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What is an Indian Summer? A spell of late warmth, that reminds us of summer in the UK. Within the autumn months, do we need a frost first, or a cool spell?

125 years ago, Britain was suffering through one of the most unpleasant looking autumns I can find in the record books. An exceptionally wet September, the fifth coldest October on record & a very cold November. To set the scene, the first half of 1896 had been remarkably dry. The previous winter had been bone dry & apart from a wet March, the spring proved to be even drier. Then summer only provided average rainfall. To top it off, it had also been a mild winter & spring and June was exceptionally warm. We hadn't had a notably wetter than average month since Jul. 1895; drought! First signs of change came in August, which while not wet, was cold with a C.E.T of 14.3. The first signs of change came on the 25th/26th with a divebombing low pressure system introducing rain and cold northerly winds. This would set the scene for the next couple of months. Let's start with... September, 1896 Extremely wet with frequent gales and rather cool temperatures. It was the wettest of any month since Oct. 1891. Sunshine was in very short supply too, with large swathes recording 60-70% of their average. Even the sunniest (to average) places, such as Stornoway, recieved 85% of their average. The C.E.T stands at 13.1. This, to me, looks like a classic case of mild nights but very cool days, backed up by how dull it was. Early September generally featured weak pressure over and to the south of the country with rather cool weather, showers and thunderstorms. A more sustained push from the Atlantic came on the 9th. This was the warmest part of the month, though few places exceeded 21degC. It became cooler on the 13th when the SW flow got cut off. The second half of the month became very cold with weather more akin to November with deep areas of low pressure, unusually so for September, crossing the UK in succesion. The chart for the 25th looks exceptionally wet. A real soaker! The final day of the month saw pressure rise, perhaps giving false hope for a fine October, but it was not to be... October, 1896 Spectacularly cold, with a C.E.T. of 6.9; the fifth coldest October. A very changeable month with many gales and an unusual excess of lightning and thunder. Sunshine was once again in short supply, the strange exception being the southwest and southern coasts. Brighton recorded 141% of their average sunshine. Despite this, the first week of the month was actually quite mild, showing how exceptionally cold the second-half was. Winds generally came from the Atlantic and were strong to gale force. Cold air flood south during the 9th/10th, introducing much colder -5 upper air temperatures across all of Scotland and into N England. The 10th and 11th saw widespread falls of snow, particularly in the north. Crazy by modern standards! It then goes into a very blocked pattern mid-month. I imagine this must have been very dull, chilly, raw and wet. Northerly winds persisted for the entire rest of the month, with many falls of snow, particularly in the north, a regular occurence. On the night of the 24th/25th the temperature dipped tp 17degF/-8degC. Severe penetrating frosts for the time of year were common everywhere Winds veered NE for months end. That takes us into the final month... November, 1896 Another very cold month, though a flick through the archives doesn't look spectacular, one has to remember that it was a lot easier to get cold weather under high pressure. The C.E.T. stands at 4.3. Speaking of high pressure, the dry theme of 1896 came back! A very dry month with one fourth of the average rainfall across the south and west, though some big thunderstorms occured on the 1st and the 19th. Sunshine was in excess, being a very sunny November. An unstable and quite cold flow from the northeast to start the month, continuing the sharp frosts from late October, then briefly dry and fine under high pressure before a cold NE flow bringing snow on the 7th/8th. The 9th to the 14th was somewhat milder with winds reverting to a west direction, but not overly unsettled as pressure remained high. The 14/15th was the only truly unsettled period of the month, though not a normal Atlantic driven set up, the flow is NW/SE. Another quite mild period came, but high pressure came back to rule the roost by the 21st. This was quite mild in the north with temperatures reaching the mid-teens celsius. It turned much colder at months end with easterly winds. This is when the coldest temperatures of the month were recorded, the coldest being 18F at Braemar (not as cold as Octobers minimum!). Quite random, but that chart for the 30th of November reminds me a lot of New Year's Day 2002. Overall... Sept. 1896 is currently the 6th wettest September on record, while Nov. 1896 is the 10th driest on record! Oct. 1896 is the 5th coldest on record. Autumn, 1896 is the 10th coldest on record. Only 1919 and 1952 have been colder since. After such a cold autumn, the following winter wasn't much to write home about, but not complete interest. The winter of 1896/1897 was changeable. December was mostly very mild but with a very cold snap in the run-up to Christmas. Jan. 1897 was cold, especially in the second half, but Feb. 1897 was very mild everywhere.

