How Was The Summer For You?

[William of Walworth]

How was my summer? Under settled and over Atlanticised and far too Southerly Tracking Jet dominated (here in West Wales).

Insufficiently anticyclonic. In July, far too wet and chilly as well.

[Eugene]

Yes i would sum it up the same here in the west midlands william though not as wet as in west wales.

Very windy unsettled summer with no HP centred over the country which is pathetic in summer when you would expect at least one anticyclone to sit over central UK for at least a week, more HP in June but it was centred over to our northwest and northeast feeding in cool northerlies and warmer easterly winds.

[Milhouse]

Yes i would sum it up the same here in the west midlands william though not as wet as in west wales.

Very windy unsettled summer with no HP centred over the country which is pathetic in summer when you would expect at least one anticyclone to sit over central UK for at least a week, more HP in June but it was centred over to our northwest and northeast feeding in cool northerlies and warmer easterly winds.

Despite recording the warmest August in over 10 years i was really disapointed by the lack of any quiet anticyclonic conditions. There always seemed to be a breeze which may have been welcome on the hotter days but ended up being quite annoying.

[The PIT]

Wet June and July looked like a brief chance of a record wet summer with the August forecast but August turned out to be dry. Temps close too just above average. Still one of the wettest summer son record for us though.

[PB22]

A very warm summer, and apart from July, it was very dry too. The last six weeks here have seen some of the warmest and driest summer weather for many years, and we currently have trees shedding their leaves because of the drought, and the grass has burnt up. A classic BBQ summer as forecast by the Met Office for this part of the world anyway.

[J10]

2 decent months and 1 atrocious one. June was quite warm, with quite a lot of dryish weather with some warm spells at times.

July was a nightmare, the 2nd wettest on record for Wales, and even the "hot" spell at the start, didn't amount to much.

August was a mix, there was a 14 day spell with no day having more than 2 mm of rain, of most of these days were totally dry. However the end was quite wet with close to 50mm over the last 2 weeks. Temps slightly above average, sunshine below and temps slightly above.

All in all a frustrating summer, with the blatant differences between here and other parts of the UK. Most people I speak though are not as generous as me with regards to the summer weather.

[Eugene]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/weather/article6816348.ece

Reading comments below the article i've linked to above it seems alot of people aren't happy at all with the summer or the UKMO's forecast, i especially liked the guy joking about using his old ZX80 to get a more accurate forecast for next summer than the UKMO and their superdupercomputer

Good comments by most apart from the one guy at the bottom asking where the wet and windy weather was 8 35 am this morning, he should of been patient and he would of got it :lol:

The UKMO are right for once it is going to be a wet and windy week ahead settling down by saturday, at least lets give them some credit when they are very rarely correct

[stormchaser1]

Appalling here in the North East

June and July was a complete washout, July was the worst month, August wasnt too bad, but still wet

since moving here 9 years ago this has to be one of the worst summers i have witnessed

[ANYWEATHER]

Well, the Summer all in all has been very BORING here, have not yet done my calculations for August but off the top of my head, June had plenty of sunshine but the rainfall was above average, July had loads of rain and August well..... :lol:

[Shiny_Bottom_1]

Wetter than hoped, but overall, not bad (Could have been worse).

No major notable hot spells after June, but only the odd chilly day.

[conor123]

Out of all the summers this was the one ive caught the sun most in though it was average, in fact below average summer here overall.

June started fine but the majority of the month was pretty uninteresting until it warmed up towards the end of the month with some good sunny days,

July started reasonable with the highest temperature of the year at nearly 29c on the 2nd, the weather declined after that though Sunday 12th was a lovely

day wind aside, however after that the month was very much uninteresting.

I was in Cyprus from 2-9th August but it seemed pretty bleak though warm while i was gone, the 11th August was a lovely day at 24c and 22nd August

was a great day for V Festival though overall it was pretty average and the last week was ridiculously dull.

Overall a mixed summer, there was NO thunderstorms whatsoever from what i can remember! apart from a BRIEF attempt at one which i cant even remember when it happened.

Hopefully a sunnier and more thundery summer next year.

[Snowyowl9]

There has certainly been more sunshine and showers this summer from the atlantic,July was the by far the most impressive month for thundery showers,June much more of an easterly month and a dry spell and the only really very warm thundery humid spell into early July,overall this month has been totally thunder free,so august goes as the most uneventfull summer month again,but another dry spell early this month so overall it has been very wet but quite a memorable summer besides august,not forgetting those cold NE-lys in early June.

Edited September 1, 2009 by Snowyowl9

[Evening thunder]

(Wrote most of this this morning, but didn't have time to finish stats etc so saved it and will post now )

Quite poor here overall Id say, although perhaps slightly better than last year and the year before. A notable feature was that again there were no proper hot days and not many above 25C

June was quite good at times and the best month of the summer, with 3 very warm days at the start of the month, and quite a warm dry last 10 days to the month. there was also unusually cool spell around the 6th - 10th though. There were only 7 rain days, with over half the months total falling on the 6th. Highest max: 26.1C on the 1st.

