The worst combined spring/summer seasons on record

[MP-R]

14 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

Here I'd probably rate 2015, 2017, 2020 and 2021 as bad as 2014. In the case of 2020, that week of oppressive humidity was easily outweighed by some horrendously dull and wet weather for around two weeks immediately following it. The Wednesday just after mid-month, in particular, was one of the worst August days I can recall with all-day rain and intense autumnal gloom more akin to November.

2014 was poor but not spectacularly so. The first 10 days were changeable but somewhat warm with some sunny days. Then it was notably cool, but not that wet for around 10 days (showers at first, becoming dry, IIRC) before a very poor spell of about a week starting at the Bank Holiday weekend. I'd actually rate 2020 as worse than 2014, in fact.

2019 was largely fine until the 20th here but the final 10 days were so horrendously bad that they completely cancelled out the first 20. One of the worst spells of weather in September I can recall; a September equivalent of July 2017.

Interesting to hear the differences between our two locations. The difficult thing about Augusts is that quite often one half is good and the second half not good, so can't call it a bad month overall. 

August 2015 here was decent in the first half, but very wet from the 19th onwards (brief plume on the 22nd though). Funnily enough, Wednesday 19th was as dark and grim as the same date in 2020 lol. The 24th was also a particularly awful day, much like 24th July. Conversely though, there was a lot of sunny warm weather earlier on, including the often sunny balloon fiesta in Bristol.

August 2017 was kinda like a standard September here. A disappointing summer month but with a lot of dry usable weather if not very summery (apart from the Bank Holiday weekend). It was only properly wet on a few occasions.

August 2020 avoids going in the bad pile for me because of the dry and hot weather up until the 13th, the thundery spell that then followed, the sunny but windy spell the following weekend and the bright settled finish. There were however a few really naff days in between like the 14th, 19th, 24th and 26th-28th period.

August 2021, being further west, wasn't terrible, just another standard September type month. Often dry and usable, punctuated by some brief very wet periods but also sunshine. Temperature wise very boring though.

The reason I rate 2014 so low is down to the complete absence of heat, notably low maxima and minima after midmonth and the ridiculously high rainfall totals. The only saving grace is that it was rarely dull thanks to a lot of northwesterly and northerly influence.

[Summer8906]

20 minutes ago, MP-R said:

Interesting to hear the differences between our two locations. The difficult thing about Augusts is that quite often one half is good and the second half not good, so can't call it a bad month overall. 

August 2015 here was decent in the first half, but very wet from the 19th onwards (brief plume on the 22nd though). Funnily enough, Wednesday 19th was as dark and grim as the same date in 2020 lol. The 24th was also a particularly awful day, much like 24th July. Conversely though, there was a lot of sunny warm weather earlier on, including the often sunny balloon fiesta in Bristol.

August 2017 was kinda like a standard September here. A disappointing summer month but with a lot of dry usable weather if not very summery (apart from the Bank Holiday weekend). It was only properly wet on a few occasions.

August 2020 avoids going in the bad pile for me because of the dry and hot weather up until the 13th, the thundery spell that then followed, the sunny but windy spell the following weekend and the bright settled finish. There were however a few really naff days in between like the 14th, 19th, 24th and 26th-28th period.

August 2021, being further west, wasn't terrible, just another standard September type month. Often dry and usable, punctuated by some brief very wet periods but also sunshine. Temperature wise very boring though.

The reason I rate 2014 so low is down to the complete absence of heat, notably low maxima and minima after midmonth and the ridiculously high rainfall totals. The only saving grace is that it was rarely dull thanks to a lot of northwesterly and northerly influence.

Perhaps also my weather prejudices are revealed. I tend to dislike dull, damp southwesterly weather disproportionately, whereas northerly or northwesterly weather isn't so bad. That said I don't remember 2014 having any really silly rainfall totals, in fact I only recall one really bad day - the Bank Holiday Monday.

That said I don't recall a sunny but windy weekend in August 2020. If you're referring to the weekend following the hot spell (15th/16th) I recall the low was stuck over this part of the country, so perhaps better weather had got into the SW. The 15th was drizzly and very dull; the 16th had a spell of rain at some point during the day and the evening was brighter. More settled weather finally got in at the end of the month but only on the final three days (which happily were the Bank Holiday weekend!)

What I do remember about 2020 was that there were exactly four very active lows following the hot spell. The first was the one which ended the hot spell and brought about three days of dull and drizzly weather; the second was the one which brought the bad weather of the 19th; and the fourth produced persistent rain and brief thunder on the 28th. There was presumably a third, but can't recall exactly when that passed through. As the lows were quite active, many of the intermediate days were rather meh too, though I do remember the 18th and 20th, and one day the following week (perhaps the 25th?), were ok.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Summer8906

[MP-R]

29 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

Perhaps also my weather prejudices are revealed. I tend to dislike dull, damp southwesterly weather disproportionately, whereas northerly or northwesterly weather isn't so bad. That said I don't remember 2014 having any really silly rainfall totals, in fact I only recall one really bad day - the Bank Holiday Monday.

