Summer 2023 chat

[alexisj9]

12 hours ago, Addicks Fan 1981 said:

Wondering if sun spot activity can determine months or even seasons ahead @Metwatch? As when we were in the stronger solar cycles we had a greater chance of back to back hot summers.  This year so far we have had the most active solar activity since 2002, however its not filtering to the atmosphere as much as it should.   Mind you this year is a much warmer year than what 2012 was and I think solar cycles go in 11 year fazes of solar minimum and solar maximum.   

You know what, I don't listen to that. As the first person who started talking about that, is not very credible, and also made it out to be a reason why a cold spell happened, and now it's why cold spells disappear. This year good know what a sun spot means.

Not talking about on this forum, talking about when it was in the news, first time it was well known. 

Edited August 20, 2023 by alexisj9

[alexisj9]

12 hours ago, Metwatch said:

Dont think solar cycle impact the UK weather much. I'd say El Nino is somewhat to blame for a less good summer, usually they aren't as great during El Nino, @Daniel*pointed it out too. 

Usually I walk on public footpaths which are more exposed to the sunshine, such as those on farmland. It's much drier even after rain yesterday. 

All foot paths I use has been usable throughout summer.

[Scorcher]

Those saying this month has been an improvement on July- it certainly hasn't been a lot better sunshine-wise here.

Definitely slightly warmer so far (although that looks likely to change unfortunately) and less wet (still above average rainfall for this stage of the month though).

Sunshine at my local station is only 75.8 hours so far and looks like we may seriously struggle for sunshine after midweek until the month is out.

July scraped over 100 hours in the end and I can't see us doing a lot better for this month here.

Unlikely this month will end up as wet as July but it may end up almost as bad on the other counts.

[alexisj9]

1 minute ago, Scorcher said:

Those saying this month has been an improvement on July- it certainly hasn't been a lot better sunshine-wise here.

Definitely slightly warmer so far (although that looks likely to change unfortunately) and less wet (still above average rainfall for this stage of the month though).

Sunshine at my local station is only 75.8 hours so far and looks like we may seriously struggle for sunshine after midweek until the month is out.

July scraped over 100 hours in the end and I can't see us doing a lot better for this month here.

Unlikely this month will end up as wet as July but it may end up almost as bad on the other counts.

I think it has here, although we were lucky with sun in July, think this month might beat it.

[Methuselah]

I reckon the biggest minus this summer has been the absence of anything properly thundery.

[In Absence of True Seasons]

Morning walk over Hampstead Heath today. Last time I was here was May, and it looks just as lush / overgrown as it did then...and it's now mid August! 

Some people will say "Well that's good, it should be just as lush". But the reality is...for SE England...it's very unusual, nigh on unseen, for folliage to be just as green and lush in late Summer as in late Spring. Why would it be the same? It'd a different season. This is simply demonstrative of how cool and wet this summer has been since end of June.

A normal summer for the Scottish Highlands perhaps. But not for here.

[SunnyG]

19 minutes ago, Methuselah said:

I reckon the biggest minus this summer has been the absence of anything properly thundery.

The biggest minus this summer has been the absence of summer.

13 minutes ago, In Absence of True Seasons said:

Morning walk over Hampstead Heath today. Last time I was here was May, and it looks just as lush / overgrown as it did then...and it's now mid August! 

Some people will say "Well that's good, it should be just as lush". But the reality is...for SE England...it's very unusual, nigh on unseen, for folliage to be just as green and lush in late Summer as in late Spring. Why would it be the same? It'd a different season. This is simply demonstrative of how cool and wet this summer has been since end of June.

A normal summer for the Scottish Highlands perhaps. But not for here.

Very Constable-ish... I remember how yellow it was in August 2018...

[Wold Topper]

Stunning morning on the Yorkshire Wolds, warm, sunny and barely a cloud in the sky, come on England!

[Snowy L]

33C sunny, summer finally here 

[alexisj9]

29 minutes ago, Methuselah said:

I reckon the biggest minus this summer has been the absence of anything properly thundery.

We finally had a proper storm Friday night, at last here. Could have been better though.

[stainesbloke]

1 hour ago, Scorcher said:

It's not just rainfall that is causing reservoir levels to be lower these days, even in wetter summers.

People overlook the fact that the population has grown so much from say the 1970s. There is a much higher demand for water and a lot more strain on the water supply.

Governments have not invested nearly enough in infrastructure to cater for the extra people and also greater water usage per capita.

In the mid 70s the population was 56 million and it's now nearly 68 million. Yet there has been almost no investment in new reservoirs etc.

The last 20 years have seen crazy population growth for such a small, already overcrowded island.

It’s not so much overcrowding that’s the issue. Many other countries have population densities a fair bit higher than the UK (Japan, for instance). The lack of investment is the key failing here. Which is a bit ridiculous really, especially as the UK is surrounded by sea. Desalination plants are admittedly expensive but there should be more of them. 

 

[CharlieBear9]

Just now, stainesbloke said:

It’s not so much overcrowding that’s the issue. Many other countries have population densities a fair bit higher than the UK (Japan, for instance). The lack of investment is the key failing here. Which is a bit ridiculous really, especially as the UK is surrounded by sea. Desalination plants are admittedly expensive but there should be more of them. 

 

The public nearly always reject the proposals for extra taxation that would be required to fund anything like that.

Overcrowding certainly doesn't help.

[stainesbloke]

11 minutes ago, CharlieBear9 said:

The public nearly always reject the proposals for extra taxation that would be required to fund anything like that.

