Cool / Cold Ends to August

[MP-R]

It's been ages since I started a thread, but someone's comment in another thread today made me think... The tail end of August is often on the chilly side for summer, regardless of how the August has performed overall. Here are some recent examples since I started taking weather records, but I'd also be interested to hear accounts of pre-2000 years too.

2021: perhaps the oddest example, as this should've delivered much better conditions than it did, but after a string of warm sunny days further west, Bank Holiday Monday was chilly and grey with a nagging breeze.

2020: bright but chilly by night northerly following a clearing thundery low to the east, ahead of a collapsing high to the west.

2015: the main thrust of this particular cool showery spell was actually into September, but the closing days of August were also cool.

2012: a cool northwesterly ushered into colder air following a thundery day on the 29th, and what would be my coldest August minimum every recorded on the 31st.

2011: cool and showery to start then drier for the actual Bank Holiday.

2010: a cool but settled end to the month with chilly nights.

2009: a particularly autumnal day with strong chilly winds and a thunderstorm.

2006: cool and showery, although it did warm up again on the 31st.

2004: a fashionably cool cloudy Bank Holiday; the 31st dawned chilly but was then a very pleasantly warm sunny day.

2003: an unusual synoptic for the end of August, even more so this August which had been record-breakingly hot earlier on, and warm thereafter.

2001: cool and showery, setting the tone for a September of frequent northerly and northwesterly winds.

 

Any more memories or stats from years prior I'd love to hear!

[cheeky_monkey]

August 1978 hazy childhood memories of some early frosts that year ..was a forestate of what was to come in the winter.

[damianslaw]

Late August 95 deteriorated rapidly after an exceptional summer, setting up a very wet September..It wasn't especially cold though.

My memories of going back to school often of warm sunny fine days. 

[Harry's House]

On 31/08/2023 at 23:08, damianslaw said:

Late August 95 deteriorated rapidly after an exceptional summer, setting up a very wet September..It wasn't especially cold though.

My memories of going back to school often of warm sunny fine days. 

I ran the Exmouth half marathon on 27th of that month. It was a relief to run in cooler fresher conditions, but the strong wind blowing down the River Exe from a NW'ly direction was a definite hindrance to the running.

[cheese]

I do remember my old PWS recording a low of something like 3.8C on the final day of August 2012, waking up to such a cold morning in August was an unusual experience. Haven’t come close to anything that cold in August since.

Edited September 2, 2023 by cheese

[Scorcher]

On 28/08/2023 at 19:44, MP-R said:

It's been ages since I started a thread, but someone's comment in another thread today made me think... The tail end of August is often on the chilly side for summer, regardless of how the August has performed overall. Here are some recent examples since I started taking weather records, but I'd also be interested to hear accounts of pre-2000 years too.

2021: perhaps the oddest example, as this should've delivered much better conditions than it did, but after a string of warm sunny days further west, Bank Holiday Monday was chilly and grey with a nagging breeze.

2020: bright but chilly by night northerly following a clearing thundery low to the east, ahead of a collapsing high to the west.

2015: the main thrust of this particular cool showery spell was actually into September, but the closing days of August were also cool.

2012: a cool northwesterly ushered into colder air following a thundery day on the 29th, and what would be my coldest August minimum every recorded on the 31st.

2011: cool and showery to start then drier for the actual Bank Holiday.

2010: a cool but settled end to the month with chilly nights.

2009: a particularly autumnal day with strong chilly winds and a thunderstorm.

2006: cool and showery, although it did warm up again on the 31st.

2004: a fashionably cool cloudy Bank Holiday; the 31st dawned chilly but was then a very pleasantly warm sunny day.

2003: an unusual synoptic for the end of August, even more so this August which had been record-breakingly hot earlier on, and warm thereafter.

2001: cool and showery, setting the tone for a September of frequent northerly and northwesterly winds.

 

Any more memories or stats from years prior I'd love to hear!

2018 is another after a very warm summer- very cool last few days in these parts. 

It is bizarre how often the last few days of August seem to be chilly- only for things to warm up again once September starts.

