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Your worst weather year - using the worst months in history


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Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
57 minutes ago, emmett garland said:

August 1985 July 1988 dreadful months here.. cold and dull ..

Oh yes July 1988 a shocker in the Lake District - quite possibly wettest on record. Robin Stirling in his excellent book 'The weather of Britain', states, 'The warmest day of the month was under 20 celsius at Brighton', below the average mean temp, diabolical! God knows what temps were recorded here!

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Posted
  • Location: Shrewsbury
  • Location: Shrewsbury

This has been done a few times over the years, I cant remember every one I chose before because most had several candidates. I'll consider the case now for months from the last 3-4 years.....

May 2015, which failed to top 20C all month and had no thunder, I'm sure I picked before and I still would- 2021 had a warm last few days and those cracking thunderstorms with hail on the 12th. 

Februaries 2020 and 2022 would definitely be in with a shout. So many rubbish Febs in the last 35 years it's difficult to pick one. 2011 (which I think I have gone for before) I particularly hated for ruining a great winter, although it wasn't quite as wet as 2020 or 2022 or 2014 or 2002 or 1990.

July 2020 (save the hot last day) and August 2021 weren't great, but not as bad as August 2008 or July 2009 (that was awful, it seems to be forgotten, 2012 or 1988, or the appallingly dull July 2010. Looking at stats I can understand why people in the SE might go for August 2021 though, it seems to have been worse than 2008 down there. They seem to hate June 2016 down there too, here it was definitely on the wet side but also thundery and quite warm, way superior to 2012 or 1997. Same for June 2019 (that was very wet but again thundery and had a warm end).

The autumn of 2019 was almost as wet here as that of 2000 (Sep and Oct were both actually wetter than in 2000 even though the first 20 days of Sep were quite dry)- October in particular was horrible and is a strong candidate. 

And winter 2021-22 was up there with the very worst of them for snowlessness. The very cloudy December was especially grim.

 

 

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Posted
  • Location: Highland Scotland
  • Location: Highland Scotland

From a Scottish Skier’s perspective, I’d start the worst year possible as:

Jan 1990

Feb 1989

Mar 2012

Apr 2007

Depending on what transpired at the end of the preceding year, that sort of combination would likely equate to seeing the first 4 months of the year with no lift served snowsports in Highland Scotland. Given the 1989/90 season didn’t see any lifts turn to mid Feb (even then a very limited start), a Nov 89 / Dec 89 start to the worst season possible would give a complete season long wipeout. Though I can’t recall anything about those two months, other than there could not have been any significant snow on the mountains.

Feb 89 was chosen over Feb 90 because the later did deliver snow in the second half of the month, while Feb 89 delivered biblical rain (and wind if that is a thing) including the flood which took out the Ness [Rail] Viaduct and put the start of the CairnGorm ski road under several feet of the River Spey, greatly diminishing already not great snow cover on the mountains in the process.

However, in 68 seasons of commercialised mechanical uplift for snowsports in Scotland a no uplift season has never happened. Even some of the worst seasons have come good somewhere, for some time, 1998 and 2012 I am particularly looking at you! March 2012 was a historic first, the first time not a single ski tow spun for skiers in the entire month of March since commercial uplift begun at Glencoe in February 1956.

Having had a CairnGorm season pass in 2012, despair turned into something spectacular with countless days of fresh tracks and epic lines through April and May. 

From available historical records, the worst season to date remains 1964, Glenshee opened 7 days that winter and following on from 1962/63,  it ultimately irrevocably burst the bubble of the newly opened Mar Lodge ski area that was built in the summer of 63 following on from that winter! It did operate the odd day in the 64/65 season, but ultimately the ski tows were dismantled and moved to Glenshee as the now defunct Trainer Tow (used to be beside the Claybokie Poma) and the still existent Cairnwell T-bar.

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Posted
  • Location: Close to Loch Lomond, 20 miles NW of Glasgow
  • Location: Close to Loch Lomond, 20 miles NW of Glasgow

For me it is the very wet months that stand out as horrible.

Pretty much the whole of summer 1985 was continuously wet. I believe the wettest since records began in Scotland, though I don't remember the details, just staring out at my window at work day after day hoping for some sunshine which didn't really come.

