Philipsfd

Perhaps there were regional differences between the Augusts of 07, 09 and 12? I know in the South East they had a warm and fairly dry August in 1998, 2009 and 2012, whereas further north and west the months were more unsettled. I don't think the South East had the better of the weather in August 2007 though.

I remember the spell in early June, it was very sunny and became very warm around the 8th-10th. I know it became a lot drier from the end of July but I don't remember it being that great? The first weekend of August was mildly hot then remained fair until around the 11th; 12th-22nd was then quite overcast, cool and wet at times; then mainly sunny and at times very warm over the BH weekend before sliding into a dull and cool final few days. I don't think August 2007 was a brilliant month, perhaps it has a better reputation than it normally would because of the wet weather that preceded it, or because Aug 06 and 08 were both poor? But I wouldn't say it was any better than August 2009 or 2012.

Surprised 2007 hasn't been mentioned more; the Summer needs no explanation and even Spring wasn't a brilliant one - I'd say the Springs of 2011 and 2017 were both better than 2007. March '07: Seem to recall this being fairly settled and mild (after the wild first weekend) but also quite overcast a lot of the time, with a small handful of 'lovely Spring days' around the 3rd week. April: Outstanding first half with the Easter weekend being particularly good, but whilst the second half of the month remained mostly settled, I can remember a lot more overcast weather after the 16th or so. Became warm and sunny again at the end. May: Started off very warm and sunny but after the 5th it took a nosedive and the rest of the month was pretty awful; often cool, dull and wet. The Spring was mediocre overall and was followed by one of the worst summer periods we've ever had.

May and to a lesser extent June have been exceptions in terms of good weather with Boris and unsetled weather since. May and June have been the two best months of this year, whereas May 2021 was very poor, June 2020 not much better and May & June 2022 were both average.

How would you describe the summer of 1997 both as a whole and the 3 months in detail, and how does it compare with similarly-rated summers of that era like 94, 96, 98 and 99? I can remember a lot of rain in June after a warm and sunny start; not many memories of July apart from a couple of pleasant days later in the month; August often gets the biggest write-up because of the heat, however, I don't remember it being an outstanding month - I can remember quite a few overcast days, rather than it being a 'sunfest' month like August 95, July 06, 13 & 18. Even July 99 seemed to be sunnier than August 97, and the maximum temperature for the month wasn't particularly high. Also, what was the summer like for thunder? I've heard August described as a tropical month, but did it produce thundery activity on the scale of the Augusts of 94, 99, 04 and June of this year?

Manchester, but have had a few trips to London too.

How would you compare this summer with the summers of 2001 and 2011? Better or worse? The cloudy August we've had so far feels similar to 2011, whilst the July heatwave felt similar to a period of heat in early July 2001, especially because of the thundery breakdown.

August to December 2007 was a dry spell but it just seemed incredibly boring and still does thinking about it now. Nothing stands out about that period; everything seemed neither here nor there. To give examples; September and October both dry and mild but not exceptionally so (although I think October may have been close to 'exceptionally dry') and both months felt 50-50 between sunny and cloudy weather. November I can remember a lot of gloomy, overcast and mild days, broken by the occasional unbroken-sunshine type of day. December had a lovely sunny and crisp second week with heavy frost on at least two mornings, but other than that I seem to recall it being exceptionally dull and very mild. On the other hand...2004. It might not be considered a classic and the summer tends to get poor reviews, but I found August rather extraordinary. Warm and humid, but the real story was the near daily occurrence of evening thunderstorms, at least in the first two thirds of the month. The evening of 24th October also saw some big Autumn thunderstorms. Late January also saw a heavy snowfall for Manchester one day during a very cold week - wouldn't surprise me if this was the second heaviest snowfall of the decade in Manchester, after late December 2000.

I can remember flash flooding in the Stafford area in the evening of 24th October 1995. Flooding in the Manchester area in the afternoon of 14th June 2002.

Do you think the summers of 1998, '99 and '01 get perhaps an unfair amount of bad press? All three seemed to be at worst 'average', with plenty of good spells intermixed with the lousy stuff. 1998: Seem to remember the second half of June being pleasant, July was poor but August was reasonable nationwide and very good in the south; even though it wasn't hot, it was sunnier than August 1997 which gets rave reviews. 1999: Seem to remember June was mediocre and August started hot but became thundery and very wet around mid-month and finished off similar in dullness to 2008 and 2010. But that July was a belter and arguably the best summer month between August 1995 and July 2006. 2001: There were about five hot spells I think and I know one of them was very thundery. All spaced out nicely with a couple of weeks of cooler and wetter weather in between. I think they all lasted between 2-5 days so nothing major, but not many UK summers have had this many hot spells. Are these three underrated then? Also 2000 seems to get a fairly bad press but I don't remember that being particularly bad.

