The worst combined spring/summer seasons on record

[Sunny76]

11 hours ago, hillbilly said:

Just to note that temperature isnt everything when describing a poor summer.There have been many years in recent  times since 2007 that have been awful yet the temps have been decent whereas some of the 70s and 80s summers which were much cooler had better sunshine levels which to me is a better summer.

Yeah I would prefer a 1981 summer with lower temps, as opposed to a 2021 summer with more cloudy days and slightly above average temps. 
 

A cloudy summer in my opinion is a poor one, it doesn’t matter if we get above average temps. The lack of sunshine doesn’t make it a good summer.

[LetItSnow!]

10 hours ago, Weather-history said:

Look as though summer 2021 was similar to 1968, the further west and north you were the better.

Summer 1968 for W. Scotland was the driest since 1955, warmest since 1960, sunniest since 1960.

 

    

Pressure anomalies across Europe from May to September 1968. Unusually persistent heights to the northwest, that's why it must have been decent there. I imagine a colder version 2021 exactly really, though in a warmer world it's harder to get exceptionally cool conditions (though at times there were spells of that down here in the summer of 2021). A summer index for London would show a considerably lower number I imagine. Iceland must have had a classic July to September!

Edited March 28, 2023 by LetItSnow!

[cheeky_monkey]

21 hours ago, hillbilly said:

Just to note that temperature isnt everything when describing a poor summer.There have been many years in recent  times since 2007 that have been awful yet the temps have been decent whereas some of the 70s and 80s summers which were much cooler had better sunshine levels which to me is a better summer.

didn't say they were poor summers but the stats back up my childhood memories of those summers of the late 1970s as a cool run of summers..its interesting that there were two hot summers of 1975 & 1976 followed by two very cool summers of 1977 & 1978 ..in fact the 1970s as a whole seems to be a pretty interesting decade weather wise with different years having record heat cold mild and snow etc. 

[Weather-history]

On 28/03/2023 at 06:58, Weather-history said:

Look as though summer 2021 was similar to 1968, the further west and north you were the better.

Summer 1968 for W. Scotland was the driest since 1955, warmest since 1960, sunniest since 1960.

 

Strange summer 1968, 40% of that summer's rainfall total for NW England and N Wales fell over just 5 days that summer and 34 days recorded no rainfall for the region, which explains in part why the summer index was reasonable.  

[Methuselah]

25 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

Strange summer 1968, 40% of that summer's rainfall total for NW England and N Wales fell over just 5 days that summer and 34 days recorded no rainfall for the region, which explains in part why the summer index was reasonable.  

Aye, Mr D, the summer of 1968 was strange indeed: red rain and severe thunderstorms in July, and a hot spell in late August/early September that was again followed by severe thunderstorms. And I can't remember anything between the two! 

[Summer8906]

On 27/03/2023 at 14:38, cheeky_monkey said:

what about 1979? cold spring ...dont think summer was up to much either..in fact i seem to remember the summers of 1977-1980 being meh 

Vague memories of that, and I do remember the spring being cold and wet. June and July weren't too terrible, though.

Summer 1980 was bad but critically for this thread, April and May were warm and sunny.

On 28/03/2023 at 19:39, cheeky_monkey said:

didn't say they were poor summers but the stats back up my childhood memories of those summers of the late 1970s as a cool run of summers..its interesting that there were two hot summers of 1975 & 1976 followed by two very cool summers of 1977 & 1978 ..in fact the 1970s as a whole seems to be a pretty interesting decade weather wise with different years having record heat cold mild and snow etc. 

In 1978 I was still living up north, and I do remember it being a pretty bad summer overall. It's the first summer I have significant memories of, in fact. Apparently the south was less bad though; according to the Monthly Weather Report, June was drier than normal and August drier and sunnier than normal. All spring/summer months except March were cool, though.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Summer8906

[Sunny76]

42 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

Vague memories of that, and I do remember the spring being cold and wet. June and July weren't too terrible, though.

Summer 1980 was bad but critically for this thread, April and May were warm and sunny.

In 1978 I was still living up north, and I do remember it being a pretty bad summer overall. It's the first summer I have significant memories of, in fact. Apparently the south was less bad though; according to the Monthly Weather Report, June was drier than normal and August drier and sunnier than normal. All spring/summer months except March were cool, though.

But, despite the fact I’m a fan of warm and hot weather, I’ll take a 1978 over something like 2021.

A cooler sunnier summer would be better than a cloudier warm one, which is also cooler at times because of the lack of sunshine.

[Summer8906]

5 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

But, despite the fact I’m a fan of warm and hot weather, I’ll take a 1978 over something like 2021.

A cooler sunnier summer would be better than a cloudier warm one, which is also cooler at times because of the lack of sunshine.

Exactly. Had I lived in the south at the time, I'd have probably tolerated something like 1978 quite well. August 1978 in particular was both dry and sunny in the far south in particular, and September 1978 (off-topic for this thread, admittedly) even more so.

