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The Manchester summer index says this is the worst summer for the city since at least 1900 with an index of 143. The summer of 1954 was a very poor summer with frequent rains, very cool and little sunshine. Its the dullest summer in the Areal series with a paltry 395.9hrs and the dullest August in that series. It had a CET of 14.1 and a rainfall total of 306.7mm for England and Wales. June CET: 13.4 Sun: 140.9hrs Rain: 94.2mm July CET: 14.2 Sun: 131.0hrs Rain: 88.8mm August CET: 14.6 Sun: 124.0hrs Rain: 123.7mm They were very few warm days during this summer, the warmest day of the year actually occurred at the start of the meteorological autumn (1st September) The period 27th June-5th July was very cool, maxima hardly got above 17C anywhere for most of that period. A meeting was held on the 20th of October 1954 at the Met Office in Harrow to discuss just how bad the summer of 1954 was. Gordon Manley and H H Lamb attended the meeting. Here is a summary of the meeting. England and Wales Rainfall: 3.1 inches above the 1881-1915 average Temp: 2.5F below the 1921-50 average Mean daily sunshine: 1.7hrs below the 1921-50 average. 53 rain days 40 wet days At the time, it was a continuing trend of cooler wetter summers. In most European countries, July was the coolest month and August, the wettest. Russia was warmer than normal in all 3 summer months. Pressure gradient was stronger than normal with Greenland/Scandinavia regio up 15mb below and Azores, 6mb above. June was a westerly month for the British Isles, July was a NWly, while August was below average pressure for the whole of Europe and the north Atlantic. Two synoptic types predominant during the summer A ridge in the 1000-500mb thickness pattern over the Atlantic and a trough over or near the british Isles, with depressions approaching the British Isles from the NW. This type was particularly persistent near the end of June and the beginning of July. A very large trough in the 1000-500mb thickness pattern over the atlantic with Great Britain on its forward edge and with depressions approaching the British Isles from the SW. This type occurred about the beginning of the June but more especially at the end of July and during the first half of August. West Africa was 2-4F below normal and 50% wetter. Depressions were on average over north Africa about 2mb deeper than normal. In south Africa, the winter was cooler, wetter than normal. In the US, it was warmer and drier than normal. The Indian monsoon was heavier than normal. From Gordon Manley "Among comparable summers in the past, I was rather suprised not to hear more of 1922 which was persistently cool, dull and breezy -- in German parlance one of "vigorous European monsoon". To many southerners the noticeable feature of 1954 was the unusually cool breeziness, normally appropriate to our northern uplands. So far as my reduction of older records was valid I have taken out the rough data, which showed that 24 summers in the last 256 could be called consistently cool, the criterion being all 3 months 2F or more below overall average; that is about 1 in 10. 1954 ranked about 14th, and was thus not exceptionally unusual; what was unusual was the lapse of 32 years since the last cool summer. Both 1922 and 1902 were cooler, but with regard to the majority of such cool summers if the overall mean is compared with the 30 surrounding years the deficit rarely exceeds that of 1954, namely 2.6F. Only 3 significantly greater deficits occurred (1860, 1816 and 1725) of which the last two were associated with noteworthy ash eruptions. It would therefore appear that 1954 represents about as large a strain of the earth's circulation as we should fairly expect, in the absence of some additional factor such as violent eruptions."

X flare in progress!

...or perhaps you do. An active cold front pushing southwards drawing very cool air for the time of the year from the north as happened during July 1993. It produced quite a temperature plunge. This heralded a period of below average temperatures that lasted right through to December in the south and to the end of the year in the north. Here are forecasts showing how it unfolded.

Yes, X flares are the biggest, but X1.4 is at the low end of the category. The major event in 2003 was variously described as X28 or X45, depending on who you believe.

There are different types of X flares, but yes.... it's in the highest category. Here is a link to explain http://www.nasa.gov/...ass-flares.html, and this current one is earth directed.

It's certainly coming to something when Arctic Greenland BGSF 111520Z AUTO 09008KT 9999NDV NCD 21/04 Q1008 is 5c warmer than central England EGBB 111450Z 30011KT 9999 FEW042 16/09 Q1010

These August 1993 temperatures were disappointing. Really was cool.

Publius Enigma.

Yes a notably chilly spell of weather for the time of year, the northerly must have brought down very cold uppers for the time of year, low to mid teen maxima is very very dissapointing for mid July.. It did mark the start of a very long protracted cold period of weather and often unsettled weather with limited high pressure or warm southerly/southwesterly airstreams lasting through until late Nov for the south and the end of the year for the north. It was a dissapointing school holiday period for sunshine and warmth, probably the coldest such period of the 90's, the following four years brought very different conditions for the same said period, often very warm or hot.