 

 

[North-Easterly Blast]

You are dead right there.  I cannot think of a year from memory in the last 30 odd years that had a notable warm / hot spell in late August (around the last week of the month), despite a number of years in that time having a notable warm spell in the first week or so of September.  Even August 1995's heat fizzled out in the last week of the month, as did August 1997, and August 2003 became cool in the final week of the month.  We seem to have had so many early September warm spells, but we do not seem to be able to achieve a warm spell in the final week of August.

[Don]

22 minutes ago, North-Easterly Blast said:

You are dead right there.  I cannot think of a year from memory in the last 30 odd years that had a notable warm / hot spell in late August (around the last week of the month), despite a number of years in that time having a notable warm spell in the first week or so of September.  Even August 1995's heat fizzled out in the last week of the month, as did August 1997, and August 2003 became cool in the final week of the month.  We seem to have had so many early September warm spells, but we do not seem to be able to achieve a warm spell in the final week of August.

Wasn't the August Bank Holiday 2019 the warmest on record?

[cheese]

46 minutes ago, North-Easterly Blast said:

You are dead right there.  I cannot think of a year from memory in the last 30 odd years that had a notable warm / hot spell in late August (around the last week of the month), despite a number of years in that time having a notable warm spell in the first week or so of September.  Even August 1995's heat fizzled out in the last week of the month, as did August 1997, and August 2003 became cool in the final week of the month.  We seem to have had so many early September warm spells, but we do not seem to be able to achieve a warm spell in the final week of August.

August 2019. Widespread low 30s over the summer bank holiday weekend. Here in Leeds we had a high of 30.8C on the 25th and 30.1C on the 26th.

Edited September 9, 2023 by cheese

[Scorcher]

7 hours ago, North-Easterly Blast said:

You are dead right there.  I cannot think of a year from memory in the last 30 odd years that had a notable warm / hot spell in late August (around the last week of the month), despite a number of years in that time having a notable warm spell in the first week or so of September.  Even August 1995's heat fizzled out in the last week of the month, as did August 1997, and August 2003 became cool in the final week of the month.  We seem to have had so many early September warm spells, but we do not seem to be able to achieve a warm spell in the final week of August.

2019 was an obvious one- but it's the only one I can think of. Going back through the records I couldn't find another example of that sort of heat in the last few days of the month.

[Sun Chaser]

7 hours ago, Don said:

Wasn't the August Bank Holiday 2019 the warmest on record?

Even that cooled down significantly by the 27th and the month ended on a cool note. The same with the brief hot spell in 2017

Have there been any spells of at least 27c+ recorded this century in the last 4 days of August? I know Aug 2013/2016/2022 ended fairly warm but not hot by any stretch.

[cheese]

August 1991 kind of fits the bill. Here we had highs above 25C for the final 3 days of the month, so I’m sure in London it was 27C+.

August 1990 had a warn final 10 days.

Edited September 10, 2023 by cheese

[Scorcher]

1 hour ago, plymsunshine said:

Even that cooled down significantly by the 27th and the month ended on a cool note. The same with the brief hot spell in 2017

Not massively so though- there were two wetter days here on the 28th and 31st that saw slightly suppressed temps, but it was fairly warm otherwise.

[MP-R]

9 hours ago, North-Easterly Blast said:

You are dead right there.  I cannot think of a year from memory in the last 30 odd years that had a notable warm / hot spell in late August (around the last week of the month), despite a number of years in that time having a notable warm spell in the first week or so of September.  Even August 1995's heat fizzled out in the last week of the month, as did August 1997, and August 2003 became cool in the final week of the month.  We seem to have had so many early September warm spells, but we do not seem to be able to achieve a warm spell in the final week of August.

Obviously there are examples of warm ends to august like 2019, 2017, 2013, 2005 etc but they’re certainly outnumbered. 2019 and 2017 for example brought the hottest weather if the month, and I think august 31st 2005 was the hottest day of that month.

[Harry233]

2020 - Probably the worst august weather I’ve seen and that’s saying something cause august is usually pretty poor here Must’ve been at least 4-5 days of solid rain and maximum temperatures around 13/14.C.

2018 - On the 25th the minimum was 3.4.C, coldest August night I’ve recorded locally and probably the coldest since 1986. A maximum of just 12.C on the 26th.

2012 - A minimum of 3.9.C on the 31st. 

