Summer 2023 chat

[Sunny76]

5 minutes ago, plymsunshine said:

May 2020 was far more than decent. Possibly one of my favourite months ever considering it was the sunniest month of all time full stop in England (or at least since 1909?? I'm not sure someone correct me if I'm wrong). So May 2020 was golden and everything May then seems to be punishing us, at least in terms of sunshine.

May 2021 was rotten until around the 26th, which switched from freezing and cloudy in the morning to warm and sunny in the afternoon, and set the tone for most of June. May 27th was then absolutely glorious. I remember it well because May 2021 was the month in which I did my GCSEs, I spent all month hoping that the summer wasn't going to start in the same way, and thankfully my last day there, on the 27th, finally gave us sunny weather. Then we had a nice warm spell of weather from 28 May - 1 June. However the month was horrible overall.

May 2022, very forgettable, somehow even duller than 2021 here(!!!). Lots of Atlantic drizzle and low cloud, however quite warm airmasses so the days when the sun came out ended being quite nice - five days overall I think. The month actually got cooler as it went on and the second half of May was rather grim.

I would say May 2018 and 2020 were almost identical in terms of clear blue skies, with warm or sometimes hot days while still having a dry heat feel, with cooler evenings.

May 2018 beats it for me, because of the violent thunderstorms over London during the late bank holiday weekend.

You are right though, May 2020 was glorious and part of a very long spell of almost eternal sunshine lol.

I think the weather will be remembered from that period, because of the lockdown.

Fast forward to spring 23, and it’s still cold. I really hope we have a turnaround to a warm and sunny May.

[Sun Chaser]

1 minute ago, Sunny76 said:

I would say May 2018 and 2020 were almost identical in terms of clear blue skies, with warm or sometimes hot days while still having a dry heat feel, with cooler evenings.

May 2018 beats it for me, because of the violent thunderstorms over London during the late bank holiday weekend.

You are right though, May 2020 was glorious and part of a very long spell of almost eternal sunshine lol.

I think the weather will be remembered from that period, because of the lockdown.

Fast forward to spring 23, and it’s still cold. I really hope we have a turnaround to a warm and sunny May.

May 2020 was far sunnier in the west, almost by 100 hours - that's not to say May 2018 wasn't already very sunny with a lot of clear blue skies that month! Both were identical in terms of temperature. As much as I loved May 2018, May 2020 was something truly exceptional that I don't think I'll ever see again - 15 completely cloudless days that month in fact

[Sunny76]

10 hours ago, plymsunshine said:

May 2020 was far sunnier in the west, almost by 100 hours - that's not to say May 2018 wasn't already very sunny with a lot of clear blue skies that month! Both were identical in terms of temperature. As much as I loved May 2018, May 2020 was something truly exceptional that I don't think I'll ever see again - 15 completely cloudless days that month in fact

Yes, May 2020 was cloudless for virtually 2-3 weeks in my area. It was just heaven to wake up to clear skies very early in the day, and witness clear skies until twilight well into the late evening.

2018 was very similar, although the stormy period towards the end around the 26-28 scuppered sunshine levels. It made up for it, with a thundery period of storms. We got hit by a daytime one during the following week.

10 hours ago, plymsunshine said:

May 2020 was far sunnier in the west, almost by 100 hours - that's not to say May 2018 wasn't already very sunny with a lot of clear blue skies that month! Both were identical in terms of temperature. As much as I loved May 2018, May 2020 was something truly exceptional that I don't think I'll ever see again - 15 completely cloudless days that month in fact

May 1980 was similar, as the U.K. was virtually cloudless for about 10 days.

Think that was the best part of the year though, as the summer of 80 was cool and dull.

[weatherguru14]

It's getting towards summer so I have returned again  

One can hope for a repeat of last summer. That's unlikely. But i have a good feeling for summer 2023. We've yet to have month above average temperature  so far this year(i think that's the case) So i hoping that happens in 2 of the 3 summer months this year. 

