Long sunny periods

[baddie]

This is a thread to discuss lengthy periods of unbroken sunshine

Examples are :
January, March, August and October 2022

January : Several long periods of wall-to-wall sunshine, notably the 17th-22nd (40 hours)
March : 12 days of almost unbroken sunshine, which is exceptional for March. This was between the 17th-28th
August : 11 consecutive days of sunshine with each of them recording at least 10 hours, and 5 of them (9th-13th, managed 13 hours (Unusual for August). This sunny peirod was between the 4th-14th
October : 12 days where there was plenty of sunshine each day, with 7 of them seeing completely unbroken sunshine. Extraordinary for October
 

[BruenSryan]

The king is late June/early July 2018.

Morecambe Bay had 113.7 hrs of sunshine from 29th June-5th July 2018 which is a UK record for any 7-day period. 

Dublin Airport (my closest official station) wasn't too far off with 107.4 hrs from 28th June-4th July 2018 which is probably an Ireland record.

Other very sunny 7-day periods for my locale:

23rd-29th June 1995 104.6 hrs

15th-21st June 1957 101.8 hrs

4th-10th June 2013 101.4 hrs

18th-24th June 1949 101.3 hrs

16th-22nd July 2021 99.3 hrs

29th May-4th June 2009 99.2 hrs

27th May-2nd June 2020 96.5 hrs

13th-19th July 2006 95.7 hrs

7th-13th August 2022 95.1 hrs

29th May-4th June 2006 92.1 hrs

29th May-4th June 2016 92.0 hrs

22nd-28th May 2012 88.1 hrs

6th-12th July 2013 88.0 hrs

27th April-3rd May 2007 81.8 hrs

3rd-9th June 2018 81.2 hrs

21st-27th May 2010 81.0 hrs

27th April-3rd May 2011 80.3 hrs

I had 14 consecutive days of 11 hrs+ from 21st June-4th July 2018. Had 14 consecutive days of 10 hrs+ from 14th-27th August 1976.

[A Face like Thunder]

April 2020, the first period of lockdown, comes to mind. Being able to sit outside and walk in the sun was our saviour.

March / April 2003 (I think it was 2003). We had our back lawn laid then and we ended up having to water it constantly because of the sun and lack of rainfall. 

1976 - most of the time between May and September.

[Sun Chaser]

(all stats from my old location in Plymouth)

For the West this year we had an incredible spell. Plymouth for May 17th - June 15th recorded 311.8 hrs which is a 30-day record by a mile! Of course I appreciate for most of the country this wasn't the case.

Some other ones that were more widespread:

Late March - early June 2020 had practically unbroken sunshine, possibly the best recent example. In Plymouth May 5th - June 3rd 2020 recorded 302.0 hrs the only recent 30-day period that was so sunny across the whole country. March 25th - April 23rd 2020 recorded 234.6 hrs which must be a record for so early in the year. Late May in particular, not a cloud in sight I think!

July 2013. Basically unbroken sunshine from the 5th to the 20th. Looking at the stats June 2013 also had an exceptionally sunny first 9 days recording 102 hrs! Before the rest of the month only recorded 51

Late June 2018, probably my favourite example. From the 21st until the end, 123.3 hrs were recorded in just 10 days. All days recorded above 11.5hrs of sunshine and were above 25C. What a spell that was!

Aug 2022: I missed almost the whole thing as I was out of the country but it looks impressive being our only recent sunny spell in August. 111.7hrs in 10 days during a historical heatwave where Plymouth set its record August temperature.

[reef]

The rolling 12 month period May 2018 - April 2019 by far. We had 1987 hours of sunshine in that period - by far the most of any rolling year on record. All 12 months had more sunshine than the 1991-2020 average.

It was then almost matched by the calendar year of 2022 which saw 1921 hours, by far the highest annual total.

