Weather highlights of 2023?

[Weather-history]

What have been your weather highlights of 2023?

For me, the standout weather event for my area was the explosive thunderstorm development of the late afternoon of 12th June 2023.  Tremendous thunderstorm.

 

The next was the morning of the 29th November and the rare optical phenomena that I witnessed. 

 

The summer spells of late May into June and early September were other highlights.

Edited December 18, 2023 by Weather-history

[SunSean]

Great pictures!

My favourite parts were the first 2 thirds of February, with all those crisp sunny days, late May & June's sunshine and the early September & October warm spells.

[LetItSnow!]

Highlights of 2023 for me...

The period around January 20th, 2023 brought unusually severe frosts with a thick rime on everything. I think the temperature got down to around -7C in some places. I could be wrong but I remember someone posting that local areas in the SE had had their coldest January temperatures since 1987. Bizzare as the preceding days had been rather cold on a northerly but with no snow and uppers were relatively modest. Goes to show that very cold weather under high pressure doesn't take a lot.

February 2023 was notable for its very sunny, mild and dry weather - March 2023 was notable for the complete opposite, copious amounts of rainfall. The entire spring up to mid-May was very wet here. We had a sequence of 3 days in a row with thunderstorms around May 10th, 2023 which is something I haven't seen for many years.

June 2023 for its persistent warmth, which felt like a proper month due to no heatspikes, just sustained well-above normal temperatures. If that had occurred last year the summer of 2022 would have been an all-timer, no doubt.

I think the most notable event though obviously is the September heatwave which set the standard for all September heatwaves going forward!

Not local but the extreme rainfall in October in an overall very wet autumn was notable with extreme flooding in places.

I wonder if 2024 will tone down our weather and we'll have something a bit more standard or will it follow in the footsteps of 2022 and 2023 and bring more extremes. I never thought that we'd challenge the hottest year ever recorded two years in a row. It's absolutely shocking that 2023 is set to be the second warmest year on record behind 2022. If we challenge or beat the record in 2024, we know the scale has tipped!

[damianslaw]

Easy, December 2nd and the surprise foot of snow! Equivalent I guess to Storm Arwen and the snow in its aftermath leading into mild in Dec..

First half of June was excellent, also first 10 days of Sept.

Enjoyed the snowy polar blasts in early-mid March.

Apart from the third week of Jan, rest of Jan and Feb a snooze fest. April also. May turned out very good.

Worst months July by far!, August and October.

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by damianslaw

[Weather Enthusiast91]

I will forever remember 2023 as being a year with the right setups but at the wrong times.

 

The weather in February should have happened in March.

The weather in March should have happened in February.

The weather in April should have happened in November.

The weather in May should have happened in September.

The weather in July should have happened in October.

The weather in August should have happened in September.

The weather in September should have happened in July.

The weather in October should have happened in May.

The weather in December should have happened in November.

 

[LetItSnow!]

20 minutes ago, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

I will forever remember 2023 as being a year with the right setups but at the wrong times.

 

The weather in February should have happened in March.

The weather in March should have happened in February.

The weather in April should have happened in November.

The weather in May should have happened in September.

The weather in July should have happened in October.

The weather in August should have happened in September.

The weather in September should have happened in July.

The weather in October should have happened in May.

The weather in December should have happened in November.

 

March's synoptics in February probablt would have given quite the snowy and cold February to northern England and would have probably made for a decent winter there overall.

Likewise, February's synoptics would have been more conducive for some pleasant warmth with March's stronger sun and I think we would have had a shot at the low 20sC at least. A sort-of-ish winter wonderland February followed by a very sunny, dry and warm March.

April unchanged. May would have seen a hot start with temperatures up to 29C/30C but then low pressure dominated afterward, but the lows probably would be more shallow since its May so a lot of thundery potential there. A very wet but warm and thundery May for the storm lovers. June unchanged obviously.