2003 - A cool last week after it being very warm for the rest of the month.

On 28/08/2023 at 19:44, MP-R said:

It's been ages since I started a thread, but someone's comment in another thread today made me think... The tail end of August is often on the chilly side for summer, regardless of how the August has performed overall. Here are some recent examples since I started taking weather records, but I'd also be interested to hear accounts of pre-2000 years too.

2021: perhaps the oddest example, as this should've delivered much better conditions than it did, but after a string of warm sunny days further west, Bank Holiday Monday was chilly and grey with a nagging breeze.

2020: bright but chilly by night northerly following a clearing thundery low to the east, ahead of a collapsing high to the west.

2015: the main thrust of this particular cool showery spell was actually into September, but the closing days of August were also cool.

2012: a cool northwesterly ushered into colder air following a thundery day on the 29th, and what would be my coldest August minimum every recorded on the 31st.

2011: cool and showery to start then drier for the actual Bank Holiday.

2010: a cool but settled end to the month with chilly nights.

2009: a particularly autumnal day with strong chilly winds and a thunderstorm.

2006: cool and showery, although it did warm up again on the 31st.

2004: a fashionably cool cloudy Bank Holiday; the 31st dawned chilly but was then a very pleasantly warm sunny day.

2003: an unusual synoptic for the end of August, even more so this August which had been record-breakingly hot earlier on, and warm thereafter.

2001: cool and showery, setting the tone for a September of frequent northerly and northwesterly winds.

 

Any more memories or stats from years prior I'd love to hear!

The last week of august 2021 had to be some of the best late august weather I’d seen. In central Scotland it was absolutely glorious. Mid 20’s not a cloud in the sky and a nice gentle breeze. Amazing how further south and east it was terrible.

[Don]

6 hours ago, cheese said:

August 1990 had a warn final 10 days.

Had a warn for what in the last 10 days?

[Sun Chaser]

11 hours ago, Harry233 said:

The last week of august 2021 had to be some of the best late august weather I’d seen. In central Scotland it was absolutely glorious. Mid 20’s not a cloud in the sky and a nice gentle breeze. Amazing how further south and east it was terrible.

August 2021 had a nice period here from the 21st-29th, not quite clear blue skies but a good mostly sunny and dry spell with 23-24c every day. On the 30th it suddenly turned very cool and remained so until we suddenly broke the September heat record out of nowhere the following week (until it was broken again this year)

Interesting it was so nice in Scotland though, I had no idea. It was a very odd omega blocking high that trapped a lot of cloud but it was centred in the north of the UK which must have given you better weather.

[Harry233]

On 10/09/2023 at 21:58, Sun Chaser said:

August 2021 had a nice period here from the 21st-29th, not quite clear blue skies but a good mostly sunny and dry spell with 23-24c every day. On the 30th it suddenly turned very cool and remained so until we suddenly broke the September heat record out of nowhere the following week (until it was broken again this year)

Interesting it was so nice in Scotland though, I had no idea. It was a very odd omega blocking high that trapped a lot of cloud but it was centred in the north of the UK which must have given you better weather.

Summer 2021 I think across the west of Scotland anyway was the hottest summer on record. Further east it was still warmer than average but it was quite a easterly summer I remember so it would’ve been at times foggy and cool on the east coast, particularly in July. For me locally the summers of 2003, 2006, 2013, 2018 and 2022 were all warmer than 2021. It was more a summer of slightly warmer than average temperatures all the time rather than any prolonged very hot weather. The middle of July and end of august had some hot weather but aside from that it was just warm and sunny.

 

 

 

[Summer8906]

Another hot spell in late August (and I agree they are rare) was in 2001, but not quite at the end of the month. The 23rd was warm, humid, cloudy and thundery and then the 24th and 25th hot and sunny (possibly up to around 32 though may have misremembered this), with the latter day featuring a spectacular Cb over (IIRC) East Anglia that was so large it could be seen from the South Downs near Petersfield.

The 26th, however, brought prolonged thundery rain and the rest of the month wasn't especially warm, though the 27th-29th were sunny with average daytime temps and cool nights.

 

Edited September 30, 2023 by Summer8906

[baddie]

August 2005 had 30c on the last day