Wildswimmer Pete

It really does look like we are entering a Grand Minimum, I won't be here to see a return to "normal" summers. Today was like an October day, cold, windy and wet, and looks like a foretaste of what's to come. Given that the fast few Augusts have basically been early Autumn months I think we can post the obituaries for "Summer" 2015.

From memory, the last summer I consider to be as abysmal as this one was 1962 - low pressure, constant rain and chilly winds. Summer 1963 was almost as bad but at least May '63 saw a two-week heatwave. Summer '63 did have a few isolated hot days. However there was a somewhat nasty filling in that particular sandwich.

Now cleared from the South-west. Liverpool ATIS currently reporting 16C. Plenty of towering Cu in view but appear innocuous and without rain shadows. Light breeze F1

Rain started around 2pm then strong gusts with a couple of flashes and rolls of thunder. Stormy bit lasted about 30 min, since then wind dropped out, currently steady moderate rain. Temp. before rain arrived was 20C, now 14C.

After a chilly night (9C) very nice all day with some useful rays to catch. I managed to log 26-27C (minor UHI) despite a stiff breeze - a good F4. Clouded up at teatime and a thunderstorm is now in progress, no lightning visible yet but loud thunder. As of now, no rain. Current temp 18.3C Edit: 10:24pm heavy rain now started but electrical activity seems to have tapered off.

Well, so much for our "flash in the pan" heatwave. Clear overnight with a min. of 14.9C, then clear until breakfast before the infill built. Temp at lunchtime around 25C, around 1pm a spell of light rain, then a short bright spell when the sky darkened heralding a long spell of heavy rain accompanied by a remarkable reduction of temp over two hours from 22C to 14C. Cloud cleared around 6pm, current temp here is 15.4C while Liverpool ATIS is reporting 17C. Wind: calm F0, cloud less than 1/8, currently dry, ground damp.

If you're in Aintree then yes, the East Lancs Road goes almost due east towards to Manchester. All the main activity seems to be centred on Warrington and Manchester, with Runcorn and Northwich on the outskirts. Looks like the rain is stopping while electrical activity has ceased. What I did notice is the absence of any wind because you'd expect strong winds from both updraughts and downdraughts as the storm passes.

Loud thunder and lightning with very heavy rain, looks like another cell has come along.

Still thundering and lightning, with intermittent rain of very large drops. Roads now saturated with puddles. Current temp. 20.3C Looking towards Chester and the colour of the sky, you might be in luck.

Cheers, look like you might experience more of the ones currently spawning over the Shropshire and Cheshire Plains. Hopefully tonight might be interesting with a bit of luck. Edit: more bangs and flashes with light rain. Roads are now just about wet.

Which part of Liverpool? If it's South Liverpool I should hear it - all windows open. Edit: Looking South East towards the direction of Beeston and the Cheshire Gap, dark clouds and a single flash of sheet lightning. Edit 2: Thunder and heavy rain, looking at the radar the storm spawned over the Cheshire Plain.

The afternoon was mostly overcast with just a bright few intervals. Quite a blustery breeze earlier on, easily F3-4, but now calm F0. Might have heard a short shower about 6pm but couldn't be bothered to go to the window to have a look. My garden sensor reports 25.3C, while Liverpool ATIS is reporting 23C, DP17C, wind 360 6kt. Quite comfortable in string vest and shorts while shopping, although our shopping mall is air conditioned. Last night I slept on top of my bed under an open window while the indoor temp. here is 30C

Liverpool ATIS currently reports 25C, dew point 16C. Overcast, my (unscreened) garden sensor reports 34.5C

It's the wrong kind of rails - welded as against fish-plated. Welded rails can buckle in extreme heat, conversely they can snap in very low temperatures.

Clear last night, overnight min. 14.6C. Day dawned sunny but became quite overcast for an hour or two before clearing to sunny conditions although a few sheets of Sc obscured the sky a few times during the afternoon. Quite breezy, a good F2-3, currently light air F1. Almost clear sky, cloud 1/8. Current temp. 25.2C. Liverpool ATIS is reporting 24C.

Damp overnight and cloudy until early afternoon followed by sunny conditions until around 5pm when it became overcast for a while. Currently cloud 6/8. Overnight min 12.7C, currently 18.5C. Intermittent light rain overnight but dry during daylight hours. Became quite breezy, a good F4-5, but currently light breeze F2. Despite the breeze didn't feel too bad in the sun, but this evening does have a somewhat fresh feel.

Clear when I went to bed, with the overnight min 12.1C. The day dawned with variable cloud, which has persisted all day but with extensive sunny intervals. Dry all day, currently dry. A bit breezy during the day F2-3, currently little or no breeze F0-1. Light failing but I'd say cloud 4/8, current temp 17.4C with a one or two BBQs nearby. Water temp in Hatchmere (Delamere Forest) is 20C which is about right for the time of year.

After temps during the previous week (including GE Thursday) over 21C, temps began to fall rapidly over the weekend and if I remember correctly the Monday was a Bank Holiday with increasingly cold heavy rain all day. Tuesday dawned with a light coating of snow and/or graupel with the N.Wales hills solid white. Bear in mind this is from memory nearly 20 years ago.

Clear at midnight with an overnight min of 14.3C day dawned cloudy then overcast all morning, a bright(ish) spell over lunch then quite gloomy around 3pm when light rain started. By 5pm a burst of moderate rain before a clearance from the west. Highest temp was 21C just before the rain arrived. Currently clear and temp 15.4C. Quite breezy at times, a good F2-3, but currently light air F1.

Upper 90s F many days throughout summer1976 (we still mostly thought in Fahrenheit back then) in South Liverpool. Lowest I have experienced, -10C air temp, water temp 0C, in Speedos only, on 10th December '10, River Nene at Islip - as in my avatar.

Overnight min 10.9C, morning sunny until the inevitable infill. Come mid-afternoon there were some sunny intervals. Max temp I recorded under cloud 24C, currently 21.4C under Sc. Little or no breeze F0-1, dry all day.

Overnight min 10C, quite sunny until late morning when the Sc infill developed. I recorded 21C at teatime but the official temp as reported by Liverpool ATIS was 18C. Currently overcast but dry. Wind from west, F1. Precipitation nil.

Wet and blustery all night, dry by 11am but still cloudy until mid-afternoon. Min temp overnight 9C, the best I managed during the day was 18C, currently 14C with it looking an unseasonably cold night. 18C is poor for late June, and the now unwelcome Anomalous North-Westerly was fresh at F3-4 although the wind has dropped to F1 this evening. It felt cold to me when I walked down to our shops, and I don't generally feel the cold. Some very threatening Cu now looming from the NW. The evening has the feeling of an October evening. Does anyone know why any warmth is always a few days away but when that time arrives, the hoped-for plume has been shoved back down south, or east to the near-Continent?

Overnight min of 9.4C, first thing was sunny but the infill began around 10am, which persisted until mid-afternoon. Not spectacularly warm with Liverpool ATIS reporting 15C @16:50Z which is below par for a mid-June evening. Dry all day, but the nagging NW (300deg) breeze took away any warmth. Guestimated wind speed F2-3

Cloudy all day but dry, with a few brief sunny intervals around lunchtime. Overnight min 14C, 22C around 16:00, currently 15.5C. Light breeze F1-2.