July was overall very poor from a summer weather perspective, with a very wet 175.0mm of rain. Temperatures here were actually Below average for the month here. Rain fell on 24 days, and several days were 'washed out' with frontal rain lasting most of the day. there were also some convective days with heavy showers which did provide a bit of interest. Also we mostly missed out on the late June/early July hot spell here as it was mostly cloudy with a breeze off the channel. only once did it reach 25.0C which was the highest for the month.

August, while better than July, was by no means good at all unlike the South East, Indeed it rather took the biscuit watching the South East usually getting very warm temps, sunshine and a few hot days, while we were very often cloudy and sometimes just in the teens! Id say the best week was the 2nd week of August which had a few decent mostly sunny and warm days. After that there were still a few warmish, but mostly cloudy days. Rainfall total was average. Highest max: 24.1C

June:

Mean temp: 14.9C (+0.4)

Mean max: 20.0C

Rain: 57.2mm (slightly above average)

July:

Mean temp: 15.7C (-1.1)

Mean max: 19.7C

Rain: 175.0mm (over 4 times above average!)

August:

Mean temp: 16.2C (-0.4)

Mean max: 20.3C

Rain: 56.6mm (average)

Edited September 1, 2009 by StormMad26

[Polar Gael]

June: good, showing lots of potential.

July & August: rubbish, as it seemed to be permanently pishing down over Glasgow and the west of Scotland.

Roll on autumn and a nice anti-cyclonic spell with the first (early) frosts.

[Downpour]

Decent summer all in all here in London.

July was terrible yes, but June was OK, August hot at times. September my yet give us some more warmth, it can often be good down here.

I guess the north and west fared a lot worse than the SE. But in the end I just think it became de rigueur to moan, even London journalists (usually in the fashion pages) were moaning about the "awful" weather when it was mid August and 25 degrees. I can only wonder what they classed as good weather.

[Uncle_Barty]

(Wrote most of this this morning, but didn't have time to finish stats etc so saved it and will post now )

Quite poor here overall Id say, although perhaps slightly better than last year and the year before. A notable feature was that again there were no proper hot days and not many above 25C

June was quite good at times and the best month of the summer, with 3 very warm days at the start of the month, and quite a warm dry last 10 days to the month. there was also unusually cool spell around the 6th - 10th though. There were only 7 rain days, with over half the months total falling on the 6th. Highest max: 26.1C on the 1st.

July was overall very poor from a summer weather perspective, with a very wet 175.0mm of rain. Temperatures here were actually Below average for the month here. Rain fell on 24 days, and several days were 'washed out' with frontal rain lasting most of the day. there were also some convective days with heavy showers which did provide a bit of interest. Also we mostly missed out on the late June/early July hot spell here as it was mostly cloudy with a breeze off the channel. only once did it reach 25.0C which was the highest for the month.

August, while better than July, was by no means good at all unlike the South East, Indeed it rather took the biscuit watching the South East usually getting very warm temps, sunshine and a few hot days, while we were very often cloudy and sometimes just in the teens! Id say the best week was the 2nd week of August which had a few decent mostly sunny and warm days. After that there were still a few warmish, but mostly cloudy days. Rainfall total was average. Highest max: 24.1C

June:

Mean temp: 14.9C (+0.4)

Mean max: 20.0C

Rain: 57.2mm (slightly above average)

July:

Mean temp: 15.7C (-1.1)

Mean max: 19.7C

Rain: 175.0mm (over 4 times above average!)

August:

Mean temp: 16.2C (-0.4)

Mean max: 20.3C

Rain: 56.6mm (average)

Here in Bournemouth, pretty much the same.

July not quite as wet as further west, but pretty dire in terms of 'feel'... 5 weeks of unsettled weather and at no time between 3 July and 7 August did the temperature exceed 22c, and rarely even 20c.

June was so-so.. warm and settled first few days and last few days, not great in between. August was so-so after the 7th with a few bright sunny days.

Definitely a 'below par' summer here, bordering on 'rather poor' due to the frequent long spells of windy weather that also characterised 2008.

[mt-leinster-snow-drifts]

Rubbish , has two spells of good weather in june both lasted for about 4 days. Even then it felt very cool due to a sea breeze off the irish sea. July was a washout but with lots of thunderstorms in the form of blustery showers. August was the worst of all , never got above 20c andlight misty rain and nothing spectacular for the whole month. For here it was similar to 2007 worse than 08 as august 08 was actually very good.

While those SE Englang got 30c we got 14c and mist. Next year can you send us some of your heatwave? PLEASE? LOL!

[Shunter]

Here in North Kent I think distinctly average would be the best way to describe Summer 2009.

The predominant factor throughout the summer though has been the wind. The lack of any prolonged high pressure combined with the continuous southerly tracking jet has delivered higher than normal windspeeds throughout. Indeed I've witnessed as lot of tree damage on occassions caused by the ferocity of some of the gusts. Even during temporary anticyclonic spells North Kent encountered cold easterly winds of idenitical intensity.

Looking forward to a quieter Autumn now !!