After the warm and thundery May and a June to remember, an all time heatwave! Already hot uppers would have probably been a little hotter since its peak summer and obviously peak solar input, so this would probably give six consecutive days at least over 35C, maybe over 36-37C. The heatwave tops out somewhere around 38C-41C. The rest of the month not as hot but with further hot spells mid month and at the end. Beating the previous hottest month July 2006 by a couple tenths of a degree coming close to the 20C mark for the first time. August unchanged. Very much a hotter version of the summer of 2006 in this regard. The August/September switch up wouldn't have changed much due to it only being a month later.

October would have been just thoroughly wet and mild, no Indian summer and no early frost, just lots of near normal temperatures and copious rainfal. Given July was so wet as is, the added power of the extra oomphs in the lows may have given an even wetter October than we actually had! Maybe an October 1903 situation.

The November/December switch wouldn't have changed much except the cold spell at the end would have had much more oomph and delivered more in the way of substantial snow and cold temperatures perhaps.

What the C.E.T. may have looked like

5.2 5.0 8.4 8.7 13.1 17.0 19.8 16.4 14.1 10.5 8.0 5.2

Now that would be a year worthy of matching or beating 2022! I wonder if the summer of 2023 would have exceeded the summer of 2022 had that occured. It would be ascertained on comparing June 2022 to August 2023 and which month was less poor. 

[Summer18]

The early September heatwave, I timed it perfectly with a week off work, so welcome after a horrid July.

The snowfall in early March was memorable, we had snow falling for 5 days straight, peaking on the Friday which gave a good dumping. 

June was memorable but has been soured somewhat by how poor July was. 

[Alderc 2.0]

The only notable weather I experienced this year was the September heatwave, probably some of the most humid conditions I can remember in this country.

2023 has really been devoid over anything interesting but more loaded with the depressing. 

- One of the wettest March’s on record 

- One of the wettest March/April combinations on record

- A July and August completely absent of any warmth, no 25C days locally at all. 

- A July and August that barely scraped 300hrs sunshine

- Only one half decent summer storm

 

[Andy Bown]

Two very rare incidents stand out in my mind…

1.Witnessing locals ice skating on a frozen flood in a local field in January.

2.The closest lightning strike of my life on the afternoon of Friday 25th August.

[MP-R]

On 18/12/2023 at 07:11, SunSean said:

Great pictures!

My favourite parts were the first 2 thirds of February, with all those crisp sunny days, late May & June's sunshine and the early September & October warm spells.

My highlights pretty much echo this. The January spell was also notable but I was in Spain for all of it. I was also away for half of the September heatwave and missed a cracking storm on the 10th!

One other highlight, undeserving of July, was a very heavy thunderstorm on the 09th which brought the highest rainfall rate of the year.

6 hours ago, Andy Bown said:

Two very rare incidents stand out in my mind…

1.Witnessing locals ice skating on a frozen flood in a local field in January.

2.The closest lightning strike of my life on the afternoon of Friday 25th August.

1. Interesting… the last time I saw that was early January 2003 after the very wet end to that December.

2. Got woken up by thunder and lightning later that night too.

 

Aside from the above, the snow on 08th March was nice to witness. The only aspect of that month that wasn’t like a typical November.

[Wynn D Woo]

A pretty rubbish year overall with the only real highlight the early September heatwave. I really hope the UK climate isnt shifting to this cloud ridden dirge as default and 8 months of autumn...

[Metwatch]

Would have to agree with Kevin that June was the best month with the warmth, and especially the mid month thunderstorm outbreak. Following a lack of a convective activity in the spring and summers of 2021 and 2022, this year felt like I was taken back to the thundery June of 2020.

Some other special mentions include the storms in May with a dangerous close call as a strike lands within 400m:

 

The September heatwave was nice, giving some lovely sunsets, then a nice thundery end with lovely convection near Lincolnshire before more storms in eastern England but didn't chase them. Another storm mid September reached here with a strike landing under 300-250m from home:

 

Some alright snow events, about an inch early this December following freezing fog all day, and some nice falls in March but both quickly melting unfortunately:

 

Nice to see some pleasant mid autumn warmth in early October at last.