Another more recent good example of a good August which doesn't look great by temperature is August 2005. A sunny month with many fine days, but nights were cool. Yet, to me, August 2005 was the best August I have experienced in the UK after 2003 (I was overseas last year).

The main reason a lot of the recent summers have been "warm" is, I suspect, due to mild nights, and short-lived heat-spikes. I suspect if you took the average maximum temp of most recent summers (except 2018 and 2022) and filtered out the short heat spikes, it would look unimpressive, to put it mildly.

I echo the comments you made above about the summer of 1981, which was the first long spell of warm sunny summer weather I can remember (I was alive in 1976 but can't remember it). Timed perfectly for the school holidays; started on about July 26th and ended, suddenly, on the evening of September 10th (to be replaced by probably the wettest autumn until 2000; the following day, September 11th, was my earliest memory of the phrase "showers from the word go"). One of the top 5 Augusts of my remembered lifetime - i.e. >=1978 - for weather, yet barely anyone mentions it these days.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

On 29/03/2023 at 14:46, Weather-history said:

Strange summer 1968, 40% of that summer's rainfall total for NW England and N Wales fell over just 5 days that summer and 34 days recorded no rainfall for the region, which explains in part why the summer index was reasonable.  

Wasn't summer 1977 similar? I was in the northwest that summer, but my memories are really very poor and hazy (1978 is the first one I have significant memories of). What memories I do have though are of bright, benign, but not hot weather - plus a dull and wet Silver Jubilee and a vivid red sky one evening towards the end of August.

[Weather-history]

29 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

Wasn't summer 1977 similar? I was in the northwest that summer, but my memories are really very poor and hazy (1978 is the first one I have significant memories of). What memories I do have though are of bright, benign, but not hot weather - plus a dull and wet Silver Jubilee and a vivid red sky one evening towards the end of August.

July 1977 was drier for England and Wales than July 1976

There was so called "Duel in the Sun", Open Golf championship at Turnberry. That was played under glorious weather. 

Manchester Summer Index was 223 for summer 1977

Edited March 30, 2023 by Weather-history

[cheeky_monkey]

15 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

July 1977 was drier for England and Wales than July 1976

There was so called "Duel in the Sun", Open Golf championship at Turnberry. That was played under glorious weather. 

Manchester Summer Index was 223 for summer 1977

July 1977 was warmer and sunnier the further NW you went..across much of England it was slightly cooler than average very dry with average sunshine..looks like pressure was high to the NW of Scotland and lower to the SE over Europe 

[A Face like Thunder]

1 hour ago, Weather-history said:

July 1977 was drier for England and Wales than July 1976

There was so called "Duel in the Sun", Open Golf championship at Turnberry. That was played under glorious weather. 

Manchester Summer Index was 223 for summer 1977

I'm really surprised that July 1977 was drier than July 1976. I recall an afternoon of rain on the afternoon of 20th June 1976 and then nothing significant after that until the weather began to break down towards the end of August. That was in Surrey, but it would surprise me if it was much different further north or that July 1977 was even drier.  

[Summer8906]

2 hours ago, A Face like Thunder said:

I'm really surprised that July 1977 was drier than July 1976. I recall an afternoon of rain on the afternoon of 20th June 1976 and then nothing significant after that until the weather began to break down towards the end of August. That was in Surrey, but it would surprise me if it was much different further north or that July 1977 was even drier.  

I remember looking up the synoptic charts for July 1976 and I think there was a fairly lengthy period of westerlies with high pressure in the south (not unlike late July and late August 2022, from what I gather?)

So conceivable it could have been very dry in the south but much less so further north.

[Summer8906]

3 hours ago, cheeky_monkey said:

July 1977 was warmer and sunnier the further NW you went..across much of England it was slightly cooler than average very dry with average sunshine..looks like pressure was high to the NW of Scotland and lower to the SE over Europe 

When thinking about these early years in my life, I have a theory on why I don't remember summer 1976, even though it was after my earliest memory.

My earliest memory (full stop, not weather related) was in 1975. So it's conceivable I experienced the summers of 1975 and 1976 and then just thought of them as "normal", as mediocre summers (such as 1974) were earlier than my earliest memory. Hence they made no particular impression of being unusual. Then 1977 was also evidently quite fine where I was in the NW, so the (false) perception of good summers being the norm in NW England was perpetuated.

Then along came 1978, the first summer I have proper memories of. The bad weather of that summer in the northwest would have perhaps seemed odd to me, hence I remember it much more than I do 1976 (plus the fact that I was 2 years older).

Edited March 30, 2023 by Summer8906

[cheeky_monkey]

33 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

When thinking about these early years in my life, I have a theory on why I don't remember summer 1976, even though it was after my earliest memory.

My earliest memory (full stop, not weather related) was in 1975. So it's conceivable I experienced the summers of 1975 and 1976 and then just thought of them as "normal", as mediocre summers (such as 1974) were earlier than my earliest memory. Hence they made no particular impression of being unusual. Then 1977 was also evidently quite fine where I was in the NW, so the (false) perception of good summers being the norm in NW England was perpetuated.