That said I don't recall a sunny but windy weekend in August 2020. If you're referring to the weekend following the hot spell (15th/16th) I recall the low was stuck over this part of the country, so perhaps better weather had got into the SW. The 15th was drizzly and very dull; the 16th had a spell of rain at some point during the day and the evening was brighter. More settled weather finally got in at the end of the month but only on the final three days (which happily were the Bank Holiday weekend!)

What I do remember about 2020 was that there were exactly four very active lows following the hot spell. The first was the one which ended the hot spell and brought about three days of dull and drizzly weather; the second was the one which brought the bad weather of the 19th; and the fourth produced persistent rain and brief thunder on the 28th. There was presumably a third, but can't recall exactly when that passed through. As the lows were quite active, many of the intermediate days were rather meh too, though I do remember the 18th and 20th, and one day the following week were ok.

Maybe yes, but I also dislike damp southwesterly weather.

Each low was a bit different here. The one encompassing the weekend of the 15th was a flabby convective low with a lot of thundery activity but sunny intervals and light winds. After the wet 19th, the second low was the sunny windy one I mentioned. I spent a weekend in the Cotswolds and it was blustery but sunny. The most notable was the 25th and its unusually early gale. The 27th/28th was then another flabby one with light winds but torrential downpours and thunderstorms. So the dullest weather here that month came from post-thunderstorm clag on the 14th and that awful day on the 19th.

[Summer8906]

29 minutes ago, MP-R said:

Maybe yes, but I also dislike damp southwesterly weather.

Each low was a bit different here. The one encompassing the weekend of the 15th was a flabby convective low with a lot of thundery activity but sunny intervals and light winds. After the wet 19th, the second low was the sunny windy one I mentioned. I spent a weekend in the Cotswolds and it was blustery but sunny. The most notable was the 25th and its unusually early gale. The 27th/28th was then another flabby one with light winds but torrential downpours and thunderstorms. So the dullest weather here that month came from post-thunderstorm clag on the 14th and that awful day on the 19th.

I have to confess I can't remember so much about the 3rd one (the one of the 25th) other than its existence. I remember there was a 3rd one but here it was less memorable than the other three. I also recall, following a bright interlude on the 22nd, the parent low then moved closer on the 23rd and that day was distinctly windy with frequent drizzle showers.

The 15th/16th low was actually forecast to produce slow-moving showers and storms here, if I remember right - but all we got were days of gloom and drizzle.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Summer8906

[Sun Chaser]

4 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

a September equivalent of July 2017.

July 2017? Idk if you meant 2007 but July 17 was a very indifferent month, a little dull and wet but nothing horrendous. Agreed that the final third of September 2019 was horrendous though, which basically set the tone for the following 6 months which was the worst 6 months of weather I've ever lived through. Near constant torrential rain until everything switched up in the final third of March 2020

[Summer8906]

1 hour ago, plymsunshine said:

July 2017? Idk if you meant 2007 but July 17 was a very indifferent month, a little dull and wet but nothing horrendous. Agreed that the final third of September 2019 was horrendous though, which basically set the tone for the following 6 months which was the worst 6 months of weather I've ever lived through. Near constant torrential rain until everything switched up in the final third of March 2020

I was comparing September 2019 with July 2017 in the sense that both started well and turned spectacularly bad towards the end.

[Optimus Prime]

On 22/05/2023 at 21:19, Weather-history said:

I am seriously questioning just how bad the summers of the 1960s  actually  were.

Manchester Summer Indices

1960 217 1961 203 1962 197 1963 194 1964 197 1965 189 1966 192 1967 223 1968 215 1969 234

5 of them have an index of at least 200.  Compare those values with two horror summers from the 1950s

1954: 143 and 1956: 155

Interesting to note that 5 of the summers of the 1960s were sub 200mm rainfall for England and Wales. In the SE,  summer 1961 was just slightly wetter than summer 2003 and the following summer, 1962 was fairly dry. 

I don't think the summers of the 1960s overall are as bad as some make out not compared to absolute stinkers such as 1954 and 1956

Yeah. June's for example,  at least temperature wise, were actually very decent in the 1960's, averaging 14.6; much warmer than the 1990's at 14.1 and roughly similar to the 2010's. 

Be interesting to see the rainfall and sunshine figures for that month and whether or not the decent temperatures were hampered by them. 

