The worst combined spring/summer seasons on record

[baddie]

On 14/09/2023 at 08:36, Philipsfd said:

I remember the spell in early June, it was very sunny and became very warm around the 8th-10th.

I know it became a lot drier from the end of July but I don't remember it being that great? The first weekend of August was mildly hot then remained fair until around the 11th; 12th-22nd was then quite overcast, cool and wet at times; then mainly sunny and at times very warm over the BH weekend before sliding into a dull and cool final few days.

I don't think August 2007 was a brilliant month, perhaps it has a better reputation than it normally would because of the wet weather that preceded it, or because Aug 06 and 08 were both poor? But I wouldn't say it was any better than August 2009 or 2012.

August 2007 was an 8/10. Despite being cool, it was still dry and sunny. We have even managed a hot day on the 5th at 28c, as well as many warm sunny days in the first 13 days, and around the 23rd-26th. It felt more "spring-like" than summery or autumnal

[Metwatch]

Hopefully not 2024

[Weather Enthusiast91]

 Metwatch It's hard to imagine a July worse than last years. But then, I thought the same about last year's spring.

[Metwatch]

2024 was another poor spring for settled or sunny conditions, but I reckon the summer saved it from making it a combined poor spring-summer period.

Wasn't a particularly warm summer, but with enough sunshine and not much rain bar the first half of July and some days in mid June, it was a pleasant enough season to me. Just a lack of thunderstorms.

Edited January 12 by Metwatch

[Sceptilli0naire]

2008 is probably the closest in my lifetime. Almost the entire warm season was dull, damp and lukewarm.

Funnily enough, the school daytrip that year coincided with the warm spell in May and my dad hired a car in what was probably the only passable week of August. So I apparently got very lucky.

2012 is probably the next closest - It had way worse months than any of 2008, those being April, June and July, but the early heatwave in the second half of May broke the excessively wet spell in two and things did improve a lot by August. That time I got unlucky because we went on holiday to the Wight in the only week of August that was unsettled and stormy at times. The rest of August aside from that was really not bad. The minor heatwave in early September also somewhat made up for the cringe earlier in the year too.

2021 was definitely the coolest summer in a while here and felt a lot like 2011, but I don't think it was really that bad on reflection. April, while notably cold, was one of the sunniest on record, the first half of June was warm and there was that heatwave in the middle of July. I get that August was very unpleasant for many here and if it happened in 2024 I would've agreed, but the memory of August 2020 was fresh in my mind at the time and I just welcomed the lack of any extreme heat. Furthermore, September was one of the warmest on record and autumn 2021 was overall one of the nicest in recent memory, so I feel like that makes up for it at least somewhat.

[LetItSnow]

 Metwatch Really highlights what an atrocious summer Scotland must have just had.

[Metwatch]

 LetItSnow

Classic +NAO pattern, especially the second half of the summer! August had one of the most positive NAO's out of any Augusts on record (since the 1950s I think).

Edited January 12 by Metwatch

[BruenSryan]

Updated the index to include the final figure of 2023 and the season of 2024.

2024 was the worst spring/summer since 2012 in this regard. 

As a reminder if you did not see my previous post two years ago, I used the Manchester summer index to calculate the numbers.

[B87]

2008 was dreadful. 1986 looked horrific.

[Metwatch]

Thankfully not 2025 now!

[cheeky_monkey]

 BruenSryan Just shows how bad spring 1983 was..summer was the best of the 1980s but as combination it comes below 1982, 84 and 1989 and every year after 2012 apart from 2024 it seems