2021 was a decent summer up here for 2 of the 3 months.. all 3 months were wonderful in 2022. I hope that's something to hang on for coming few months a head. and make it a hattrick. 

[weatherguru14]

10 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

Yes, May 2020 was cloudless for virtually 2-3 weeks in my area. It was just heaven to wake up to clear skies very early in the day, and witness clear skies until twilight well into the late evening.

2018 was very similar, although the stormy period towards the end around the 26-28 scuppered sunshine levels. It made up for it, with a thundery period of storms. We got hit by a daytime one during the following week.

May 1980 was similar, as the U.K. was virtually cloudless for about 10 days.

Think that was the best part of the year though, as the summer of 80 was cool and dull.

Wasn't May 2020 the sunniest month on record? I'm sure it fell into that category. Remember it well along with the April. Due to the obvious (the covid pandemic) 

[Don]

10 hours ago, weatherguru14 said:

We've yet to have month above average temperature  so far this year(i think that's the case) So i hoping that happens in 2 of the 3 summer months this year. 

January and more especially February were above average, while March was close to the 91-20 average but above the 61-90, 71-00 and 81-10 averages.

Edited April 14, 2023 by Don

[Sunny76]

45 minutes ago, Don said:

January and more especially February were above average, while March was close to the 91-20 average but above the 61-90, 71-00 and 81-10 averages.

It certainly didn’t feel mild where I was. I remember some cold days during January and February, while working outside. 

[weatherguru14]

1 hour ago, Sunny76 said:

It certainly didn’t feel mild where I was. I remember some cold days during January and February, while working outside. 

Indeed, i thought it was a cold winter 

[kold weather]

14 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

It certainly didn’t feel mild where I was. I remember some cold days during January and February, while working outside. 

It's been quite frosty at times but I think we are seeing our warmer climate in action, that despite some decent cold at times, the milder spells were very potent and in most cases offset the colder spells. Even December went from top 10 levels of cold to just reasonably cold due to the powerful late December warm up both here and in Europe.

Very below the 61-90 months are starting to prove really tricky to get, heck even below normal 61-90 months aren't happening all that consistently anymore.

[Sunny76]

22 minutes ago, kold weather said:

It's been quite frosty at times but I think we are seeing our warmer climate in action, that despite some decent cold at times, the milder spells were very potent and in most cases offset the colder spells. Even December went from top 10 levels of cold to just reasonably cold due to the powerful late December warm up both here and in Europe.

Very below the 61-90 months are starting to prove really tricky to get, heck even below normal 61-90 months aren't happening all that consistently anymore.

Yes I agree with that. Had this been 1986, we would have had more snow. 
 

Since late 1987, the warmer than average months were almost constant for a few years, give or take a below average month.

[Don]

On 14/04/2023 at 18:58, Sunny76 said:

It certainly didn’t feel mild where I was. I remember some cold days during January and February, while working outside. 

January had some cold days during the second half but February was pretty mild and dry all the way for me.

22 hours ago, weatherguru14 said:

Indeed, i thought it was a cold winter 

As I've said recently, just goes to show how much our seasons have warmed in recent years!!

[Sunny76]

5 minutes ago, Don said:

January had some cold days during the second half but February was pretty mild and dry all the way for me.

As I've said recently, just goes to show how much our seasons have warmed in recent years!!

It’s been warming for a number of decades. 

[Don]

4 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

It’s been warming for a number of decades. 

You don't say!!  

[Sunny76]

Just now, Don said:

You don't say!!  

[Don]

Just now, Sunny76 said:

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Punch up! Punch up! 

[Don]

1 minute ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

Punch up! Punch up! 

Stop goading!!  

Sunny76 is welcome to a beer or two!

Edited April 15, 2023 by Don

[*Stormforce~beka*]

1 minute ago, Don said:

Stop goading!!  

Sunny76 is welcome to a beer or two!

