Hottest Heatwave of All Time Championship

[CryoraptorA303]

Welcome to the Hottest Heatwave of All Time Championship!

In this game, each member will nominate one heatwave to enter the competition. Once enough heatwaves have been added to the pot, a bracket will be randomised to decide each match. Each match will be a 1 vs 1 between two heatwaves.

Each heatwave will be judged on nine criteria:
- Total days of heatwave

- Total consecutive 30C days

- Days above 34C

- Days above 36C

- Hottest day

- Warmest night

- Average maximum temperature

- Average minimum temperature

Each heatwave will be awarded a point for each criterion it suppasses the opposing heatwave by. If a criterion is a tie, both heatwaves will be awarded a point. If neither heatwave satisfies a criterion, then both sides will not be awarded a point.

The winning heatwave will move to the next round of the championship, while the losing heatwave will be eliminated. If the final score is a tie, then a Sudden Death round will be held, and each Met Office region will present its max temperature for both heatwaves. Whichever heatwave achieved a higher maximum in the most regions will be given an extra tenth point and advance to the next round.

All temperatures will be derived from Starling's Roost Weather data, unless otherwise specified.

To qualify as a heatwave, any nominated hot spell must have achieved a temperature of 28.0C or higher for at least 3 days and must not drop below at any point. There is no lower limit for daily minima.

Any heatwave from May to September may be nominated. Heatwaves which spanned between two months (such as 1976) may be nominated as [Month 1]/[Month 2] [Year]. Years in which two temporally distinct heatwaves occured must be nominated separately, for instance June/July 2018 and late July 2018. An exception may be considered if temperatures only dropped slightly below 28.0C for a day or two, but the non-heatwave day(s) will be held against it in the averages.

The stations Camden Square, Barbourne and London Weather Centre are banned from this tournament and temperatures from these stations will not be considered. As the host I reserve the right to disqualify any temperatures I believe to not stand up to scrutiny.

All temperatures will be listed in chronological order.

With that out of the way, nominate your heatwaves!

[Summer8906]

I'll go with early Aug 2003.

[CryoraptorA303]

August 2003 has entered the competition, nominated by Summer8906!

Current entrants:

August 2003 (Summer8906)

[CryoraptorA303]

Oh, and another criterion I forgot about:

Heatwaves will also be judged on whether they broke the all-time record or not. If one heatwave did, it will be awarded a point. If both heatwaves did, the heatwave that broke the record by a larger margin will be awarded the point.

Monthly records will not be counted.

This makes an overall ten points available per match, with an eleventh point awarded in the case of Sudden Death.

[Summer of 95]

Can you link to a map clarifying what "Met office regions" means for this please? 

Edited December 4, 2023 by Summer of 95

[LetItSnow!]

I'll enter the first half of August 2020. Trevor Harley writes:

After an unsettled start, it became very hot, particularly in the southeast. There was a notable heatwave midmonth, peaking with 36.4C recorded at Heathrow on Friday 7th, the highest August reading since 2003. It was 30.1C at Kew on the 6th, then 34.5C at Herstmonceux on the 8th,  34.0C there on the 9th, 35.5C at Heathrow on the 10th, 35.7 at Heathrow on the 11th, and 35.4 at Heathrow on the 12th, giving seven consecutive days above 30C, and six above 34C. St James Park in London recorded six consecutive days over 34C. The very hot spell, mostly localised to the SE, saw five "tropical nights", with minima above 20C, making six for the year, the highest being a minimum of 22.3 on the 8th at Langdon Bay (Kent).

Edited December 4, 2023 by LetItSnow!

[CryoraptorA303]

52 minutes ago, Summer of 95 said:

Can you link to a map clarifying what "Met office regions" means for this please? 

Of course:

 

UK climate districts map

WWW.METOFFICE.GOV.UK

---

This map shows the standard areas (districts) used by the Met Office when generating climatologies.

Edited December 4, 2023 by CryoraptorA303
Jarring post merge

[CryoraptorA303]

Summer of 95 has certainly been typing for a long time... I would've thought their nomination was obvious
 

Reminder of the current entrants as the merged post was jarring:

August 2020 has entered the competition, nominated by LetItSnow!