Autumn is that time of year where the weather becomes cooler, trees become dazzling displays of vivid colours, nights get longer and mist weaves through the valleys like fluff! But Autumn isn't for everyone and there may be aspects about the season that you love and/or hate. What would you say you like or dislike about Autumn? For me, Positives: - It's refreshing and feels like a fresh start to the academic year - I love the magical transformation as the trees and shrubs change colour from green to various shades of yellow, orange, reds, pinks and purples. Makes the landscape look very pretty - It can be cold enough for snow in Autumn (October 2008, November 2005 and November 2010 being examples of this here) - Cold, sunny, frosty mornings make for some refreshing walks Negatives: - I like Summer better - The shorter days (although the longer nights does make it great for watching films and playing computer games) - Getting up while it's dark for work - mostly towards late Autumn - is quite depressing - Cold, cloudy, drizzly days - Harder to carry out outdoor activies due to the shorter days and my motivation is worse than it is in Spring and Summer

After having been a long time lurker on this forum, I have felt the time was right (also plucked up the courage) to finally break my silence Now I know that there may well be brickbats heading my way for even mentioning autumn this early in July, and I'm also well aware that this thread could well be closed due to its untimeliness, but the first signs of autumn are becoming more and more noticeable with each passing day... Today amongst other things, I noticed my first Lords 'n' Ladies plant (with big green juicy berries on it) nestling amongst the nettles... Plus the nights are starting to draw in now aren't they? Now I know that most people will immediately start thinking of yet more wind and rain at the slightest mention of of the coming season, but I don't see autumn like that... Personally I see autumn as a Keatsian season with 'mists and mellow fruitfulness', with that wonderful autumn smell So, lets start the ball rolling for another year, and this is personally what I would like autumn 2016 to pan out like... September: A month of gentle warmth, and sunshine, but with a noticeable chill and slight dampness in the air come evening time. October: Hopefully this will be the month when we see those first mists turn into proper fogs, but also I would like to see plenty of those sunny days, when the air has that hazy/smokey/golden appearance to it, along with trees of red, gold, orange and yellow. November: This is the time when I'd like to see the first proper frost of the season - frost days, along with fog days, and also a few red line wind storms as well, plus a bit of sunshine as well So what about other peoples thoughts hopes and wishes for autumn 2016? PS. Mods, if I've put this in the wrong place, then feel free to move or delete as required.

This is similar to my "Summer vs. Winter" poll I did a few weeks back, but this one has a few differences. You can now choose between any season and also tell us all which one you hate. Why make this thread? - Well why not! My favourite season is quite a difficult choice between Spring and Summer, but I think Summer does just come out a bit farther ahead. This is because I like the feeling of being warm and having long days to do what you want with. I also like the powerful thunderstorms that Summer creates. Spring however does bring quite varied weather, like the possibility of a March snowfall and an early arrival of Summer in May, but as said, I think I prefer Summer slightly more. My least favourite season would definately be Autumn. I absolutely hate Autumn! The only thing I like about it is how beautiful the trees can look but that is about it. September is the only decent month with the other two simply being a mix of horrible wet and windy weather. It is also too cold and too dark to now enjoy the sun and warmth and it's too mild for snow. You're also watching everything die and rot, especially in October and November. Autumn is just depressing in my opinion and that's why I hate it!

Autumn here on Netweather tends to strike up the warm autumns/mild winters debate. This is a theory that suggests that warmer autumns are often followed by milder winters. Since this debate pops up quite a lot every autumn, I thought that I do a bit of research myself, and either prove or disprove this theory. I have taken the mean average UK temperature for every autumn and its following winter for every year since autumn 1980 and the following winter 1980-81, all the way up until our most recent pairing of autumn 2013 and the following winter 2013-14. I then plotted all of this data on a scatter graph (below). The results show that there is a slight positive correlation between the two, meaning that there is a slight tendency for a warm autumn to be followed by a milder winter and a cooler autumn to be followed by a colder winter. However I must stress that the correlation is really very weak. This is because there are many instances of the opposite occuring (ie. a warm autumn followed by a cold winter and a cool autumn being followed by a mild winter). This means that my research would suggest that a warmer autumn does slightly increase the chances of us getting a milder winter, however it is only a very, very slight increase.

I was just thinking about my favourite season and why, and was wondering on other peoples opinions. Mine is Winter!

Please use this thread for your regional discussions about the current weather or what is being forecast for the next few days in the South East and East Anglia link to the previous one........ http://forum.netweather.tv/topic/77866-south-east-east-anglia-regional-weather-discussion-170913/page-39

Please could anyone tell me when the Dll will die off. There are thousands in the field next to me and I'm petrified off them. It's been 3 weeks now they've been hanging around! Do I really have to wait until the first frost before they are killed off!