Overcrowding certainly doesn't help.

Choices need to be made. The UK water network is inadequate, not fit for purpose and needs huge investment and creative ideas. If only water companies actually invested in the network instead of paying billions in dividends. We are also a country literally surrounded by water.
The SE is probably overcrowded but the rest of the UK certainly isn’t. Compare the UK to countries like Japan.

‘The whole thing stinks’: water firms to pay £15bn to shareholders as customers foot sewage bill | Water bills | The Guardian

AMP.THEGUARDIAN.COM

---

With cost of cleanup to be passed on to bill payers, analysis shows they will also pay £624 more by 2030 to fund investor payouts

 

[CharlieBear9]

6 minutes ago, stainesbloke said:

Choices need to be made. The UK water network is inadequate, not fit for purpose and needs huge investment and creative ideas. If only water companies actually invested in the network instead of paying billions in dividends. We are also a country literally surrounded by water.
The SE is probably overcrowded but the rest of the UK certainly isn’t. Compare the UK to countries like Japan.

‘The whole thing stinks’: water firms to pay £15bn to shareholders as customers foot sewage bill | Water bills | The Guardian

AMP.THEGUARDIAN.COM

---

With cost of cleanup to be passed on to bill payers, analysis shows they will also pay £624 more by 2030 to fund investor payouts

 

Despite the money to shareholders the investment now is an improvement since privatisation. I don't think people realise how neglected the sewage system had been, or for how long.

[stainesbloke]

16 minutes ago, CharlieBear9 said:

Despite the money to shareholders the investment now is an improvement since privatisation. I don't think people realise how neglected the sewage system had been, or for how long.

Neglect is the key word, sadly. 

[CharlieBear9]

9 minutes ago, stainesbloke said:

Neglect is the key word, sadly. 

Indeed it is. The fact that the worst effects having grown over decades aligned to a rapid population increase (even if you take only the official figures) also coincided with a drive to connect previously isolated properties on to mains networks created a perfect storm of incapacity.

[alexisj9]

36 minutes ago, CharlieBear9 said:

Despite the money to shareholders the investment now is an improvement since privatisation. I don't think people realise how neglected the sewage system had been, or for how long.

That's actually quite true unfortunately. I remember when they put in a new sewer system in London, about 20 years ago, just to catch run off from heavy showers due to some flooding problems. Even that's isn't enough now.

[TheOgre]

More rotten weather from Thursday and onwards. June is the only nice month in the sun high half of the year so far. The GFS looks awful going into September as well. Longest period without a plume I can think of in July and August and we’ve only got a month or so left of heat potential.

[alexisj9]

24 minutes ago, stainesbloke said:

Neglect is the key word, sadly. 

True, even house's need work from time to time, as we all know, all we get in our water system is patch work. I've there is a leak somewhere, they fix that leak, but them a month later another breaks out literally about a minute walk down the road., Happened here this year down here. They really need to at least make food on the whole part they are working on, you wouldn't fix half a roof, or not fix an electrical problem in a house properly, the latter could lead to a fire, the former more leaks much quicker than a proper repair.

[Scorcher]

1 hour ago, stainesbloke said:

It’s not so much overcrowding that’s the issue. Many other countries have population densities a fair bit higher than the UK (Japan, for instance). The lack of investment is the key failing here. Which is a bit ridiculous really, especially as the UK is surrounded by sea. Desalination plants are admittedly expensive but there should be more of them. 

 

Not many countries at all have higher population density than England though- the UK figure is lower than it might be because of Scotland mainly.

England is 434/km² which is much higher than Japan and almost identical to India and the Netherlands and higher than Belgium.

In terms of territories with over 20 million people, there's only South Korea and Bangladesh that are higher really.

There aren't many more crowded places (of significant size) than England in the world.

But yes we certainly agree on the lack of investment in infrastructure.

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by Scorcher

[baddie]

Looks like we are going to overtake 2021s sunshine levels tommorow. and maybe 2020s by Friday. Depending how much sunshine we get

[MP-R]

Yet to surpass 100 hours here...

[jaz]

20 hours ago, markyo said:

Been a lovely day, beer gardens full, park near by is busy, ice cream truck doing a lot of trade. You must be very very unlucky.

Very Very Unlucky Markyo

and again today after a few hours of sun this morning here comes the rain

I wouldn’t rate this summer at all as I’m still waiting for it to start, ok we had 2 1/2 half weeks of glorious weather in June but since then we haven’t had 2 consecutively sunny days.

Total Crap Really..

 

[stainesbloke]

1 hour ago, Scorcher said:

Not many countries at all have higher population density than England though- the UK figure is lower than it might be because of Scotland mainly.

England is 434/km² which is much higher than Japan and almost identical to India and the Netherlands and higher than Belgium.

In terms of territories with over 20 million people, there's only South Korea and Bangladesh that are higher really.

There aren't many more crowded places (of significant size) than England in the world.

But yes we certainly agree on the lack of investment in infrastructure.

 

The figures are skewed somewhat by London/SE England, which I’d agree could be called overpopulated. Otherwise, not so much. Don’t forget that London has been a monster city for a century. However, I’m not arguing over the details, like you say, the fact is massive underinvestment in infrastructure is an issue and needs addressing urgently. There isn’t much we can do about too many people

Edited August 20, 2023 by stainesbloke

[*Stormforce~beka*]

3 hours ago, Wold Topper said:

Stunning morning on the Yorkshire Wolds, warm, sunny and barely a cloud in the sky, come on England!

Oh sod off lolol