 

But I think with this year, particularly spring and most of summer being a mostly unsettled one has allowed for a lot more thunderstorms to occur here, compared to drier seasons like summer 2018, spring 2020 and spring - summer 2022, but with a cost of it being wetter and with less sunshine.

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Metwatch

[LetItSnow!]

31 minutes ago, Wynn D Woo said:

A pretty rubbish year overall with the only real highlight the early September heatwave. I really hope the UK climate isnt shifting to this cloud ridden dirge as default and 8 months of autumn...

Considering 2022 was very sunny, warm and extremely dry for most of the year, I'd say concerns needn't be too high.

[SummerShower]

Highlights for me are

1.  The hot June.  Getting married on 9th June in perfect conditions.  Then seeing a decent homegrown storm 2 days later.

2.  A decent homegrown storm on 9th May.  This area is usually devoid of homegrown efforts, relying mostly on plumes.  Not a bad year in that respect

3.  That beautiful heatwave in September.  

4.  March 8th snowfall.  Even this far south it was decent.  However it was gone the next day.

5.  Some notable October rainfall events.

Not the most interesting year for weather it has to be said.  The one thing that has stood out is a complete lack of winds from between east and north throughout the entire year.. don't think I've known that before.

[TheOgre]

- The snow on 8-9 March

- Being caught out in an enormous thunderstorm on 5 May

- Hot June

- Enormous storm on 12 June

- Hot September

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Snow on 8-9 March

Snow on 3rd Dec

[Freeze]

Most probably the warm june, sunny and around 20c every day sometimes higher.

[In Absence of True Seasons]

The very sunny, warm and dry spell that last around 3 weeks in June. 

Very very rare in my lifetime to have that occur during the longest days of the year, and it was so pleasant. So much useability. I was in Cornwall for a week during that period and just back-to-back sunshine the entire time. Couldn't have asked for better considering it was a hiking, camping and beach-going trip. 

Secondarily, the hot blast in September. 30c+ in September is notable, multiple days of it, nigh-on unprecedented!

Third highlight, but not a positive one, was the high summer period of this year. Only 2012 can compare in terms of dullness and general lack of summery feel. We had 6 (I think?) Weekends in a row of low pressure weather. So, basically all of July and much of August too. 

I had a trip into London towards the end of July, and on the Saturday it rained for about 14 hours straight and max temps were 15c lol. Abysmal, but certainly memorable...

[Sun Chaser]

The best second half to winter I've ever seen - cold and sunny in mid-late Jan with some of the best skies I've ever seen. Slight dusting of snow on Jan 17th. Followed up by a lovely mild dry and sunny February.

Mid May to late June was an extended period of warm (hot for a couple of weeks) and exceptionally sunny weather which has to go up as some of the greatest of all time where I was (even if the timing was personally inconvenient).

The intense September heat was interesting (even if I missed most of it ) and was shortly followed by of the best thunderstorms of recent years on September 17th.

26c in early October! Always nice to have a late burst of warmth

Everything else was pretty abysmal tbh. Not much in the way of so-so weather, only flipped from great to terrible and back

[A Face like Thunder]

Totally agree with you Weather-history. The thunderstorms in the late afternoon of 12th June 2023 were the best I've seen in my 23 years in S Cheshire. Two separate cells, the one at 6pm had the hail and rain whilst the other at 7pm had the main thunder and lightning. I am reminded every day of the 12th June when I see the stump of the tree by the road which was hit by lightning in the second storm. A real cracker!

