Summer 1997

[Philipsfd]

How would you describe the summer of 1997 both as a whole and the 3 months in detail, and how does it compare with similarly-rated summers of that era like 94, 96, 98 and 99?

 

I can remember a lot of rain in June after a warm and sunny start; not many memories of July apart from a couple of pleasant days later in the month; August often gets the biggest write-up because of the heat, however, I don't remember it being an outstanding month - I can remember quite a few overcast days, rather than it being a 'sunfest' month like August 95, July 06, 13 & 18. Even July 99 seemed to be sunnier than August 97, and the maximum temperature for the month wasn't particularly high.

 

Also, what was the summer like for thunder? I've heard August described as a tropical month, but did it produce thundery activity on the scale of the Augusts of 94, 99, 04 and June of this year?

Edited July 24, 2023 by Philipsfd

[cheeky_monkey]

all i remember is my oldest son was born on 24th August 1997..August was hot and sticky up until then ..cooler in the last week 

[mr.splinter]

My weather memories of summer 97 are a warm start to June then downhill all the way. I went to Glastonbury and the first day was exceptionally cold and wet for June, something like 13c max. I think there was some heavy rain overnight but the rest of the festival was pretty dry, cloudy and very muddy. Don't remember July but think it was pretty warm. I thought August was tropical as much for the heat and humidity, as well as some storms. Wasn't it something like the second hottest on record at the time?  I remember it being very warm and cloudy.

[Don]

Main stand out memory of summer 1997 is the hot August.

[MP-R]

Being very young at the time, my memory is sketchy. First half of June didn't seem that bad, often warm and sunny but there were thunderstorms around the 08th. A dire second half to the month. July a much better month, with a thunderstorm on the 09th during a very warm humid spell, and I distinctly remember the Fairford air show being hot and sunny that year, as well as my birthday (23rd). I was on holiday from the 24th July to 07th August, but remember August being hot and dry for the first two weeks back, then a positively monsoonal last ten days with frequent torrential rain. The lion's share of August's rain would've come in that final third of the month.

[Sunny76]

Not the best, but not the poorest one either.

I was living in south london then. It was a muggy summer at times with storms, but also on the cool side. 
 

I remember September being warm and sunny that year, and this song was played often back then.

 

[mr.splinter]

On 24/07/2023 at 23:08, Don said:

Main stand out memory of summer 1997 is the hot August.

Just checked and it remains the 2nd hottest August on record in Central England and had the highest minima. Only July 1983, August 1995, July 2006 and July 2018 have been warmer months.

[SummerShower]

I remember June 97 as starting off quite nice but it gradually deteriorated into awfulness.  It was a bit like June 2019 in reverse.  I'm sure there was a Thursday and Friday that it rained non stop for 48h with low teens max and strong northerlies.  There was some thunder though.

July was actually quite nice.  The first few days were cool and unsettled, as was the 14th to about the 17th.  The rest was warm and sunny but without it being overly hot.  We had a good storm on the evening of the 8th despite there being a 1030mb high overhead at the time.

August, was one of my biggest weather regrets.  I was in florida from 7th to 21st so missed out on the heat and humidity.  I am not sure how many storms there were in our area but I know some areas of the SE were hammered around the 12th/13th.  It was very humid when we got back though and the last week was quite wet.

So a mixed summer, but thunder seemed to be more frequent back then.

 

[Sunny76]

Watching Event Horizon at the cinema. 
 

26 minutes ago, mr.splinter said:

Just checked and it remains the 2nd hottest August on record in Central England and had the highest minima. Only July 1983, August 1995, July 2006 and July 2018 have been warmer months.

I think august 95 was nicer. 97 was a bit on the humid side and cloudy at times. It did have a period of hot dry sunny weather though.

[Don]

20 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

Watching Event Horizon at the cinema. 
 

I think august 95 was nicer. 97 was a bit on the humid side and cloudy at times. It did have a period of hot dry sunny weather though.

Oh definitely!

[cheeky_monkey]

34 minutes ago, SummerShower said:

.  I was in florida from 7th to 21st so missed out on the heat and humidity

 

Not sure how being in Florida you missed out on the heat and humidity ..would have been hotter and more humid in Florida than the UK regardless

[B87]

Don't remember June but the stats show it was a cool, dull month. July was around average and August was warm and very thundery, especially in the first half.

[cheeky_monkey]

13 hours ago, B87 said:

Don't remember June but the stats show it was a cool, dull month. July was around average and August was warm and very thundery, especially in the first half.

warm? at the time it was the second hottest on record 

[B87]

5 minutes ago, cheeky_monkey said:

warm? at the time it was the second hottest on record 

Yes, mostly because it had the warmest average minima of any month here. The days weren't usually hot (it didn't reach 32c here), it was just consistently warm.