[Sun Chaser]

18 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

I was comparing September 2019 with July 2017 in the sense that both started well and turned spectacularly bad towards the end.

Ohhh makes sense. June 2022 actually was very similar in some ways, first 10 days were meh, a beautiful mid month spell and then turned horrible starting around the 23rd.

[Summer8906]

21 minutes ago, plymsunshine said:

Ohhh makes sense. June 2022 actually was very similar in some ways, first 10 days were meh, a beautiful mid month spell and then turned horrible starting around the 23rd.

I left the country on June 17th, just before the warm spell broke, though it did apparently turn fine again briefly the following week, from the 20th-22nd. That said, the first 10 days of both September 2019 and July 2017 were fairly good; in fact the best spell of July 2017 was the first 10 days.

It has been a long time since we have had a very good June - even 2018 was cloudy, if dry, for the first 20 days. I suspect that this could be the sunniest for many years, even if the last 10 days (in FI at the moment, so basically unknown what the weather will be) are cooler and more changeable.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Summer8906

[SummerShower]

4 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

I left the country on June 17th, just before the warm spell broke, though it did apparently turn fine again briefly the following week, from the 20th-22nd. That said, the first 10 days of both September 2019 and July 2017 were fairly good; in fact the best spell of July 2017 was the first 10 days.

It has been a long time since we have had a very good June - even 2018 was cloudy, if dry, for the first 20 days. I suspect that this could be the sunniest for many years, even if the last 10 days (in FI at the moment, so basically unknown what the weather will be) are cooler and more changeable.

Yes, in my lifetime (I wasn't around in 1976 for example) we haven't had a 'classic' June.  There have been good examples of classic July's, 06, 18 and August's, 95, 03, 22 for example.  Funny that we just can't seem to do so for June for some reason.

[Sun Chaser]

46 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

I left the country on June 17th, just before the warm spell broke, though it did apparently turn fine again briefly the following week, from the 20th-22nd. That said, the first 10 days of both September 2019 and July 2017 were fairly good; in fact the best spell of July 2017 was the first 10 days.

It has been a long time since we have had a very good June - even 2018 was cloudy, if dry, for the first 20 days. I suspect that this could be the sunniest for many years, even if the last 10 days (in FI at the moment, so basically unknown what the weather will be) are cooler and more changeable.

The last 10 days of June 2018 were incredible but before that yes, good but nothing special.

I'm trying to think of the last truly great June and I genuinely can't think of the last one that was properly special, 2014 2010 2006 were all good but considering how many special Julys we've had in that time (2006, 2013, 2018, 2022) we haven't had any Junes as consistently above average, warm and sunny as that to match. Last one must've been in the 90s at least, wouldn't be able to remember it. 92 or 94 maybe?

Edited June 10, 2023 by plymsunshine

[Summer8906]

7 minutes ago, plymsunshine said:

The last 10 days of June 2018 were incredible but before that yes, good but nothing special.

I'm trying to think of the last truly great June and I genuinely can't think of the last one that was properly special, 2014 2010 2006 were all good but considering how many special Julys we've had in that time (2006, 2013, 2018, 2022) we haven't had any Junes as consistently above average, warm and sunny as that to match. Last one must've been in the 90s at least, wouldn't be able to remember it. 92 or 94 maybe?

I'd say 2014, 2010, 2009, 2006, 1996, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1989, 1986 and 1984 since the start of the 80s were all distinctly good. In recent years I think 2010 and 2006 could be considered outstanding.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

11 hours ago, Optimus Prime said:

Yeah. June's for example,  at least temperature wise, were actually very decent in the 1960's, averaging 14.6; much warmer than the 1990's at 14.1 and roughly similar to the 2010's. 

Be interesting to see the rainfall and sunshine figures for that month and whether or not the decent temperatures were hampered by them. 

It looks like the Junes of 1960, 1961, 1962, 1967 and 1969 were pretty good, the others rather changeable with 1965 perhaps the poorest.

As for the summers of the 60s as a whole, it appears that coolness rather than wetness was the overarching theme, according to the MWR. June was generally the best month and August the poorest.

Also looks like the often-quoted NW-SE bias in 1968 was restricted to August; neither June nor July 1968 looked particularly special even in the north.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Summer8906

[Optimus Prime]

2 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

I'd say 2014, 2010, 2009, 2006, 1996, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1989, 1986 and 1984 since the start of the 80s were all distinctly good. In recent years I think 2010 and 2006 could be considered outstanding.

June 2010 had some memorably warm, sunny weather in the SE. This June reminds me quite a bit of it in the NW - the weather has been outstanding here since roughly April.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Optimus Prime

[Sunny76]

7 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

I'd say 2014, 2010, 2009, 2006, 1996, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1989, 1986 and 1984 since the start of the 80s were all distinctly good. In recent years I think 2010 and 2006 could be considered outstanding.