July 1963 was quite hot and tropical in the North West, going off an account.

1977 wasn't great either was it?

Thanks. Struggling to remember much sun and heat during the 2002 World Cup. Can remember the 15th being a bit on the hot side following a washout day on the 14th. But other than that I can remember mainly a lot of cloudy weather, particularly on the days of England's first two group games, and the day of the final.

For widespread thundery activity, how does 95 compare with Summers 96-99? I assumed 97 was a thundery summer because of the hot and humid August.

My memory is hazy being fairly young at the time, but am I right in thinking one potential negative about the summer of 95 was a lack of thunder? Was it similar to 2007, '17 and '18 for lack of thunderstorms? It's just that 94, 96, 97 and 99 stick out more in the memory for thunder than 95 does.

Surprised to see 2002 and 2016 lower than 2000, 2001, 2009 and 2015. What are the figures please for these four?

I've been reading a detailed account of a canal holiday taken in the North Wales and North West/West Midlands area between the end of June and the first two weeks of July in 1963. One thing I've noticed is a rather interesting weather pan during that time; seemingly a real mix of hot, humid and sultry weather, followed by thunderstorms and torrential rain. One or two absolute wash out days, intermixed with some scorching weather. Sounds a bit like July 94 & 14 and August 97 & 04. Can anyone remember the first half of July 63, or access to any weather analysis of that time, please?

I'm just trying to pinpoint the dates of two extreme weather events from the mid-90s, having vague memories of both. On both occasions I was in the Stafford/Market Drayton area. I can vaguely recall the first event being a severe rain and thunderstorm and I have a feeling it was either Sunday 6th or Monday 7th June 1993 - can anyone remember or confirm an event like this happening around this time in the Midlands? The second event is more clear in my mind, it was a flash flood one October evening in 1995 and I seem to remember it was quite a wild rainstorm and it being early in the evening. The thing I remember most was the flooding! I have a feeling it was the evening of Tuesday 24th October 1995, but can't be sure. Again can anyone confirm this please? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

Why is June considered so poor for this year? I thought the first week was quite warm and sunny, particularly the 1st and then from the 21st to the end of the month it was largely dry and very warm-hot. What was the south like? Was June this year much worse than 2017 or 2016? Both of those months had a hot and dry spell amongst largely wet weather.

Looks a bit like the first week of July 2001, with hot and humid weather and some severe thunderstorms.

So '94 and 2004 were both very thundery summers. Could 2014 be described in a similar way? There was that huge thunderstorm on the evening of 18th/19th July, but can't remember much else.

What made 2000-01 so much better than the following year? There was the snowy spell between Christmas and New Year, but other than that I seem to remember mainly mild weather. Can remember a lot of sunny weather in February and a sunny and cold spell in early March.

Similar to 2016 as well?

How would you assess last summer? Since the summer we've just had, I've heard some people refer to last year as shocking and other similar words, but was it that bad? I suppose last year will suffer since it wasn't on the level of this year and I guess a similar thing happened with 1994, 1996 and 2005, which were all decent summers in their own right. Without checking the statistics, from memory June was mixed with some extremities; a very wet first 10 days and a VERY hot and dry third week, followed by a fairly disappointing end of the month. The first three weeks of July were also mixed, but not quite as extreme as June; a modest warm spell from about 5th-9th and a slightly more intense heatwave from about 16th-19th which also included thunderstorms. The remainder of the month was quite disappointing and from what I remember this continued throughout August, albeit with a brief good spell around the bank holiday. September was even worse and close to being a washout from memory. How do you remember last year? As I've reviewed above, it certainly wasn't anything special here in the North West, but neither was it the damp squib that some people have recently described it as. That said, I thought the best spell of weather last year was from about the middle of March to the end of May, give or take a few blips around mid-late April (there was a mini winter blast around the 24th-25th April!).

There was exceptional rainfall (showers) which lead to some flash flooding in Manchester on the afternoon of Friday 14th June (think there was thunder too). Also I remember we went to Southport on a Friday in either late July or August and the thing that stands out is how shockingly bad the weather was - persistent rain all day. Does anyone having a likely date for this? On the other hand there was a heatwave in late July, which brought a higher maximum than anything from 2001. I remember some glorious sunny days in the September and October, a handful just by memory. Seem to remember the Easter having a settled spell of weather too; possibly the last time to date that we've had settled weather over an early Easter (31st March)?