It was also a cloudy month with lots of thunderstorms.

Edited July 28, 2023 by B87

[cheeky_monkey]

2 minutes ago, B87 said:

Yes, mostly because it had the warmest average minima of any month here. The days weren't usually hot (it didn't reach 32c here), it was just consistently warm.

It was also a cloudy month with lots of thunderstorms.

as i said i remember Aug 1997 very well it was defiently a hot sticky month

[B87]

6 minutes ago, cheeky_monkey said:

as i said i remember Aug 1997 very well it was defiently a hot sticky month

The average max here was 25.8c, with very few days above 30c. It was consistently warm rather than hot (similar to July 2014).

[Sunny76]

2 hours ago, B87 said:

Yes, mostly because it had the warmest average minima of any month here. The days weren't usually hot (it didn't reach 32c here), it was just consistently warm.

It was also a cloudy month with lots of thunderstorms.

Yeah, I didn’t rate august 97. Was cloudy on lots of days. 
 

 

[Sunny76]

2 hours ago, B87 said:

The average max here was 25.8c, with very few days above 30c. It was consistently warm rather than hot (similar to July 2014).

Yeah, I don’t think it’s a memorable one. Was humid and thundery, but not what I call a decent hot sunny month.

Another El Niño summer, and they seem to be crap.

[markyo]

7 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

Yeah, I didn’t rate august 97. Was cloudy on lots of days. 
 

 

Just a question, there's no doubt you do remember a August weather wise from 25 years ago, that is obvious, does this memory stretch to other events and can you pin events to years as clearly you can with weather? Certainly a gift you have.

[Sunny76]

13 minutes ago, markyo said:

Just a question, there's no doubt you do remember a August weather wise from 25 years ago, that is obvious, does this memory stretch to other events and can you pin events to years as clearly you can with weather? Certainly a gift you have.

It tends to be weather, but I do remember holidays and certain social events.

I wish I could apply it to my everyday work environment, because I can’t seem to multitask lol. 

I won’t remember everything, and some years, especially some 2000s and 10s years I have completely forgotten. 

15 minutes ago, markyo said:

Just a question, there's no doubt you do remember a August weather wise from 25 years ago, that is obvious, does this memory stretch to other events and can you pin events to years as clearly you can with weather? Certainly a gift you have.

You pulled me up on this because I remember Christmas Day 1987 a while back lol.

[markyo]

14 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

It tends to be weather, but I do remember holidays and certain social events.

I wish I could apply it to my everyday work environment, because I can’t seem to multitask lol. 

I won’t remember everything, and some years, especially some 2000s and 10s years I have completely forgotten. 

You pulled me up on this because I remember Christmas Day 1987 a while back lol.

You have a real gift mate....i forgot i'd asked you before!!! Its fascinating, i can multitask,, i enjoy it but my memory is a tiny fraction of your ability. Just wish i could. Must come in handy sometimes!

[cheeky_monkey]

3 hours ago, markyo said:

You have a real gift mate....i forgot i'd asked you before!!! Its fascinating, i can multitask,, i enjoy it but my memory is a tiny fraction of your ability. Just wish i could. Must come in handy sometimes!

you want to try people with hyperthymesia. These people can remember every single day of their life from a certain age say about 10 years old in great detail..imagine that ..there are only 62 people in the world who have this condition

[Sunny76]

19 hours ago, markyo said:

You have a real gift mate....i forgot i'd asked you before!!! Its fascinating, i can multitask,, i enjoy it but my memory is a tiny fraction of your ability. Just wish i could. Must come in handy sometimes!

Hmm. 
 

I think multitasking is a better gift, as it gives you the advantage of being able to prioritise.

Sitting around remembering something from 36 years ago doesn’t really help me much lol.

It probably means I’m good with memorising things, so should put it to better use.

15 hours ago, cheeky_monkey said:

you want to try people with hyperthymesia. These people can remember every single day of their life from a certain age say about 10 years old in great detail..imagine that ..there are only 62 people in the world who have this condition

Oh I heard about this

Some woman has memories going all the way back to 1980. 

[markyo]

10 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

Some woman has memories going all the way back to 1980. 

I find ALL women have total recall of every tiny little thing you do wrong going back decades and decades!

[Sunny76]

3 hours ago, markyo said:

I find ALL women have total recall of every tiny little thing you do wrong going back decades and decades!

Not my cousin. She can barely remember things from a couple of months ago lol.