On his head! On his head!!

[Dark Horse]

On 14/04/2023 at 20:33, weatherguru14 said:

Indeed, i thought it was a cold winter 

Certainly cold at times especially the first half of December and a few days in January but it wasn't a cold winter overall. Last cold one overall was 2012-2013. Can't really count 2018 despite that amazing beast at the end of February and the "mini" one in March which in reality was every bit as snowy as the main one. But there was still a big chunk of mild dross in 2017-2018.

Last very good winter was 2009-2010 when all 3 winter months saw significant wintry weather. The following winter was mainly just a late November-December affair, a big one of course, coldest December in about 100 years but I don't remember there being any more snow or decent cold in the January and February. February 2011 was very mild actually.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Dark Horse

[weatherguru14]

I just go by how it felt and it was a cold winter. People can disagree all they like. But i'm just going by what i perceive.

I don't take into consideration averages over the month. Simply because you can have a 4/5 days 10/11c and the rest can be colder than normal and it comes out warmer than average over all. 

[TheOgre]

1 hour ago, Dark Horse said:

Certainly cold at times especially the first half of December and a few days in January but it wasn't a cold winter overall. Last cold one overall was 2012-2013. Can't really count 2018 despite that amazing beast at the end of February and the "mini" one in March which in reality was every bit as snowy as the main one. But there was still a big chunk of mild dross in 2017-2018.

Last very good winter was 2009-2010 when all 3 winter months saw significant wintry weather. The following winter was mainly just a late November-December affair, a big one of course, coldest December in about 100 years but I don't remember there being any more snow or decent cold in the January and February. February 2011 was very mild actually.

2020-2021 was quite a cold one. We had 3 separate snow events in all three months here and January 2021 was definitely a cold month overall.

[Don]

3 minutes ago, TheOgre said:

2020-2021 was quite a cold one. We had 3 separate snow events in all three months here and January 2021 was definitely a cold month overall.

Yep, 2020/21 was a cold winter by recent standards!

[Dark Horse]

1 hour ago, TheOgre said:

2020-2021 was quite a cold one. We had 3 separate snow events in all three months here and January 2021 was definitely a cold month overall.

Yes that was a bit colder than this winter just gone but didn't really deliver a proper heavy fall of 15cm+ here. January 2013 did though. In 2020-2021 we had quite a few light to moderate coverings but not enough to really need to get the snow shovel out. Nor did we have a prolonged cold spell in that winter.

As seen below for a comparison; temps struggled to get above 4c for the majority of January 2013 and a good chunk was colder than that, whereas in February 2021 which was the coldest part of that winter it was clearly milder month. Cold still for sure but obviously milder for longer.

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by Dark Horse

[Summer8906]

On 13/04/2023 at 10:20, plymsunshine said:

May 2020 was far sunnier in the west, almost by 100 hours - that's not to say May 2018 wasn't already very sunny with a lot of clear blue skies that month! Both were identical in terms of temperature. As much as I loved May 2018, May 2020 was something truly exceptional that I don't think I'll ever see again - 15 completely cloudless days that month in fact

The big advantage of 2018 of course was that there was no Covid or lockdown! So a month you could actually enjoy unlike that of 2020.

In terms of weather alone, 2018 had the thundery spell towards the end, which produced some good storms but critically without breaking down the weather. Very reminiscent of 1992 in this way. This means it could be considered more interesting overall - and of course led into a much better summer than 2020.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

On 15/04/2023 at 09:50, kold weather said:

It's been quite frosty at times but I think we are seeing our warmer climate in action, that despite some decent cold at times, the milder spells were very potent and in most cases offset the colder spells. Even December went from top 10 levels of cold to just reasonably cold due to the powerful late December warm up both here and in Europe.

Continental Europe, of course.

We are of course as much a part of Europe as Manhattan is part of North America, and our island status doesn't change that. (sorry, bugbear of mine!)