was unbelievable, it felt so warm despite the sun feeling quite weak. The best weather came either side of summer. 

November and December were really mild especially Christmas Day, the complete opposite the year before. 

Edited April 14, 2022 by Summer18

[damianslaw]

A very forgettable year this one, not quite on a par with 2002 but close. Only standouts were April, very dry very sunny and very warm, similiar to 2007 and 2020. 

30 Sept unusual warmth and vety humid felt like high summer.

That's it.. otherwise often just very drab Atlantic muck. Jan and Feb brought little cold or snowy weather though first week of Jan was snowy with height. Summer was poor limited heat or dry weather. Autumn very mild. December some snow mostly higher ground but generally very wet and mild. 

[SqueakheartLW]

One of those drab forgettable years, a bit like 2002 was.

Probably largely forgotten as it was bookended by the colder block of years between 2008 and 2010 and the wet 2012 and the cold 2012/13 winter

Only real standout as mentioned already is the warm April and the heat at the back end of September/early October, otherwise mainly meh and forgettable

I think 2011 ranks above 2002 however as unlike 2002 where nothing really stood out at least 2011 had that April and the autumn heatwave.

[damianslaw]

1 hour ago, SqueakheartLW said:

One of those drab forgettable years, a bit like 2002 was.

Probably largely forgotten as it was bookended by the colder block of years between 2008 and 2010 and the wet 2012 and the cold 2012/13 winter

Only real standout as mentioned already is the warm April and the heat at the back end of September/early October, otherwise mainly meh and forgettable

I think 2011 ranks above 2002 however as unlike 2002 where nothing really stood out at least 2011 had that April and the autumn heatwave.

Yes agreed. Sandwiched between two more notable years, 2010 for sustained cold, 2012 excessive rain following the exceptionally warm March. 

[Weather Enthusiast91]

A warm and dry April as well as a period of unseasonably very warm to hot weather at the end of September and into October.

Apart from that, nothing much else happened that year.

Edited April 25, 2022 by Weather Enthusiast91

[Summerlover2006]

Unpopular opinion but I would call 2011 quite a good year for weather here’s my reasoning.

side note summer 2011 was really not that bad where I am from my research but that’s beside the point.

 

people get at it for it’s summer but there was a lot of warmth in the other parts of the year to make up for it and not just awful general warmth like May 2024 true heat like 29 degrees in October and 27 degrees in April people talk about wanting general warmth a lot and I agree with it but sometimes a heat spike like October 2011 can feel just as special.

 

January 2011 is also very underrated imo yes not much snow but still cold and I think it’s colder then all but 1 month in 2020s.

 

if you swapped summer 2011 and 2010 I think there would be a lot of people in this thread calling it one of the best weather years this century.

Edited November 1 by Summerlover2006

[Cloud2]

2011 was rather weird because it was a hot year in an otherwise fairly cold (at least by modern standards) cluster of years. The spring was especially hot and dry. April was the most notable of the spring months, at Shawbury it is on record as the hottest April and the 3rd driest month ever recorded with only 4.8mm of rain.

Despite being a hot year the summer was rather normal, with a lack of extreme heat, in fact for most of Shropshire the hottest day of 2011 came either at the end of September or the beginning of October due to an absurd heatwave around that time.

[Harry233]

 Cloud2 I agree. I recorded my hottest day on the 30th September. Almost as bizarre as 2024 where the hottest day here was on the 11th May. Unless we exceed 25.C in November

[Billy Hicks]

A similar one to 2009 and 10 for me, where the many memories of being in my early twenties and countless nights in clubs until the early hours of the next morning make the weather feel far more spectacular than it was, particularly in the summer!

Not much to remember about the first three months of the year, but the April heatwave was really nice and yet another example of thinking this was a good omen for a hot summer (which at that point we hadn’t had since 2006)  which unfortunately wouldn’t be the case, lots of cloud and overcast skies would instead follow but tied in with incredibly happy party nights and mornings as already mentioned.

Then, wow, one of my fondest weather events of all time - the late Sep/early Oct heatwave peaking with that incredible 1st October, where I remember being in various pubs in central London showing off my brand new “smart phone” I’d got for my birthday in astonishing heat for 1am. After a disappointing summer it was hugely welcome and I spent many days in the park next to Wembley Stadium near where I lived at the time, blasting out all the summer songs from my iPod Nano that I hadn’t been able to fully enjoy until then.

Getting to the end of December and realising there’d been absolutely no snow at all at any time during the year was a surreal feeling, particularly after the winter wonderland that was both sides of 2010, but as it hadn’t been too long since then I didn’t see it as too much of a worry, and it would be as soon as February 2012 until the next significant snowfall!

[Bradley in Kent]

Here in Kent 2011 was one of those years which had a 'long poor summer'. 

Because the spring and autumn were considerably warmer than average and summer below average, we had 7 months of temperatures in the high teens low twenties. It was largely dry but dull. 