Then there was November, December 2015 and January 2016 where we got over a metre of rain locally in those three months and  taking November and December I had three days that it didn't rain during the day (but were still cloudy days). It improved a little in January but we didn't really get any dry weather until the last week of January.

February 1997 was another really wet and windy month made worse because I had not long started an assignment with a two hour commute each way, and endless gales and rain along with four hours per day of travel on multiple trains and walking between stations or office meant I was pretty much either wet or about to get wet during the week. Plus I was going out for a run at 05;30 in the morning several days a week which didn't help matters.

Edited by The real Lomond snowstorm
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Posted
  • Location: Tamworth Staffordshire
  • Location: Tamworth Staffordshire

There have been quite a few, especially since the turn of the millennium, but these are the ones that really grated on me from memory. 

January 2020 Relentlessly wet, stormy  and mild.

February 1997 After a promising start to winter, this was a disaster of a month.

March 2017 A bit of a boring cloud fest from an IMBY perspective apart from the last couple of days. 

April 2019- only chose this one because nothing sticks out in my memory. 

May 2022 Too southwesterly, very cloudy, no real extremes of temperature just some overly warm nights. 

June 2016 Too warm, humid and wet. 

July 2006 hottest month ever, a complete nightmare!

August 2021 A very boring nondescript month around here. 

September 2021 As above, but also too warm.

October 2006 Just too warm and wet, there's been so many very warm Octobers but this one sticks out as being very unseasonal with no extreme high maximum temps. Two thunderstorms was the only interesting or favourable things about it. 

November 1994. Ridiculously warm!

December 2015. Ditto, as above. 

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Posted
  • Location: Maidstone, Kent
  • Weather Preferences: Anything below 0c or above 20c. Also love a good thunderstorm!
  • Location: Maidstone, Kent

I'll split this into two parts, my memory (which will all be post millennium as I can't remember prior) and a year which stood out when looking at MO historic station data.

First, my memory: 

January 2008

February 2020

March 2016

April 2012

May 2021

June 2015

July 2011

August 2008

September 2008

October 2012

November 2011

December 2015

All either Atlantic dominated or dull featuring a mild winter and cool summer. 

So when looking at historic years, 1974 (plus the first half of 1975 looked awful on paper. Kicked off with a mild winter with a teasing warm March before what looked like a chilly April. The summer looked very cool and never got going. Then in September the temps fell well away, stayed cool through October but stayed the same through November and December where December ended up being above average. January and February the following year stayed mild, before an average March then a cold April. This resulted in 8 consecutive months with temps around 10c. What, a, borefest! 

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

I'm going to take an "England E and NE" centric perspective here, and vote for the following:

January 2014

February 2011

March 1996

April 1993

May 1991

June 1987

July 2000

August 2008

September 2001

October 2020

November 2011

December 2002

In the Met Office England E and NE sunshine series, this year would have a mean temperature of 8.88C, which is very close to the average for 1981-2010.  With 955.9mm of precipitation it would be rather wet but not record breaking (2012 had 1043.4mm). 

But the variable that really stands out is sunshine.  This year would produce only 977.8 hours of sunshine, easily beating the record low of 1186.3 set in 1954.  

This year would also be largely snowless apart from the frontal snow event on 11/12 March 1996, which wasn't enough to save it from ranking as easily my worst March because of how relentlessly dull and raw it was in north-east England.

Edited by Thundery wintry showers
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Posted
  • Location: Hull
  • Weather Preferences: Cold Snowy Winters, Hot Thundery Summers
  • Location: Hull

Jan 2007 - A crazy mild first 20 days of the month, very unlike winter.

Feb 2014 - Relentless rain and storms which had been a theme since mid December the previous year. I was sick of it.

Mar 2020 - A very boring weather month, nothing to distract us from the depressing news.

Apr 2012 - Wet and cold, a very poor month

May 2021 - Cool and unsettled throughout.

Jun 2007 - An extraordinarily wet month here in Hull, the second half was horrendous with historic flooding. It was by far the wettest month on record in Hull despite a fairly dry but very dull first half.

Jul 2012 - A very poor month. July 2007 at least had a few thunderstorms here and there, whilst 2012 didn't so that takes the prize.

