Topsy turvy months.

[Thundery wintry showers]

When I saw the topic of topsy turvy months the first example that immediately sprung to my mind was April 1981.  A warm first half, then exceptionally cold northerlies and north-easterlies in the last third with widespread snow around the 24th-26th.

 

I think of 1994 as having had a rather topsy turvy spring and autumn.  In most parts of the country, there was a warm March, an average April and a cool May, and then in the autumn a cold September and average to fairly cool October were followed by a record breaking warm November.  In some regions March had a higher mean minimum temperature than April, and November's mean minimum temperature was quite widely above that of October.

[Weather Enthusiast91]

I think March 2020 was a bit of a topsy turvy month. The unsettled them during the winter continued well into March up until the equinox. Thereon it was settled with sunshine and blue skies for the remainder of the month. This was quite a change after months of predominantly wet weather.

[damianslaw]

This month could end up being a very topsy turvy rollercoaster sort of month, cold and snowy, warmer wetter spells, up and down like a yo yo. 

3 hours ago, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

I think March 2020 was a bit of a topsy turvy month. The unsettled them during the winter continued well into March up until the equinox. Thereon it was settled with sunshine and blue skies for the remainder of the month. This was quite a change after months of predominantly wet weather.

The change coincided with that infamous 23 March day, uncanny, after months of very wet stormy weather, an abrupt change came, and boy did it help the troubling times that came thereafter, those weeks of dry warm sunny weather took the edge off what had it occured a few weeks earlier would have been an even more dismal time.

Edited March 16, 2023 by damianslaw

[Weather Enthusiast91]

May 2023 is ending up being quite a topsy turvy month.

A dull and sometimes unsettled first half followed by a warm and sunny second half with little to no rainfall.

[damianslaw]

1 hour ago, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

May 2023 is ending up being quite a topsy turvy month.

A dull and sometimes unsettled first half followed by a warm and sunny second half with little to no rainfall.

Opposite to 2006.

[B87]

November 2010 started mild here with temperatures peaking at 18.5c on 4th, followed by a low of 15.1c! The 27th and 29th both had highs of 1.5c, the lowest maximum temperature ever recorded in November.

July 1987 looked to be dry and sunny for the first 14 days, with no rainfall at all. The 2nd half of the month was extremely poor with many days failing to even reach 21c along with frequent rain.

Edited May 29, 2023 by B87

[Harry's House]

August 1978 springs to my mind. It was unsettled during the first half as a continuation of the poor summer weather of that year, but had a dry settled second half which was the start of the dry autumn weather of that year.

[Weather Enthusiast91]

October 2023 is turning out to be quite a topsy turvy month.

Warmer than average and some summer-like days all the way up until around the 14th, followed by a brief spell of cool and crisp sunny weather with frosty nights and then predominently unsettled with temps around average for what is looking like the remainder of the month.

Edited October 21, 2023 by Weather Enthusiast91

[damianslaw]

On 29/05/2023 at 23:47, B87 said:

November 2010 started mild here with temperatures peaking at 18.5c on 4th, followed by a low of 15.1c! The 27th and 29th both had highs of 1.5c, the lowest maximum temperature ever recorded in November.

July 1987 looked to be dry and sunny for the first 14 days, with no rainfall at all. The 2nd half of the month was extremely poor with many days failing to even reach 21c along with frequent rain.

November 2010 is a good example of a switch around month. Feb 2012 also.

Nov 05 another example, very mild first half, cold second half.

 

[MP-R]

Dec 2004 was a month of two halves. Very dry and anticyclonic first half, and a very active second half with two snowy episodes.

Although I was abroad for most of it, Dec 2003 looked like a literal topsy turvy month without frequent changes from mild to cold and wet to dry.

[Thundery wintry showers]

You could make an argument for December 2022, as traditionally temperatures get a bit colder on average as we go through December, but the month had a very cold spell until the 18th and then abruptly turned mild and wet.

I don't think of November 2010 or the current month (October 2023) as topsy turvy per se, as temperatures followed the normal seasonal progression but with an abrupt switch, but they certainly qualify as switcharound months.  The same goes for March 2023 - cold in the first half, dry first week, some snow in the second week, warm and very wet second half.

Although not in the same league as April 1981, I reckon April 1995 was a decent example of a topsy turvy month.  The first half was the warmest for 50 years, but the second half, while somewhat variable, was slightly cooler than the 1961-90 average, and considerably cooler than the first half.  A northerly brought wintry showers and frosts from the 18th-21st.

Edited October 23, 2023 by Thundery wintry showers

[Summer of 95]

September 2019. A fairly benign and dry month that culminated in that glorious weekend 21st-22nd. Or it would have been but for that final week which was so wet that the Severn burst its banks, for the first of many times in the following 6 months.

(Re the mention of March 2020) That 2019-20 Mediterranean winter mild and wet season really did start and finish at the equinoxes so perfectly... Did it actually happen in the Mediterranean?

[Squally77]

The second half of May 2008 was cooler or seemed so from memory than the very warm first half. Counter to the climatic norm.

 

[SummerShower]

Other months:

June 1997.  Warm start, then cold and very wet 2nd half

June 2007.  Actually started quite warm and humid with some summery days before the cold deluge in the 2nd half

March 2013.  Actually started out with average temperatures but it was the 2nd half that was more exceptional for cold

April 2017.  Very warm 1st half (2nd weekend was hot) then a more average to cold 2nd half, with a real cold snap at the start of the last week.  Markedly variable rainfall.  Very dry here but others had notable April showers

[AlexG595]

October 1926!

Though not against climatic grain.. the first half saw the warmest October day ever in parts of Ireland, the second half heralded the coldest 2nd half to October on record.

 

Another extreme contender would be March 1947 with an exceptionally cold first half to the month followed by the infamous thaw and floods of the 2nd half

 

Mar-Apr 1968 and Mar-Apr 2021 are also good candidates with both seeing exceptional warm spells followed by a deep and long lasting cold spell, in fact I saw snow twice during April 2021, by far the latest snowfall Id ever seen here in SE Cheshire

[LetItSnow!]

Perhaps poor wording on my behalf but when I started this topic I just meant months with great variability, highly contrasting conditions or record highs and record lows within one month etc, not just going against the normal climatic order. November 2010 is that to me because of the mild first half then extreme cold - Because of the contrast.

[Summer8906]

October 1993 and 1994?

The former, very wet first half and very dry (and cold) second half.

The latter, sunny and increasingly warm first half, and wet second half.