Weather-history

Interesting stat for my region, is that 5 of the last 8 summers have been wetter than any summer of the 1960s, whilst the other 3 were drier than any summer of the 1960s. It seems the summer of the 1960s were less extreme either way and that is borne out in the Manchester summer indices. Nothing sensational, either way. Compare that to the summers of the 1950s when sensational summers were mixed in with some absolute stinkers. Look at 1954-1955-1956. Two of the worst summers of the 20th century sandwiching one of the best.

Bristol Max, Min (°F) 10. 46, 34 11. 41, 28 12. 37, 26 13. 29, 14 14. 34, 20 15. 35, 25 16. 29, 20 17. 37, 24 18. 41, 29 Birmingham 10. 45, 32 11. 38, 30.5 12. 37, 26 13. 26.5, 19 14. 36.5, 13 15. 35.5, 22 16. 30, 23 17. 36, 19.5 18. 39, 23.5 A report from Ipswich, 13th March Max: 25.5°F 2pm: 21°F 4pm: 19°F 6pm: 15°F 8pm: 12°F 10pm: 10.5°F min: 5°F Bremen: 9°F on the 12th March, ice in harbour Belfast Evening of 13th March 5pm: 26°F 6pm: 20°F 7.30pm: 15°F 9pm: 10°F 10pm: 14°F

LetItSnow! A Manchester summer index of 243, so it was a good one up here. I have a lot of newspaper reports of thunderstorms and heat from that summer.

9th/10th March 1948

These 4 summers encompassed all of my high school summer holidays. 1987 was bad. June was awful until those last couple or so days. It was the wettest month of the 1980s here, that’s how bad that June was. I posted this before but there was a day during the first week of August, it only got to 12C 1985 wasn’t great as well. That started off well. Remember how pleasantly warm and sunny the last day of May 1985 was but that went downhill. Period around the Live Aid concert was decent but August was bad until the last few days. 1986 is an interesting summer, recall it being warm and sunny during the Mexico World Cup. August was chilly but a lot of the rain for that month fell during the last week. 1988 had the dire July but the June and August were not too bad at least compared with that July. I think 1986 was the best out of the bunch probably more so because of the second half of June.

B87 Not a lot of your post I actually agree with but that shows how much it is dependent on your location. Never going to get universal agreement with summer 2021. Not sure why you say 1981 is overrated, it was never rated that much anyway other than for those thunderstorms. August 1981 is a good example of where rainfall totals are not the best method to determine how good/bad a month was. Most of the rainfall around here for that month fell on one day. Most of the month had no rain days at all. Summer 1984 was a really good summer up here. Summer 2019 was so so. There was about 3 weeks of dry weather here from late June to mid July but mid July-mid August was a washout

mountain shadow

25 years ago today, snow fell on my side of the Pennines that Saturday morning as it did over parts of Yorkshire.

Snowed here that Saturday morning of the 6th March 1999, 25 years ago today

Metwatch Summer 2020 was one of the better summers of recent times around here.

SunSean There was some right old twaddle posted in this thread, not referring the original post. "We don't even have proper Atlantic weather systems anymore. It's been dead for ages." If it had been dead for ages, we would have returned many more drier than average months but infact since 2000, wet has dominated over dryness.

I think some of the summers of the 1960s might be a little underrated or not as quite as bad as some make out. They seem to be tar brushed as being cool, unsettled. Manchester Summer indices 1960 217 1961 203 1962 197 1963 194 1964 197 1965 189 1966 192 1967 223 1968 215 1969 234 There are 5 there that of at least 200 Compare them with the summers of 2007-12 2007 174 2008 168 2009 194 2010 191 2011 179 2012 164 Summer 1969 has a pretty decent index.

It all depends on location as it always does with these type of threads, so you really only can compare to what other people's experiences were from a similar area. I do think summer 1990 is overrated, I think the early August heatwave magnifies it. June 1990 was not particular great.

" Not ranked in order of memorableness. Early January 2010 snowfall and the intense cold that followed June-July 2007: The amount of rain that fell 18th January 2007 gale: Hairy experience July 2006: Sunshine and heat galore. Post Christmas 2000 snowfall Autumn 2000: The amount of rain that fell Christmas Eve 1997 gale: Hairy experience Jan and Feb 1996 snowfalls August 1995: Sunshine and heat galore February 1986: Freezing! " That was at time of post back in October 2010 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Since then Late November-Christmas 2010, which I would replace with February 1986 in the above list. The October 2011 heatwave at the start Summer 2012, how bad it was The second half of March 2013, how cold it was July 2013 Beast from the East of 2018 May-July 2018, would replace with July 2006 in the above list The thundery spell of mid June 2020 The wintry spells of Christmas 2020 until mid February 2021 The hottest day ever, July 2022

NOAA anomaly charts 500mb Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

EWP has been put down as 151.1mm

LetItSnow! Paris recorded 89°F (very sultry) according to a report in the Standard and a station in London had a minimum of just 68°F Rome: 95°F

The NOAA anomaly charts says it all 500mb 1st July 2023-29th February 2024 Compare with 1st July 1995-29th February 1996 which was highly blocked Precipitation rates 1st July 2023-29th February 2024 Compare with 1st July 1995-29th February 1996, where hosepipe bans were being enforced

The 500mb anomaly chart for February How did England and Wales record more rain than Scotland during February? The SE England region recorded almost the same total as Scotland did and the SW region recorded more rain than the north of Scotland. Yet you look at look at that anomaly chart, you would think it should be the driest regions for the UK

Can't vote as I would choose anticyclonic gloom

Summer 1994 and 1996, both, IMO, were better than summer 1990. Didn't think that summer 2019 was that great and summer 2020 was bad especially the July, one of the wettest summers on record here.

A vintage clip from an edition of Nationwide from 1979 celebrating 25 years of BBC weather

Typical, clear for a good portion of the night but during that key period, a bank of stratocumulus largely obscures the skies to my north

That period went out with a bang with a blizzard and a severe gale as a low pressure tracked across the south of England and deepened