Aug 2008 - A very dull and wet month, awful

Sep 2012 - Another wet and cool month... meh

Oct 2006 - Wet and exceptionally mild. At this time of the year I like either the cold crisp days or an Indian summer - this was neither. October 2020 wasn't far off.

Nov 2015 - Exceptionally mild

Dec 2015 - An unbelievable month, the arch nemesis of December 2010.  

Edited by Quicksilver1989
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Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Bright weather. Warm sunny thundery summers, short cold winters.
  • Location: Hampshire

A nightmare year (based on months I remember) would be something like:

January 2020

February 2020

March 1981 (apparently terrible, though my memories of it are much weaker than other months that year). Despite the two snow events, I don't rate 2018 much either due to persistent wet, gloomy weather the rest of the time, which made it seem like spring was never arriving.

April 1983 (another I barely remember, despite remembering most of that year - but apparently awful). Dishonourable mention also to 2000, 2012 and 2018; the first half of "spring" 2018 was one of the worst spring seasons I've ever endured, despite the snow events.

May 1983 (dishonourable mention also to 2021, which was not the worst due to a warm and sunny final week)

June 2012 (with dishonourable mention for June 2016, though my dislike of June 2016 is primarily for non-weather reasons)

July 1988 (dishonourable mention also to 1993, 2007, 2012, 2017 and 2021)

August 2008

September 2000 (of all the months, I am struggling to find any really, really bad Septembers, but this was perhaps the worst)

October 2000

November 2000

December 2015

Edited by Summer8906
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Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Bright weather. Warm sunny thundery summers, short cold winters.
  • Location: Hampshire
On 01/03/2023 at 13:54, Thundery wintry showers said:

I'm going to take an "England E and NE" centric perspective here, and vote for the following:

Interesting many of these were really not bad in central Southern England, including:

On 01/03/2023 at 13:54, Thundery wintry showers said:

March 1996

April 1993

May 1991

July 2000

September 2001

November 2011

December 2002

November 2011 in fact was notable for an unusual, for the season, combination of warm and bright.

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Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Bright weather. Warm sunny thundery summers, short cold winters.
  • Location: Hampshire
On 18/02/2023 at 22:22, damianslaw said:

Oh yes July 1988 a shocker in the Lake District - quite possibly wettest on record. Robin Stirling in his excellent book 'The weather of Britain', states, 'The warmest day of the month was under 20 celsius at Brighton', below the average mean temp, diabolical! God knows what temps were recorded here!

I do seem to remember the "max max" in July 1988 was around 23 or 24C. Anywhere in the UK.

Actually I think I might change my 2007 nomination for 1988, thinking about it - as 2007 was a bit more thundery.

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Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Bright weather. Warm sunny thundery summers, short cold winters.
  • Location: Hampshire
On 16/02/2023 at 10:32, Sunny76 said:

Every year and month since 2000.

What, even July 2006? 😉

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Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Bright weather. Warm sunny thundery summers, short cold winters.
  • Location: Hampshire
On 16/02/2023 at 17:08, Sunny76 said:

Jokes aside regarding my last message.

January 2020 - borefest

February 1996 - cold dull borefest 

Not for me... one of only two years since 1991 to feature decent February snow (the other being 1994) which means that I'd rate it as one of the most interesting Februaries of my lifetime.

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Posted
  • Location: Edmonton Alberta(via Chelmsford, Exeter & Calgary)
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine and 15-25c
  • Location: Edmonton Alberta(via Chelmsford, Exeter & Calgary)
7 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

I do seem to remember the "max max" in July 1988 was around 23 or 24C. Anywhere in the UK.

 

Highest Temp for July 1988 was 24.7c at Margate in Kent on the 21st 

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Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Bright weather. Warm sunny thundery summers, short cold winters.
  • Location: Hampshire
14 hours ago, cheeky_monkey said:

Highest Temp for July 1988 was 24.7c at Margate in Kent on the 21st 

Thanks, so pretty much as bad as I remember. I remember a three-day fine period at this point in the month, so that would have been it.

I wonder how many other months of July and August have failed to exceed 25C since the war? There surely cannot be too many.