We did have a textbook Spanish Plume end of June, with two hot days and one tropical night. I remember walking to school and arrived sweating as it was already 26c at 08:30. That humid day broke down with thunderstorms that evening. Thar was a blip in what was a cool, dull and breezy summer. 

Not the best year to be honest, definitely in the bottom quarter in my view.

[Frosticle]

My abiding memory of 2011 is how poor January and February were, in terms of cold, in London at least. After the freezing start to winter in 2010 there was lots of talk about a record-breaking winter, but it didn't materialise. A winter of two halves.

[IslaArklayblend]

Undoubtedly, for myself the most notable event of the year was the 8th December storm for which a rare RED warning was issued for these here parts.  I went down to South Queensferry with a new camera I had and spent some time down there making the most of the visit.  I was lucky enough to have one of the photographs from the series of shots used in the 2011 calendar of the Royal Met. Soc.

Below is an attempt to display text and photos from those I have on a photo website.  

The Storm of 8th December 2011.  A rare RED warning of severe weather was issued and the Forth Road Bridge was closed.

Winds gusting up to over 100 mph, even at low-level locations brought very considerable property damage and disruption to Northern Britain on this date. Many high sided vehicles were overturned. Miraculously, in my experience, no one was killed out of an at-risk population of at least 10 million.

Closed to all traffic due to a threat from 100 mph cross winds, the Forth Road Bridge at twilight.

Schools and most big road bridges were closed as an extremely well-predicted, explosively deepening Atlantic depression affected Scotland and other parts of the UK.
Wind gusts up to 165 mph were recorded on Cairngorm Mountain - only a little short of the all-time record set decades ago. Some low lying sites recorded 90-106 mph.

The thousands of vehicles that normally cross the Forth Bridge in the evening rush hour had to head upstream to the Kincardine Bridge. Inevitably there was traffic chaos, despite people leaving early from work as advised by the authorities. Wind gusts up to 165 mph were recorded on Cairngorm Mountain - only a little short of the all-time record set decades ago. Some low lying sites recorded 90-106 mph.

The pilot cutter heads out into the Forth Estuary after sunset and into a Force 9 gale and heavy sea.

 

[I remember Atlantic 252]

 Frosticle winter was over after snow to rain event on the 7th

[cheese]

Spring was nice, with April being exceptionally dry - we only recorded 0.5mm here. 
 

Summer was on the dry side but it wasn’t warm or sunny. 

[Summer8906]

 IslaArklayblend I do remember one particularly potent wind event even in the south, during this period I remember wind events especially well as they caused the aerial outside to make such a racket that I sometimes had to sleep in the other room. Didn't happen often, perhaps twice in an average winter, so was obviously a significant one - quite possibly the same one.

(I was lucky enough to be away from home during the early Jan 2012 wind event hence no noisy aerial until possibly autumn 2013, IIRC).

But I had to switch rooms frequently during the first half of February 2014, possibly the most continuously stormy period I have ever experienced!

Edited December 1 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

On 27/11/2024 at 20:53, Bradley in Kent said:

Here in Kent 2011 was one of those years which had a 'long poor summer'. 

A "summertumn" as I call them. The year was compensated for me by the very good April and good October as well as the uncommonly dry and bright November but the summer was constantly unsettled. No individual month was terrible but all three summer months were somewhat below par.

 

Edited December 1 by Summer8906

[SqueakheartLW]

I did suspect 2011 had one of the smallest differences between CET values from April to October in terms of lowest to highest monthly CET's in the warmer part of the year. It turned out 2011 was the smallest of all

Just 3.5C difference between April 2011 and the peak CET in August 2011 of 15.5C and an even smaller 3C difference between this and October 2011. Shows just what a strange warmer part of the year it was. Both spring and autumn above average and the summer distinctly below average

[SunChaserWales]

 Harry233 Your hottest day this year was May 11th? That is actually an insane statistic lol because we only got to 23.7c here that day.. I'm guessing you missed out on the heat in late June and at the very end of July?

[Harry233]

 SunChaserWales yes it was, absolutely insane a low high of 25.2.C only 2007 and 2008 have had lower but the earliest the temperature has exceeded 25.C since I started keeping records. Summer 2024 was also the first summer I’ve had where it didn’t exceed 24.C the highest I recorded all season was 23.8.C yet September 2024 had two days above 24.C in the first week. We reached the dizzy highs of 22.C in the first week of June and then 23.C at the end of July but yeah we missed out on pretty much all the heat that summer. Cons of living in Scotland. Even 2023 which people go on about being a poorer summer had a hottest day of 29.1.C.
 

After 2024 being such a disappointment at least autumn 2024 has been very dry and quite sunny here, plus we’ve already had multiple frosts and some heavy snow so nice to actually have a bit of seasonal normality. Let’s hope 2025 brings a better year.