Summer of 95

The saviour of 2014 at the moment for me is June and July; both were sunny months here with plenty of warm days. For once we seemed to do better than many places regarding sunshine in those two months. "Winter" was unforgettable simply because it was so awful- a near complete lack of cold, frost and snow but not that many real mild days- it was just 5-8C and raining for 3 months. The real bore this year has been the shoulder seasons of spring and autumn- instead of the varied weather they can provide they have been monotonously above average but without any real heat, with a real lack of temperature variation or notable weather events. No 21C till late May, and nothing above 23C after the 8th of August. Nearly all the time they seem to have been in the teens and cloudy.

To be honest 2009 was pretty tedious round here, we missed all the interesting weather. February's cold spell was mediocre (5cm greatest snow depth and only one ice day) and December's was a complete non event (1cm on one day was all we got). Spring and autumn were very monotonous and there was no real notable warm sunny spell. It also had a lot of SE v the rest syndrome, especially in August. When rubbish summer months are named and shamed, I seem to be the only one who ever mentions July 2009. It was atrocious, wetter than 1988, 2007 or 2012 and had no thunder at all. Was it only here it was that bad?

For Richard's part of the world I'm not so sure. Braemar had an average min of -1.2 but only 15 air frosts that month, suggesting there was one big cold snap and a lot of bland rubbish. 6.6 sunshine hours for the whole month suggests so too. It seems to have been very January 1996-esque up there, even more so probably at Aberdeen on the coast.

November 1968 seems to have been singularly lacking in anything. Here is what Trevor Harley's site says about that month: "About average temperatures overall" That's it. Wow. This is the site that notes random thunderstorms, and even gives monotonous westerly months from the 1920s something like "Wet in the NW, dry in the SE. Average temperatures. 22.1C at London on the 3rd". Looking at the Charts, the greater part of that month seemed to feature a Scandinavian high combined with unusually high upper air temperatures, and Atlantic lows trying but failing to attack. 5-8C and cloud guaranteed for most, especially the East coast. Nothing suggesting snow, thunder, high or low temperatures. There was a mild Bartlett right at the end for a final insult.

Throwing it down here again, yet not heard or seen anything. The radar showed what looked like cells over us this afternoon, but still there eas nothing but rain.

After the first glimpse of Sun since Sunday this morning it has now been raining solidly for 4 hours, a mixture of torrential and moderate stuff, the forecast was for isolated showers.

Just found this topic, thought I'd bring it back to put September 2014 in its rightful place. Definitely one for this category, all that dry, rainless anticyclonic weather yet so much cloud. It seemed to have perfect synoptics for a Sep/Oct 2011 or April 2007 repeat, yet at best we would get one nice day before it would just cloud over for no reason (no depressions, convective weather or troughs) and stay cloudy for 4-5 days. And despite being the warmest since 2006 it had nothing above 23C, even the very unremarkable Sept 2013 beat that. And although very dry, it had just enough non-thundery rain to prevent it being in the exceptional category.

Yuck. We had over a month of that rubbish last Oct into Nov, not welcome back any time. Ice on the top of the car this morning, really weird how it was clear till 7 then thick mist descended by 7.30 which is only just clearing.

Rain cleared a couple of hours ago, but just seen a bright flash to the west

Distant rumbles just started, rain only light though

I noticed the Shropshire wet patch too . Certainly wasn't from anything thundery. Sunshine map should be interesting, I think parts of the east have done even worse than here. The August 2003 sunshine anomaly map is still the one to make Shropshire weep, with that little grey patch in among a sea of orange.

It was crystal clear till at least 2am after yesterday's cloud cleared from the North: where the hell has this muck come from? Looking from the satellite it seems to be moving W-E and has now covered all of England and Wales: it's not North Sea grot then. It has crossed the Welsh mountains and Pennines as though they weren't there.

The 2 years starting March 1995 was the longest extended "dry" I can remember. There hardly seemed to be any westerly months or even long westerly spells: only September 1995 was notably wetter than average and it wasn't as wet as September 1994. Any wet weather came either from thunderstorms or brief shower northerlies, there really was very little Atlantic stuff. Feb 1997 was the first westerly month since the winter of 94/5, but it wasn't especially wet, just mild and windy. At the time it felt like an early 90s throwback as I'd got so used to cold, dry winter months. The dry spell only really ended with the disgusting month of June 1997. And then from June 1997 right to the end of 2002 seemed like one long drawn out "wet". I only remember two months in this spell being noticeably anticyclonic and dry, July 1999 and December 2001.

Thick fog first thing this morning (again), then nice till 11 but really disappointingly cloudy since. So much for the change of airmass....

We had an hour or so of quite heavy rain about 1pm, but otherwise a dank dull humid nothing day. No thunder, no sun, no wind, almost no daylight.

What a glorious day. This week is doing well at making up for last week's unforecast muck. Feels warmer than anytime since early August.

Another 2009/2010? I'd rather catch herpes. That winter was torture here, 2006/7 beat it for snow depth. The winter equivalent of dull, boring August 2003. December 2010, that one is welcome back whenever it likes. If it had January 2013 and February 1994 after it even better :-)

Much nicer day today, plenty of blue skies and and sunshine. Only downside is not quite as warm as it could be, but very pleasant nonetheless.

Sun tried to come out about 2 but now gone in again. Last night it looked on the satellite like there was a good clearance behind that front, but still we have this featureless grey rubbish. It's getting really boring now...

High summer for me is about 10 July to 20 August. During this period it is extremely unusual to get maxima under 15C in England and Wales below 1000ft asl. During late May, June and early July they can still happen, even if most days can be expected to reach 16-23 or so; hence this is early summer. Likewise 20 August up until mid October they can happen, and get increasingly common towards the end of the period. But you can still get 20C or more. This is late summer or early autumn, the choice is yours. In winter a line is crossed in February after which it is difficult for a dusting of snow to persist through the day, and ice days become rare. Also once this line is crossed in February it isn't unusual to get a 15C day when the sun comes out in England and Wales. Even if nights can still be very cold, after about 15 Feb through to late March is late winter. Late winter should be distinguished from winter proper. This ends when the above starts, though its start can vary from late November (e.g. 2010) to late December. 1cm of snow can lie for days, ice days occur, and temps over 15C only occur downwind of mountains in cloudy SWly setups. This last feature is important: even in mild winters you only get 15C during this season under the conditions stated above. Not in sunny anticyclonic like in late winter. Late March to mid May is spring. Anything from air frosts to 25C heat is possible, as is snow though it won't lie for long. Mobile westerlies are at their least frequent, though can still occur. Mid Oct to the start of winter (varies, see above) is the grim season, often around 10C with cloud and rain and wind. Snow and 20C+ heat are both extremely rare, and the only nice thing about this season is the occasional frosty, foggy spell. These seem rarer and rarer though.

We didn't get any of the wretched stuff all June and July. Is the cold August cooling the seas the reason for this cloud

Very precise measurement :lol:

Sun started coming out about 11 but now gone in again- what the hell! Anticyclonic gloom belongs in Nov, Dec, Jan only!

What is wrong with BST all year? That way we get lighter evenings in winter but the daylight changes naturally without those sudden lurches associated with changing the clocks. The sudden plunge to pre-5pm sunsets in late October is especially annoying, particularly if it occurs at the start of the half term week. And the useless 6am sunrises in March, what a waste.

Yes a nice afternoon now, lots of blue sky and only a few Cu. Those sheets of altocumulus that were being a pest this morning have moved away eastwards.