July 1988 was also pretty poor for thunderstorms too, IIRC, with only one day of activity on the 27th. "Bland dull, damp zonal" would sum it up. So one of the worst summer months of my lifetime for weather, though mitigated personally for myself by occurring within probably the best years of my life (the following year probably being the best year of my life). So I don't shudder when I hear "July 1988" in the same way that I do when I hear "February 2020", for example.

Edited by Summer8906
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Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Bright weather. Warm sunny thundery summers, short cold winters.
  • Location: Hampshire

Incidentally I'm seeing September 2012 quite a bit on here. Was it really that bad? I remember most of the month was warm, dry and fairly sunny - then it suddenly turned very much worse on the 23rd with ex-hurricane Nadine producing huge amounts of rain and then the final week was rotten.

Similar in many ways to the more recent September 2019, a month which flipped around the 23rd again bringing very dull, wet weather which never cleared up until Covid and lockdown. So a real harbinger of gloom.

Edited by Summer8906
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Posted
  • Location: Basingstoke
  • Weather Preferences: In summer, a decent thunderstorm, and hot weather. In winter, snow or gale
  • Location: Basingstoke
5 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

Thanks, so pretty much as bad as I remember. I remember a three-day fine period at this point in the month, so that would have been it.

I wonder how many other months of July and August have failed to exceed 25C since the war? There surely cannot be too many.

July 1988 was also pretty poor for thunderstorms too, IIRC, with only one day of activity on the 27th. "Bland dull, damp zonal" would sum it up. So one of the worst summer months of my lifetime for weather, though mitigated personally for myself by occurring within probably the best years of my life (the following year probably being the best year of my life). So I don't shudder when I hear "July 1988" in the same way that I do when I hear "February 2020", for example.

July 2007 i believe only hit 25 point something on the 15th, actually a warm thundery day in the south but that was it.  Highest of that month

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Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Bright weather. Warm sunny thundery summers, short cold winters.
  • Location: Hampshire
On 04/03/2023 at 16:41, SummerShower said:

July 2007 i believe only hit 25 point something on the 15th, actually a warm thundery day in the south but that was it.  Highest of that month

Yes, thinking about it you're right. Aside from that brief spell of strong warmth, I'm struggling to think of many warm days. I was in the northwest that weekend, so entirely missed the warm spell full stop and recall that weekend being pretty dull with just a brief burst of sunshine on Saturday evening. That said, there were a number of sunny days scattered between the lows, though they typically topped out at 22 or 23C.

And didn't 2007 fail to top 30 all year? Come to think of it, that might have applied to 1988 too.

Edited by Summer8906
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Posted
  • Location: Bempton, Bridlington, East Riding. 78m ASL
  • Location: Bempton, Bridlington, East Riding. 78m ASL

As a confirmed heat hater, married to heat hater, 2022 and in particular July are my all time number one hates, and bear in mind I was born in 1957 and have been interested in weather and meteoroiogy since my early teens.

Next one would probably be end May begining  June 1975. To paint the picture, 18 yo, passed my driving test a couple of months previously, bought my first car, and with a girlfriend who also wanted a holiday and was also into walking, we booked 10 days in the north of Scotland, plan was to go walking amongst other things. We went early in the year because we were told that the midges wouldn't be out yet. Well they weren't, they were frozen to any surface I think. Cold, wet, and proper full on snow one day, yes I always have been a heat hater, but this was just ridiculous. We did find other things to occupy our time, but she turned out to be Miss Right Now rather than Miss Right.

Number 3 would be autumn 2000, October and November. We were living on the edge of the Vale of York, and the flooding was the worst in my memory. Visiting my wifes family in Hull we decided to go by train from Thirsk as the flooding had closed loads of roads and as a result the main roads that were open were jammed. I can remember when we left Selby to head east  it looked like we were in the middle of an inland sea, with just the trees sticking up above the water which spread as far as the eye could see with the train on a high bank.

Finally digging back into the memory banks, I can just remember the last smog in London in December 1962, it turned completely dark at midday, pretty spooky/scary for a 5yo. The snow that followed was fun for a 5yo, but I now realise that it was a pretty desperate time for a lot of people.

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Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Bright weather. Warm sunny thundery summers, short cold winters.
  • Location: Hampshire

Beginning to wonder whether to pre-emptively replace my March vote for March 2023... at least in 1981 I was young enough to not let weather get to me, whereas now... 😞

Edited by Summer8906
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