Junes of 2009 and 10 were great and the best of the summer for those years, as both years deteriorated later into summer.

1994 was decent after the cold start. The second half was hot and sunny.

1989, 90, 95 all had hot weather, but I think only 89 was good from the start of June. 
 

2003 and 06, and 18 was great in London.

5 hours ago, Optimus Prime said:

June 2010 had some memorably warm, sunny weather in the SE. This June reminds me quite a bit of it in the NW - the weather has been outstanding here since roughly April.

Yeah I remember it being warm or hot during the South Africa World Cup. Several weeks of long sunny days.

[Sunny76]

7 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

I'd say 2014, 2010, 2009, 2006, 1996, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1989, 1986 and 1984 since the start of the 80s were all distinctly good. In recent years I think 2010 and 2006 could be considered outstanding.

Yeah I forgot about 1986.

It was indeed hot during June. My school took us on a day trip to France, and it was hot from the get go, all day hot and sunny. Didn’t get back to London until 8 or 9 that night, and it was still hot.

[Summer8906]

52 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

Yeah I forgot about 1986.

It was indeed hot during June. My school took us on a day trip to France, and it was hot from the get go, all day hot and sunny. Didn’t get back to London until 8 or 9 that night, and it was still hot.

Oddly I distinctly remember the first hot day - Thursday June 12th. Remained that way for the rest of the month more or less, though I do remember the weekend of the 21st/22nd being a little cooler and oddly, given the cooler temps there was a thundery low that weekend too. I think by "hot" it was typically 28 or 29 on the hotter days, so not silly-hot, but even still, hot by 1985-88 standards.

The opposite of 1981 in many ways, in that the second half of the school summer term was hot (I remember some really hot lessons) and then come the summer holiday it never stopped raining, though thankfully we escaped to Germany for a couple of weeks. You could make a great summer out of the first half of 1986 and second half of 1981.

Also remember getting bitten by a dog on Friday 20th and needing a tetanus injection the following morning.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

53 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

Junes of 2009 and 10 were great and the best of the summer for those years, as both years deteriorated later into summer.

1994 was decent after the cold start. The second half was hot and sunny.

1989, 90, 95 all had hot weather, but I think only 89 was good from the start of June.

1995 was not unlike 2018 if I remember right. Dry but often fairly cloudy and cool until mid-month; a lot of days of Sc cover and around 6 hours of sunshine. Then a rare wet day on the 17th before the good weather began, especially from the 21st. I also do remember a surprise cool and cloudy Sat 24th in the middle of the good weather, which caught many out by surprise. It was just the one day though.

June 1990 was actually poor: cool, cloudy and dry becoming damp and Atlantic-dominated. The really good weather began about a week into July, and I remember the entire World Cup period being dull and damp. But it was the only poor month from March to September inclusive during a second mostly very good extended summer in a row.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Summer8906

[Jayson Carmichael]

It’s been the hottest June on record in 2023. Looks like becoming one of worst July’s in living memory this month. What I noticed though in the comments is nothing about the good June in 84 and especially in 88, neither of which were scorchers though but both were very  sunny and warm .

[Metwatch]

2023 perhaps? 

[Sunny76]

7 minutes ago, Metwatch said:

2023 perhaps? 

Definitely one of the worst.

 

On 28/07/2023 at 21:35, Jayson Carmichael said:

It’s been the hottest June on record in 2023. Looks like becoming one of worst July’s in living memory this month. What I noticed though in the comments is nothing about the good June in 84 and especially in 88, neither of which were scorchers though but both were very  sunny and warm .

June 88 was warm and sunny, but it was followed by a less than impressive poor July and mediocre august.

84 was a glorious summer, after the cold damp May.

[hillbilly]

On 13/08/2023 at 14:48, Metwatch said:

2023 perhaps? 

Yes 2023 despite it amazing spring/June is chasing down both 2008 and 2012  as the worst Summer in modern times and other than 2008 and 2012 i am struggling to find a worse Summer than 2023 since the 80's.

 

[Sunny76]

Just now, hillbilly said:

Yes 2023 despite it amazing spring/June is chasing down both 2008 and 2012  as the worst Summer in modern times and other than 2008 and 2012 i am struggling to find a worse Summer than 2023 since the 80's.

 

I think most of the 80s were better than summer 2023.

[Sun Chaser]

2023 outside of mid May to late June has been persistently horrible. However that 6 week period was so great that it elevates 2023 above the worst (even if I sadly couldn't enjoy it much)

[A Face like Thunder]

14 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

I think most of the 80s were better than summer 2023.

but not 1985 which was the pits in the S & W.