Summer 1980 horrific!

[Summerlover2006]

From reading a really forgotten awful summer which sounds like one of the worst summers on the 20th century and I’m just glad I was not born to experience it 

to start with it was very wet especially in June many heavy downpours throughout the summer. To add to this it was extremely cool with a July CET of just 14.7 it didn’t hit 20 degrees on many days even in London and the 1st of July was one of the coldest July days ever with some places not getting above 10 degrees making it seem more like a march day then a July day it was also a very dull summer. The only possible saving grace of this summer were the finale days of July which were a bit warmer. The opening days of June were also quite warm and august had close to average temperatures which must have felt seasonal at times when the sun was out and it wasn’t raining but this was not enough to save this summer from being awful.

this summer was the awful combination of wet cold and dull to the extreme  and in my opinion sounds like the worst summers of the 20th century by far. 

people that were around to witness this summer what do you think about it?

[A Face like Thunder]

We camped in Hants during the Spring Bank Holiday half term week and it was actually quite nice all week. But come 1st June - a friend's 21st - and the pouring rain put paid to any outdoor celebrations, and yes, after that, the summer was poor, although perhaps not as bad (my view) as 1985.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Oi! I was born this summer

[Harry's House]

Summer1980 was indeed a bad summer. I was at a weather observer's course at Shinfield College near Reading in June then back to working at Herstmonceux, East Sussex in July and August.

June was cool, wet and thundery with places having up to 10 days of thunder. Sunshine figures were not too bad for that month because June got off to a good start.

Early and mid July was absolutely atrocious for coolness, dullness and wetness. The day maximum was 13.3 deg C at Herstmonceux on 1st. However, from 21st, it became much warmer, drier and sunnier to restore some respectability to July's figures. The absolute maximum of the summer was 26.3 deg C on 25th July.

August was also poor. The 14th was an extremely wet day because of evening and overnight thunderstorms that day.

Certainly a cool, dull and wet summer.

[Norrance]

I had just moved down to London in 1979 so a cool and wet Summer 1980 there was probably what I was used to at home so it made no impact on me whatsoever. Overall I lived in London for four Summers and luckily none were anything like as hot and humid as even the cooler ones are now.

Edited March 7 by Norrance

[I remember Atlantic 252]

this doesn't look bad

 

[cheeky_monkey]

i don't remember 1980 summer being very wet..cool yes but IMO summers of 77-79 and 85-88 were worse.

[Summer8906]

Controversial opinion time: 1980 was rather like a cooler version of the poorer summers of the past 15 years.

From a mix of memory (patchy at times) and looking at the Monthly Weather Report: for about a month from mid-June it was spectacularly bad. But the second half wasn't so bad with a fine warm week towards the end of July (21 July was the day it flipped) and quite persistent fine, warm weather in the second half of August following a first half typified by cool, damp weather. Indeed according to the MWR, August 1980 was actually drier than normal in the south and southeast and I have many memories of fine, warm, settled weather during the last two weeks or so of the school summer holidays.

Dare I say it, perhaps August 1980 was better, or less bad, than August 2023 in this area.

Early Sep 1980 was, like 1979, 1981 and 1982, fine, warm and sunny. The return to school/work fine spell was something I picked up on pretty early in life...

Edited March 8 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

 A Face like Thunder I remember the school half-term as being benign and often bright (if somewhat cool), though I have a distinct memory of hearing thunder on Thursday 29th May from a sky that didn't look thundery (probably "infill" style Sc). My dad said it was probably a plane, but given I was a little scared of thunder at that age, might have been just saying that.

That said, looking at the archives, Thurs 29 May did have a cyclonic northerly type so conceivable there was thunder about. In fact, from the charts, the half-term looks a good deal more unsettled than I remember it.

I do remember Sat 31 May being very wet though, with prolonged heavy rain, an early taste of what was to come later. Then the first week of June 1980 looks benign but the sequence of events the following week is spookily similar to June 2007 in that a big Biscay low gradually moved north, and once it reached here the Atlantic floodgates opened, not to relent until July 21st.

Edited March 8 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

 I remember Atlantic 252 Indeed. Part of the late Aug/early Sep 1980 fine spell.

[LetItSnow!]

 Summer8906 You're not wrong about that actually. August 1980 is a bit of a prototype modern summer month. Maxima were poor but nights were very mild so the C.E.T. was actually slightly above normal. Very, very dull month. You know it's bad when Lerwick records its dullest August since records began in 1922. A look at the synoptics shows that low pressure often affected the UK but never full on so I'm assuming a lot of trailing weather fronts, cloudy days but warm nights. 

I'm not a genie or time traveller by the way, thank the Met Office archive!