[Weather Enthusiast91]

How I personally felt about each month:

1. January - Not a bad winter month overall with some crisp and sunny days with frosty nights, particularly early in the month. 
2. February - Very mild and benign. Whilst felt nice, I am not a fan of false springs. Would much rather have spring weather during the spring when it is more useful.
3. March - I enjoyed the snow event early in the month and I liked the fact that it was a somewhat mixed month. More sun would have been nice though.
4. April - A meh month with very little to no interest.
5. May - Very little rainfall from mid month onwards and temps were around average on the whole. I didn't mind this month.
6. June - I very much enjoyed this month. Many warm and sunny days along with thunderstorms earlier on in the month.
7. July - The worst July since 2007 in my opinion. As bad as July 2012 was, at least there was a hot and sunny spell later on that month. There was none of that during July 2023.
8. August - Not as good as June but better than July.
9. September - I enjoyed the hot spell we had early in the month, though it did start to feel on the humid side as the heatwave progressed. A fairly mixed month after that and I enjoyed the month on the most part.
10. October - I particularly enjoyed the cool sunny days around mid month.
11. November - We did well for sunshine during this month with temps around average. The crisp and sunny days at the end were nice too.
12. December so far - Meh.

 

Edited December 21, 2023 by Weather Enthusiast91

[raz.org.rain]

On 19/12/2023 at 14:00, Wynn D Woo said:

A pretty rubbish year overall with the only real highlight the early September heatwave. I really hope the UK climate isnt shifting to this cloud ridden dirge as default and 8 months of autumn...

Apart from June and September, it's honestly been a pretty abysmal year. The only saving grace is I believe that's as bad as it can get in the modern climate. Even during the worst of synoptics we can still squeeze out two record setting months of heat. 
 

So I'm really torn on how to regard 2023. It felt like ten months of autumn and two months of summer.

[Summer8906]

A dull and unexciting year in the main, but:

1. The unusually sunny and frosty second half of January.

2. The dry February, though it was rather on the cloudy side.

3. The event of the year has to be the 6 weeks of near-constant warm and sunny weather from June 13 to July 25.

I was out of the country for September, but given the rest of the month was nothing special I'd have probably considered the heatwave overrated; I will admit to preferring longevity to intensity.

[Addicks Fan 1981]

On 18/12/2023 at 12:11, LetItSnow! said:

Highlights of 2023 for me...

The period around January 20th, 2023 brought unusually severe frosts with a thick rime on everything. I think the temperature got down to around -7C in some places. I could be wrong but I remember someone posting that local areas in the SE had had their coldest January temperatures since 1987. Bizzare as the preceding days had been rather cold on a northerly but with no snow and uppers were relatively modest. Goes to show that very cold weather under high pressure doesn't take a lot.

February 2023 was notable for its very sunny, mild and dry weather - March 2023 was notable for the complete opposite, copious amounts of rainfall. The entire spring up to mid-May was very wet here. We had a sequence of 3 days in a row with thunderstorms around May 10th, 2023 which is something I haven't seen for many years.

June 2023 for its persistent warmth, which felt like a proper month due to no heatspikes, just sustained well-above normal temperatures. If that had occurred last year the summer of 2022 would have been an all-timer, no doubt.

I think the most notable event though obviously is the September heatwave which set the standard for all September heatwaves going forward!

Not local but the extreme rainfall in October in an overall very wet autumn was notable with extreme flooding in places.

I wonder if 2024 will tone down our weather and we'll have something a bit more standard or will it follow in the footsteps of 2022 and 2023 and bring more extremes. I never thought that we'd challenge the hottest year ever recorded two years in a row. It's absolutely shocking that 2023 is set to be the second warmest year on record behind 2022. If we challenge or beat the record in 2024, we know the scale has tipped!

I'm afraid to say it but we probably will get more extremes as we have seen for 2022 and 2023.   Climate change seems very real now and it's probably reached a tipping point too.    Climate change can't be stopped, all that squandering of time which could have been used better to prepare for the future.    

[In Absence of True Seasons]

21 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

3. The event of the year has to be the 6 weeks of near-constant warm and sunny weather from June 13 to July 25.

Not sure if it was different in your area or you mean May to June? 

Because July was, for the vast majority of the month, unrelentingly overcast with many wet days and multiple cool days too with max day temps of 15-17c.