2018, 2019 and 2022 were very sunny years here. All in the top 6 sunniest in the last 43 years. 2022 in particular had more than 150 hours here than well known sunny years such as 1989 and 1995.

[Scorcher]

May 2018 was hugely impressive here with a number of days of unbroken sunshine across the month and locally it was better than May 2020 too overall.

The last few days of May 2020 were fantastic too- almost unbroken sunshine for 5 consecutive days.

[Weather Enthusiast91]

December 2022 - cold and sunny up until around the 18th.

September 2020 - sunny and warm up until the equinox.

July and August 2022 - a classic summer and the best one since 2018.

Spring 2020 - perfectly coincided with the lockdown which I found frustrating at times.

May 2018 - a pleasantly warm and sunny May.

March 2012 - a calm before the storm kind of month. We all know how spring and summer went after that.

August 1995 - very young at the time so don't have any memory of it, but it's well known that it was a classic summer month.

Summer 1976 - another classic summer and frequently talked about.

Winter 2001/02 - all 3 winter months were sunnier than average.

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by Weather Enthusiast91

[Squally77]

Going back a fair bit, and I don't have the exact figures on this, but I believe the period May 9th to the 19th 1980 was an exceptionally sunny period.

 

[A Face like Thunder]

12 hours ago, Squally77 said:

Going back a fair bit, and I don't have the exact figures on this, but I believe the period May 9th to the 19th 1980 was an exceptionally sunny period.

 

I'm sure you are right on this one. I think summer 1980 began and ended on 1st June when there was a heavy overnight rainstorm in Hampshire where we were camping The rain then moved north and there was flooding at Darwen and NE Scotland on the 5th.

Spring Bank Holiday week 1978 - the year as a whole doesn't always get a good press, but that week, we had wall-to-wall sunshine in the SE of England.

[Squally77]

Just now, A Face like Thunder said:

I'm sure you are right on this one. I think summer 1980 began and ended on 1st June when there was a heavy overnight rainstorm in Hampshire where we were camping The rain then moved north and there was flooding at Darwen and NE Scotland on the 5th.

Spring Bank Holiday week 1978 - the year as a whole doesn't always get a good press, but that week, we had wall-to-wall sunshine in the SE of England.

Yes, although there was a brief heatwave between June 3rd and 5th before violent thunderstorms broke out across the North. After that, it was downhill from there for the Summer of 1980.

[Harry233]

Some that stick out for me:

August 2022 - First half was especially sunny.

March 2022 - Pretty much unbroken sunshine between the 18th-29th.

August 2021 - Unbroken sunshine here 22nd-30th

July 2021 (14th-26th)

April 2021 - Exceptionally cold nights but there was plenty of sunshine during the day. I can only think of three days the whole month with no sun.

September 2020 - (15th-29th)

April/May 2020 - Virtually the whole of those two months were constantly sunny. 

February 2019 - (22nd-28th)

May-July 2018 - Say no more, absolutely glorious spell.

April-May 2017 - (29th April-12th May, constant sunshine)

April 2015 - (5th-25th)

July 2013 (4th-23rd)

March 2012 (25th-31st)

There will be more but for me in most recent times they stick out. I’ve been very lucky I feel

 

 

On 08/10/2023 at 12:36, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

December 2022 - cold and sunny up until around the 18th.

September 2020 - sunny and warm up until the equinox.

July and August 2022 - a classic summer and the best one since 2018.

Spring 2020 - perfectly coincided with the lockdown which I found frustrating at times.

May 2018 - a pleasantly warm and sunny May.

March 2012 - a calm before the storm kind of month. We all know how spring and summer went after that.

August 1995 - very young at the time so don't have any memory of it, but it's well known that it was a classic summer month.

Summer 1976 - another classic summer and frequently talked about.

Winter 2001/02 - all 3 winter months were sunnier than average.

 

Summer 2022 was is slightly underrated I feel. Was a glorious summer not far behind 2018.