50 years ago... 1974, a cool year with a 28c absolute maximum.

[mike57]

I had just started work, having left school at 16, and was immediately plunged into the 3 day week, power cuts and a lot of industrial disputes. Overall not a good period nationally. Personally not a time I look back on positively either.

Weather wise it was the last of the cool summer years which were part of my growing up. Looking back at weather records for this year the absolute maximum was 28c recorded in June in Southampton. Years which failed to reach 30c happened during this period. Nowadays I suspect that there is no set up where we wouldn't reach 30c anywhere.

Also remember it as being a wet year, plenty of wet walks to and from the station or bus for work, but that and various rail strikes did mean I put a lot of effort into passing my driving test.

So, looking back definitely no rose coloured spectacles, either at a personal, national or weather level.

[Harry's House]

I was working at Cardington in 1974. 

Winter 1973/74 was very mild with a total absence of sleet or snow in January - very unusual indeed in those days at Cardington. January and February were wet.

It was a dry spring until a wet period in late June when it had become more unsettled from then. July was not a terrible month, but lacked any significant warmth.

August and the autumn were wet. There was no lasting dry anticyclonic spell in September which more often than not happens. October was exceptionally cold - it had the lowest CET since 1919.

December was exceptionally mild with the highest CET since 1934 - actually higher than in October! 

The absolute maximum temperature of the year at Cardington was 25.6 deg C on 15th August, the lowest since 1962.

In a nutshell, spring was the best season of that year, with a poor late summer and autumn, and an exceptionally mild December. 

[Metwatch]

Noted in the first 20C and 25C thread yesterday but here in Coventry along with 1931, 1974 also failed to reach 25C!

[LetItSnow!]

A year of anti-seasons. In a way it's 2003's evil twin (almost).

[danm]

Wow, so looking back at the archives, the temperature in London didn't exceed 26c all year. It's a stat that would be almost impossible to achieve these days. It makes Summer 2023 seem like a scorcher in comparison.