Then along came 1978, the first summer I have proper memories of. The bad weather of that summer in the northwest would have perhaps seemed odd to me, hence I remember it much more than I do 1976 (plus the fact that I was 2 years older).

I was kind of thinking about this the other day..i have lived in Alberta for 13 years now..but it has taken me this long to understand what is normal weather for the time of year for my location 

[Weather-history]

On 26/03/2023 at 14:42, A Face like Thunder said:

 

1962 - temperatures were below average every month from March to September inclusive, and the maximum temperature of the year in London was 25C 77F on 9th June. Imagine that now!

There's another one

June 1962 was exceptionally dry, 6th driest June on record for England and Wales  

[Don]

On 26/03/2023 at 14:42, A Face like Thunder said:

1962 - temperatures were below average every month from March to September inclusive, and the maximum temperature of the year in London was 25C 77F on 9th June. Imagine that now!

Virtually impossible?! 

[Summer8906]

13 hours ago, Weather-history said:

There's another one

June 1962 was exceptionally dry, 6th driest June on record for England and Wales  

An extraordinary month by the sounds of it. To have a combination of cool and extremely dry is almost unheard of in the summer months.

July 2016 perhaps came close in recent years: a cloudy, often cool, but dry month. However I suspect the heat spike around the 19th plus frequent moderately warm days in the second half of the month prevented it being cool overall.

10 hours ago, Don said:

Virtually impossible?! 

I suppose if you got winds between W and N (even anticyclonic weather from this quarter can be relatively cool) and/or cyclonic SWlies (March 2023 style synoptics) locked in all summer, it could happen.

Edited March 31, 2023 by Summer8906

[Sunny76]

1991 was on the poor side.

Cold weather lingered despite the mild and sunny March, April was chilly and May was cool and dull. June also was cold and dull.

 

[Summer8906]

5 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

1991 was on the poor side.

Cold weather lingered despite the mild and sunny March, April was chilly and May was cool and dull. June also was cold and dull.

 

Perhaps, though where I was in Hampshire I'd consider it a reasonable season overall. March was a little mixed but had sunny periods at times; April was typically changeable but with a week of sunny weather; May variable cloud amounts but very dry; July warm, often sunny with occasional wet spells; and August very dry and sunny (qualitatively, one of the top 5 Augusts of my lifetime). Only June was bad - and to be fair it was atrocious.

Edited March 31, 2023 by Summer8906

[Sunny76]

32 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

Perhaps, though where I was in Hampshire I'd consider it a reasonable season overall. March was a little mixed but had sunny periods at times; April was typically changeable but with a week of sunny weather; May variable cloud amounts but very dry; July warm, often sunny with occasional wet spells; and August very dry and sunny (qualitatively, one of the top 5 Augusts of my lifetime). Only June was bad - and to be fair it was atrocious.

I thought the summer was disappointing after 1989 and 90.

July was average at best with a storm on the first Friday into the night where I was.

School holidays were mixed with warm sunny days and poor ones.

[Sunny76]

To the post that mentioned 1962.

I wouldn’t want to experience a year as bad as that, even if it gave us a very snowy winter.

A summer that fails to reach even 26c is beyond depressing. 

[Weather-history]

1 hour ago, Summer8906 said:

Perhaps, though where I was in Hampshire I'd consider it a reasonable season overall. March was a little mixed but had sunny periods at times; April was typically changeable but with a week of sunny weather; May variable cloud amounts but very dry; July warm, often sunny with occasional wet spells; and August very dry and sunny (qualitatively, one of the top 5 Augusts of my lifetime). Only June was bad - and to be fair it was atrocious.

 

After June 1991, it wasn't  that bad.

  August 1991 is the 10th driest August on record for England and Wales.   

Incidentally May 1991 is the 5th driest May on record for England and Wales. 

Really is not easy to find a really bad March-August without talking in overall terms.  Soon as you start to break it up month by month, you'll find a period that wasn't actually that bad.

 

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by Weather-history

[Sunny76]

3 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

 

After June 1991, it wasn't  that bad.

  August 1991 is the 10th driest August on record for England and Wales.   

Incidentally May 1991 is the 5th driest May on record for England and Wales. 

Really is not easy to find get a really bad March-August without talking in overall terms.  Soon as you start to break it up month by month, you'll find a period that wasn't actually that bad.

 

 

I remember some really bad periods of no sunshine that spring. Drier periods don’t necessarily mean good weather.

1991 was shockingly cold in May.

[Summer8906]

47 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

I thought the summer was disappointing after 1989 and 90.

July was average at best with a storm on the first Friday into the night where I was.

School holidays were mixed with warm sunny days and poor ones.

I wonder if this was a season which varied significantly over quite small distances depending on where you were?

After the disappointing June, the rest of the summer seemed to continue the fine, warm theme of 1989 and 1990, albeit not quite as hot.

And when May and June 1992 came along, it almost seemed fine summers were becoming the norm. The rest of summer 1992 put paid to that, but to be fair we then had a further spell of generally fine summers from 1994-97.

Edited March 31, 2023 by Summer8906