AderynCoch

Dark evenings are popular with me - in winter. I like my seasonal variations.

Nope, but I didn't check for that long.

Should be a good night to look out for Perseids.

I find it very difficult to make out the Milky Way in my location, although binoculars easily resolve it in the Summer Triangle. I saw it perfectly in Australia, where the Galactic Centre in Sagittarius passes overhead. It's so bright and you can make out the central bulge, making it easy to visualise the shape of the galaxy. The Milky Way is also very bright in the southern sky (Norma, Crux, Carina). If you haven't seen the southern sky, you really need to. Maybe it was because I'd spent some time abroad, but when I came back to Britain in May I immediately noticed how hard it was to get good viewing conditions at night thanks to the lingering twilight. It's something I'd never really thought about before.

Back to summer again today. I get the feeling there's going to be a veritable mix of nice and crap days for the forseeable future. A lot depends on whether any frontal rain passes through overnight or during the day.

Given that Wales is more exposed to moist airmasses from the Atlantic I would imagine that the highest upland areas above the snow line get more of the white stuff than in England, despite the lowland areas being milder and less prone to snow than in England.

Haven't really noticed it at all. Still light past 9pm. Astronomical twilight throughout the night has ended here though.

It certainly feels chilly here at the moment. These past couple of days have been horrible. I hope the jet stream soon takes another hike northwards. It's always frustrating to see the near continent bask in heat whilst we lapse into autumn.

I noticed this a few times when I lived there. A couple of miles west of the city centre and you're practically in the Peak District

1-2C is not significant or noticeable at all. You would hardly tell the difference if you were out in those temperatures. You can add Liverpool to Manchester/Cheshire (we always get overlooked even when something notable happens here). In fact, we've recorded higher temperatures in the past than Manchester or Leeds. Regardless of the averages (which aren't that different anyway), I do think Yorkshire has been favoured more in recent summers compared to the this side of the Pennines thanks to a prevalence of awful summer weather patterns producing egregious NW/SE splits. I would venture that this summer is far more normal in terms of summer heat in that the high temperatures have been shared around more.

We went from 32C on 9th August 2003 to 22C on the 10th. I was not impressed, despite the potent thunderstorms that morning.

Starting in October...

Interesting that the final third of the month (21-31st) had 266% of the average rainfall. This followed a middle third (11-20th) which had no rain whatsoever.

Thanks John. 13-29th July 2013 = 19.56C

At least three stations have reached the magic 300 hours of sunshine this month: Valley (310.8 ), St Athan (306.1) and Ronaldsway (300.9). I don't know if that includes today's data, though if it doesn't I doubt today would have added much anyway. http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/~brugge/CURR.html I don't have data for my area but we must have at least got close to 300.

1st-2nd August will be significantly warmer than 1st-2nd July. Not sure about the following couple of days.

An excellent month overall, tainted only by the odd poor day at either end of the month (today was rubbish) and an increased amount of rain in the last week. But even when it turned more unsettled it was still generally warm and sunny. Not a "tell-your-grandchildren" month, but very much welcome after what recent July's have been like here. 9/10

17.2

Some exceptional summer cold in the Midwest this past week. I read that Chicago's had its coldest July 23-29 period in 142 years of records, with a high of 18C on the 27th (average high = 29C). I know someone there who's practically slitting his wrists. Good job he hasn't spent the previous six summers living here. High of 13C at Duluth on the 27th (average high = 25C).

London has a higher heatwave threshold (32C by day).

Looks like I'm getting away with it today. Mostly sunny and only a brief shower this afternoon, after being a downpour magnet yesterday.

I was just about to say the cell had moved away when a blinding flash appeared closely followed by a huge bang. That must have been very close!

More thunder. Impressive cloud formations to the west and east.

Thunder and lightning here.

You think April was too warm this year? It was a very cold and protracted spring with a serious dearth of warm weather - the coldest for the CET since 1891.