[MP-R]

Here in Bristol, the summer was very mixed and overall could probably be called an average summer. As Richard Angwin said on Points West last night:

June: Flaming

July: Flaming Awful

August: Decent

Summer began here on May 23rd. The last week of May was very nice and the first week of June. Equally the last third of June was very nice and warm too with some good thunderstorms and even more 'unsettled' days in June were mostly sunny as we missed out on a lot of the frontal activity and thundery showers. 28.3C was reached on the 2nd and the highest for the month was 29.2C on the 29th. Perhaps the only slightly unpleasant thing for the last few days of June was the humidity and still being at school.

July began like a perfect summer month. Wimbledon on July 1st was fantastic - came back looking like a lobster. In fact that was the hottest day of the summer here at 31.8C. Then from the 3rd it was a cooler but still warm and sunny weekend until thundery showers came late on the 5th and more severely on the 6th with high winds, hail and thunder. I was then on holiday but was horrified by the last two weeks of July which was ruined by too much frontal activity and cloudy ridges with the 23rd/24th being the only convective spell and the 25th being the only nice day! Many days also felt like autumn because of the wind. So as such, after a brilliant start - July was flaming awful!

August however brought a welcome return. Despite a rather wet day on the 4th, the first half of the month up to the 19th was largely dry and relatively sunny. It was consistently warm too but nothing hot. The 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 19th were the sunniest days with the high for the month being 27.2C on the 19th. After that though, interspersed with a few convective days, it was still dry but disappointingly cloudy. Thankfully though, the jumpers came off for August and it was never properly cold!

Let's hope next summer is better with the worst of the wet weather coming in April and May if it has to.

[Barb]

A forgettable and dissapointing summer here in S. Wales, completing the trilogy of The Three Years Without a Summer. I think it was better than last year, but that's not saying much, considering last year was the worst summer I remember. I'd actually say it was worse than 2007.

June: A pretty good month. Generally dry, settled and with some very warm weather. Not spectacular in any departments however - just your average decent summer month, with some unsettled weather too. Around 60mm of rain in total.

July: Absloutely horrific. Started off well but rapidly deteriorated into probably the worst summer month I've ever seen. Almost constant wet weather from start to finish. Around 250mm of rain.

August: Started off good with some settled and dry weather. However, never particularly sunny or warm and there was almost constant wind. After starting promisingly the weather gradually deteriorated throughout the month and it ended up like July with relentless rain. Around 130mm of rain.

The only really memorable thing about this summer was the incredibly wet July, which sort of sums it all up.

Edited September 2, 2009 by Barb

[DR Hosking]

Here in South Northants personally speaking I would say its been a decent summer, I think if you asked anyone round here though they would say its been rubbish, people tend to forget the decent days. Only had one really hot period the end of June beginning of July but thats a good thing in my book as im not a lover of very hot days. I dont have any proper figures to confirm its been a better summer than the last 2 but using my normal barometer of how many days ive worn shorts, its been much better than last year! Last year I could count th nimber of times ive worn shorts on one hand, this year it must be at least 20 times, so by that measurement its been better! I generally only wear shorts when its dry and warmer than 22 or 23 degrees as a rough measurement.

OK at times this summer has been cool and wet, but I would say those days have been far out numbered by the warm sunny days, at least here they have.

Edited September 2, 2009 by DR Hosking

[mushymanrob]

pretty poor...

june started with the promis of a bbq summer and very slowly one short but decent hot/sunny spell occured. it took ages though with alot of cloud but we did get a few hot days..

july was showery, ok i admit i do like huge towering showerclouds...but not all flippin month! no heat, no bbqs, very wet, .... very poor.

august was slightly better but the grass grew like buggery after julys soaking so although the weather seemed 'normal' the grass growth wasnt.

in all .... a very disappointing summer after one that held such promise... the met o's bbq summer prediction, the large influx of painted lady butterflies the largest since 95, and even some of the more knowlegable on here suggested that this summer would be 'more like 95 then 08' .... unfortunately things didnt go according to plan.

damn northern blocking, damn the southerly tracking jet..

will it be 4 wet summers in a row?.... i wouldnt bet against it! (ok the south and southeast were dry)

[DR Hosking]

Right just done some statistical analysis to back up my generalisation that I wore shorts more this year than last!

For the months of June, July and August

Days were max temp was 20c - 24.9c

2007 - 43

2008 - 34

2009 - 47

Days were max temp was 25c - 26.9c

2007 - 1

2008 - 7

2009 - 11

Days were max temp was 27c - 29.9c

2007 - 1

2008 - 2

2009 - 2

Days were max was 30c +

2007 - 0

2008 - 0

2009 - 2

So, yes 2009 was considerably better than 2007 and 2008 here, temperature wise at least!

[James M]

Well for me it seems like another wet summer, although more good days this year than the last two, June was quite nice, overall though I would say pretty average.

[Guest]

A very warm summer, and apart from July, it was very dry too. The last six weeks here have seen some of the warmest and driest summer weather for many years, and we currently have trees shedding their leaves because of the drought, and the grass has burnt up. A classic BBQ summer as forecast by the Met Office for this part of the world anyway.

You must have a mini climate where you are.