Current entrants:
August 2003 (Summer8906)

August 2020 (LetItSnow)

Edited December 4, 2023 by CryoraptorA303

[Summer of 95]

2 minutes ago, CryoraptorA303 said:

Of course:

 

UK climate districts map

WWW.METOFFICE.GOV.UK

---

This map shows the standard areas (districts) used by the Met Office when generating climatologies.

 

Have they put the SE England/"Midlands"/"East Anglia" tripoint actually at Heathrow???? So it counts for 3 regions.... Can't decide if Skipton is NW or NE England, so let's just stick it in the Midlands as well

 I'll have to say July 2022 based on that map (Coningsby is definitely in the E and NE region on there)

[CryoraptorA303]

10 minutes ago, Summer of 95 said:

Have they put the SE England/"Midlands"/"East Anglia" tripoint actually at Heathrow???? So it counts for 3 regions.... Can't decide if Skipton is NW or NE England, so let's just stick it in the Midlands as well

 I'll have to say July 2022 based on that map (Coningsby is definitely in the E and NE region on there)

I'll count Heathrow as SE as GL is obviously SE. The surrounding Buckinghamshire will count as Midlands.

I'm pretty sure the Midlands region is based on the CET region.

I would create my own regions for this competition based on my own climate dialect regions, but I don't want to invest that much time for this to not take off. We need most if not all of the major heatwaves, plus some less major ones nominated until I can randomise a bracket and begin the tournament.

Edited December 4, 2023 by CryoraptorA303

[CryoraptorA303]

July 2022 has entered the competition, nominated by Summer of 95! Looks like someone else will have to nominate August 1995...

Current entrants:

August 2003 (Summer8906)

August 2020 (LetItSnow)

July 2022 (Summer of 95)

[daveinSB]

I'll nominate July 2013.

It might not have been the hottest, but being starved of hot, sunny, summer weather since 2006 made it feel more significant

Edited December 4, 2023 by daveinSB

[CryoraptorA303]

July 2013 has now entered the competition, nominated by daveinSB! I wasn't expecting July 2013 to be nominated before 2018 or 2006!

Current entrants:

August 2003 (Summer8906)

August 2020 (LetItSnow)

July 2022 (Summer of 95)

July 2013 (daveinSB)

[Capser]

This sounds like a fun idea, I'll go with late July 1990.

[Row w]

I'll join the fun  and nominate July 2022

[CryoraptorA303]

Just now, Row w said:

I'll join the fun  and nominate July 2022

Already nominated by Summer of 95, sorry

[Row w]

Just now, CryoraptorA303 said:

Already nominated by Summer of 95, sorry

Oh my bad, didn't realise its one vote per year 

[CryoraptorA303]

Just now, Row w said:

Oh my bad, didn't realise its one vote per year 

No problem There's a lot of others to be nominated yet anyhow!

[Row w]

I'm going to go for July 2006

[CryoraptorA303]

July 2006 has entered the competition, nominated by Row w!

Current entrants:

August 2003 (Summer8906)

August 2020 (LetItSnow)

July 2022 (Summer of 95)

July 2013 (daveinSB)

July 2006 (Row w)

[matty40s]

July 2021, stuck on the River Nene and learnt to paddleboard in a week.

[CryoraptorA303]

July 2021 has entered the competition, nominated by matty40s!

 

Current entrants:

August 2003 (Summer8906)

August 2020 (LetItSnow)

July 2022 (Summer of 95)

July 2013 (daveinSB)

July 2006 (Row w)

July 2021 (matty40s)

[Metwatch]

My entry: June - July 1976, 15 consecutive days from 23 June to 7 July temperatures reached 32.2 °C (90 °F) somewhere in England!

Some info on UK heat here: https://www.trevorharley.com/hottest-day-of-each-year-from-1875.html

 

[CryoraptorA303]

June/July 1976 has entered the competition, nominated by Metwatch! It was only a matter of time until 1976 was nominated; I wonder if it could be a finalist?

Current entrants:

August 2003 (Summer8906)

August 2020 (LetItSnow)

July 2022 (Summer of 95)

July 2013 (daveinSB)

July 2006 (Row w)

July 2021 (matty40s)

June/July 1976 (Metwatch)

[CryoraptorA303]

We now have at least one entry from each true summer month! I wonder when we'll see the first non-summer entry...