[center]Short update can be found at the very bottom[/center] [center][size=5]Autumn 2013 Forecast[/size][/center] The forecast below is made using the CFS monthly and seasonal forecast data as well as data from Climate Simulator a program where I input data of the current climate and it calculates the temperatures of the following months. [size=5]September[/size] Temperatures - For the rest of September near to average, with Southern parts of England experiencing some brief periods of colder weather. Rainfall - Similar with the temperatures for the rest of the month average rainfall. [size=5]October[/size] Rainfall - October for most of the UK is looking above average especially for Western parts meanwhile the far East coasts may get away with average rainfall amounts. [attachment=185915:OR.png] Temperature - Overall the UK in general looks to have average temperatures but Southern parts of England may get some spells of warmer weather and the far North of Scotland some spells of colder weather. Climate Simulator backs up the CFS forecasts and gives the UK temperatures 0.3c above average. [attachment=185916:OT.png] [size=5]November[/size] Rainfall - November is expected to carry on the above rainfall amounts from October although this time its mostly England, Wales and Ireland while most of Scotland are closer to average in the North. [attachment=185917:NR.png] Temperatures - Average temperatures for the whole of the UK says the CFS but the Climate Simulator gives us 0.5c above average temperatures. Overall I believe Novembers temperatures will be mostly average but some periods of weather may bring in slightly warmer temperatures. [size=5]Monthly Pressure Patterns[/size] [size=5]October - [/size]Strong high pressure sits to our North West in the Atlantic, [attachment=185920:Preo.png] [size=5]November -[/size] Similar pressure set up to October, [attachment=185921:Pren.png] [center][size=5]Start of Winter Predictions[/size][/center] [size=5]December[/size] This isn't a actual forecast yet just a very quick look at the start of winter. Rainfall - Looking very wet across the West and average elsewhere. Temperatures - CFS goes for average temperatures and Climate Simulator 0.3c above average. [size=5]Overall -[/size] Autumn looks mostly wet and probably unsettled at times, temperatures close to average for most of the time but some mild spells of weather may make things slightly warmer than usual. Early winter looks to carry this on through being wet with around average temperatures. [center][b][size=5]Update 1st of November 2013[/size][/b][/center][color=rgb(40,40,40)][font=helvetica] [b]November[/b][/font][/color] [color=rgb(40,40,40)][font=helvetica] Rainfall - Average or above average in general but the far North of Scotland may get away with slightly less than average.[/font][/color] [color=rgb(40,40,40)][font=helvetica] Temperature - Using both Climate Simulator and CFS data they agree on temperatures staying above average or at times close to average.[/font][/color] [color=rgb(40,40,40)][font=helvetica] Pressure Patterns - Low pressure mainly situated over Iceland and high pressure over Europe and at times over the UK. With the UK being sandwiched between the two it explains the average or above average temperatures and rainfall mostly above average.[/font][/color] [color=rgb(40,40,40)][font=helvetica] Quick look at the start of Winter December and January - Please note this isn't my winter 2013/2014 forecast it will be put together at the end of November.[/font][/color] [color=rgb(40,40,40)][font=helvetica] [b]December[/b] - Lower than average temperatures and rainfall going by the CFS. Climate Simulator doesn't exactly agree it goes for more average temperatures but does agree on some short cold spells making temperatures drop just slightly below average.[/font][/color] [color=rgb(40,40,40)][font=helvetica] [b]January[/b] - Below average rainfall for the North but above for the South. Average temps in the South but below average in the North says the CFS. Climate Simulator which I've been using for over a year now and yet to be wrong goes for average temperatures in the first half of January with short cold spells but the second half of January turns much colder about 1.5c nearly 2c below normal. It will be interesting to see if it changes it mind when running it again with more data at the end of the month for the winter forecast.[/font][/color]

Resume discussion for the newly started Autumn season. Well, summer has flown through and Autumn shades are imminent. Well......so it was about 18 hours ago. What does everyone think about the upcoming Autumn for Ireland. Wet and Windy, a Late Summer, or just a mix mash? Personally I think it will be drier than Summer as a whole and with above average sunshine. A few deep depressions in the mix, mainly in October. November likely to be the driest Month.

Please discuss the upcoming cold snap in this thread

We're running an autumn photo competition over on facebook, with prizes of nw extra subscriptions (lite and radar) and mousemats you can get involved here : http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151185782714326&set=a.263185829325.139818.8623474325&type=1 Good luck

Well, we have now reached the point in the year where widespread overnight frost can start appearing in the models / actually occur. I believe that we had a similar thread last year. So let's discuss any possible future opportunities for both ground and air frost and of should it happen people can let us all know in this thread!