All Activity

Mapantz last year April had 160hrs of sun at Bmth airport (which 15% below average) only 100hrs month to date. Might sneak 140hours but that’s pushing it. So another poor months sunshine.

CryoraptorA303 I planted some fruit trees last year in Czechia and some have baby fruit on them this spring, hopefully they won’t get frozen off. Apricots and greengages, so far. This April has certainly felt warmer than last year, but the last week has dramatically changed that and in west London, I think April 2023 was sunnier. Next week looks better, thankfully, though a real rollercoaster temperature-wise in Czechia

The first chink of daylight starting to appear when I got up at 4.45 this morning so even though the weather might still think it’s winter, summer is definitely on its way. just hope it doesn’t forget to bring its mates sunny, dry and warm with it.

Variable cloud and dry Temp 5C, Barometer 1023mb falling, Wind F2 N, Rainfall since midnight Nil

B87 You definitely had a shocker of a summer for 2021.

CryoraptorA303 I was one of those people that really enjoyed summer 2021 and was lucky with the weather. It wasn’t a summer that broke any records and overall it actually wasn’t that much sunnier nor drier than average but it was generally consistently warm with no real heat. I’m in central Scotland and I do feel Scotland had the best weather that summer out of anywhere in the UK. Especially in the west where I believe it was probably one of the best summers on record. June was generally dry and sunny with reasonable temperatures but never exceeded 25.C yet the maxima was 1.C above average. July had a little bit of a unsettled spell at the start and the last week was a bit cool and wet but it had a cracking two week spell of warm sunshine and virtually no rain during the middle of the month. August was quite unsettled in the first half but there was still a good amount of dry weather in between and the second half was superb with some glorious late summer sunshine once early morning mist burned off. Definitely was a big north/south divide that summer, a bit similar to 2020 where the south had some very hot, sunny weather, whereas the north bore the brunt of the worst weather. August 2020 was one of my worst summer months recorded.

Daniel* just as well the general theme is for average to slightly above overall across most models

Addicks Fan 1981 Easterly winds are most frequent during April and May so it's hard to distinguish whether an SSW is responsible here

Horror show pattern into early May on tonight’s GFS 18z…. takes one back to 2007-2012. The N Atlantic/Greenland blocking is difficult to shake off in spring with polar vortex out the picture.

Same, by a long way.

CryoraptorA303 august 2007 was the coolest at the time since 1993 so both months were very similar, you couldn't make it up. On the other hand the autumn colours came a lot quicker because summer of 2007 was so poor overall.

CryoraptorA303 2023 was a sunnier summer than 2021 for here. 2021 also followed an absolutely catastrophic May. June 2021 was warm, very wet and dull. July 2021 had average temps, was wet and dull. August was cool, dry and exceptionally, with only 50% of the average sunshine. 2021 overall was one of, if not the dullest year on record at Heathrow:

August 2008 was the worst I can remember and was particularly bad in the west country. Had a two week holiday in Cornwall and it was a complete washout with only one genuine decent day!

Both June and July were very reasonable being average or sunnier than average: I know 2021 is one of those weird summers where it was worst for the SE and best for the west, and that's unusual and upsets those in the SE who feel they should have the best weather, but even on the east coast both June and July were average or only just below for sunshine. Overall it's a summer that will be remembered in history, and compared to the other summers within the decade of 2021 it is probably the most infamous alongside 2023, but in the grand scheme of things it's not on the level of notoriety for poorness. You wouldn't say 2006 was poor because August turned out much cooler and (at least on the east side) wetter than June and July had been. Ok, 2008 is infamous; I don't really think of it as such because it's right next to 2007 which obviously overshadows it in notoriety and timing. If it wasn't for 2007 then 2008 would receive all the beatings for being the first bad summer since 2003 and hold a comparable level of notoriety. Kind of like how August 2022 is fairly overshadowed by July even though August was overall the hotter month for most.

raz.org.rain You contradicted yourself in your previous post then!

CryoraptorA303 2008 definitely counts as infamous. June was pretty close to normal but July and August were both cool and very dull. It also failed to reach 30c here. 2021 was dull or very dull in all 3 months, with August the 2nd dullest on record. I would say that August 2008, 2010 and 2021 were worse than any other Augusts since 1986.

CryoraptorA303 Yellow grass then. That is a standard thing that happens in any normal summer. April 2023 was sunnier than April 2024 here.

B87 I know, I was referring to the infamous summers in our history. Obviously the ones you listed don't count as infamous - Ok 2021 is borderline but I don't feel like June was truly bad enough to warrant it and the middle two weeks of July were very reasonable. Much different to a notorious one like 2012 or 2007.

Judah Cohen seems to think this pattern will continue into May. SSWs late on in winter ruin Spring .... https://twitter.com/judah47/status/1782473673397461151?t=9IgWvA73rtFq1HhZtX4HGA&s=19

CryoraptorA303 Since 2000, August was clearly the worst month of summer in the following years: 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2021 August 2008, 2010 and 2021 are all in the top 5 dullest Augusts on record at Heathrow.

B87 That seems a bit extreme to me... I don't think we should want to go right to the opposite extreme, just a change to something a bit more normal. The damage this would cause to nature after already enduring one ridiculous extreme would be huge. stainesbloke Zurich has had snow on multiple days now, some of it even settled for a while. Why couldn't this have happened in February? Bloody El Niño. As for continued unsettledness, this is still quite the change from the constant Atlantic lows we were getting, so progress is progress. Breaking the habit is the first step towards something better. I get people's pessimism at the moment, I really do, everything is going to and we still aren't seeing any truly warm weather in the near future, but the situation is now a lot better than what it was in March, at least down here. This April has also imo far surpassed last year, I'm seeing the Sun more or less every day now, the trees have bloomed and we've had a handful of warm days. Last April was completely dull, grey and rainy aside from all of a few days at the end of the month. Things are on the up.

reef Heathrow somehow managed to almost get to average last year, with 1671 hours. That was almost entirely due to Junes 280+, as the other 'sunny' months (Feb, May, Sep, Oct) were only slightly sunnier that average.

I don't really remember specific months in 2007 as I was too young, but the infamous summers do have a habit of seeing notable improvement in August. I really can't think of any where August was the worst month. August was the worst in 2014 and 2017 but those aren't really infamously bad, just a mixed bag and overall unnotable in the grand scheme of things. 2010 might be the only summer that could be considered infamous where August was undoubtedly the worst, however is 2010 really on the same level as 2007 et al? I don't think so.

Don we're already in an ice age by definition, as long as there's permanent ice at the poles.