Summer 2013

[Milhouse]

Sad to see the back of Summer 2013. Its been such a relief to finally get a decent summer, one thats warmer, drier and sunnier than average for the first time in 7 years. Heres hoping summer 2014 is just as good. But i must say, the models havent recognised its now september so i will gladly take every last helping of summerlike conditions.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I'm surprised at how low the sunshine stats are for Leeming, especially for July- the Leeming total is actually down on the Church Fenton total.  Maybe the North Sea cloud played a larger role than I thought while I was away in Ireland from 15-23 July (where five out of seven days were sunny with temperatures in the mid to high 20s).

 

Comparing with long-term sunshine averages is difficult because of the move from Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorders to Kipp & Zonen sensors.  The Kipp & Zonen sunshine total at Leeming was 527 hours, which is equal to the Met Office's estimated average for 1981-2010.  However, the Met Office averages are based on Campbell-Stokes recorders, which, in my experience, record similar totals during the winter months but tend to overestimate by 10-15% in the summer months, due to overburning of the card in strong intermittent sunshine.  Thus, Leeming almost certainly had a sunnier-than-average summer this year, despite the "raw" stats suggesting otherwise, and the anomaly was probably 10-15%.

[reef]

With the August 2013 CET coming in at 16.9C, that means the summer as a whole is 16.27C. Thats the 15th warmest summer since 1900 and 44th warmest in the 355 years of the CET series.

 

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/ssn_HadCET_mean_sort.txt

 

With regards to rainfall, it was actually quite remarkable, with a total of 91.3mm, making it the 3rd driest in 248 years with only 1976 (74.0mm) and 1995 (66.9mm) being drier.

 

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadukp/data/ranked_seasonal/HadEWP_ranked_ssn.dat

 

Its definitely hard to argue that it has been a good summer.

[Jax]

With the August 2013 CET coming in at 16.9C, that means the summer as a whole is 16.27C. Thats the 15th warmest summer since 1900 and 44th warmest in the 355 years of the CET series.

 

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/ssn_HadCET_mean_sort.txt

 

With regards to rainfall, it was actually quite remarkable, with a total of 91.3mm, making it the 3rd driest in 248 years with only 1976 (74.0mm) and 1995 (66.9mm) being drier.

 

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadukp/data/ranked_seasonal/HadEWP_ranked_ssn.dat

 

Its definitely hard to argue that it has been a good summer.

Agreed, it has been a fantastic summer when you look at the recent run of poor summers this one stands proud.

[cheese]

It's certainly been good, but not great. It ended up duller than average as I expected. Lots of dry, warm and usable weather regardless, and very few days having no sun at all. In my memory, it will appear sunnier than it actually was because the  vast majority of days at least had a sunny spell either in the morning or afternoon.

[Jax]

It's certainly been good, but not great. It ended up duller than average as I expected. Lots of dry, warm and usable weather regardless, and very few days having no sun at all. In my memory, it will appear sunnier than it actually was because the  vast majority of days at least had a sunny spell either in the morning or afternoon.

a location thing then?

[cheese]

a location thing then?

Yes, exactly. This summer could have been better than it was, June was disappointing, and August, while consistently warm, was rather cloudy. But overall, good. For some, great.

Edited September 1, 2013 by cheese

[Costa Del Fal]

Yep, what a fantastic 'meteorological' summer. But astronomical summer lives on and so does the summerlike conditions.

[Gaz1985]

Sunshine stats From Weather Online and Reading Uni site

                     June Jul Aug Tot Rnk MD  Ave RnkValley (10 m)         226 314 157 697   1  1 7.83   1IoM / Ronaldsway AP   231 298 154 683   2  0 7.59   2Herstmonceux (52 m)   183 267 215 665   3  0 7.39   5Bournemouth (10 m)    189 268 191 648   4  4 7.53   4Aberporth (134 m)     216 284 143 643   5  1 7.22   6Odiham (118 m)        168 277 187 632   6  0 7.02   8Camborne (88 m)       187 277 162 626   7  0 6.96   9Filton (59 m)         202 290 134 626   7  2 7.11   7Wattisham (89 m)      168 253 200 621   9  0 6.90  10Manston (50 m)        156 255 204 615  10  0 6.83  11London Heathrow AP    156 268 186 610  11  0 6.78  12St Athan (49 m)       106 308 193 607  12 10 7.59   3Yeovilton (20 m)      171 265 144 580  13  2 6.59  13Boulmer (27 m)        200 212 156 568  14  0 6.31  14Waddington (68 m)     157 232 174 563  15  0 6.26  15Nottingham/Watnall    155 234 159 548  16  0 6.09  17Wittering (73 m)      156 230 159 545  17  2 6.19  16Church Fenton (8 m)   155 223 160 538  18  0 5.98  18Shawbury (72 m)       161 258 116 535  19  0 5.94  19Leeming (32 m)        165 207 155 527  20  0 5.86  20Prestwick (27 m)      175 228 111 514  21  0 5.71  21Glasgow Bishopton     174 223 114 511  22  0 5.68  22Kinloss (5 m)         160 219 112 491  23  2 5.58  23Tiree Island (12 m)   191 181 118 490  24  0 5.44  24Edinburgh Gogarbank   151 209 101 461  25  0 5.12  25Leuchars (10 m)       152 185 122 459  26  0 5.10  26Aviemore (228 m)      134 217 103 454  27  0 5.04  27Aberdeen/Dyce (69 m)  139 177 131 447  28  0 4.97  29Belfast/Aldergrove AP 103 236 095 434  29  3 4.99  28Stornoway (15 m)      134 184 098 416  30  0 4.62  30	Eskdalemuir (242 m)   126 184 068 378  31  0 4.20  31 Kirkwall AP (21 m)    099 144 111 354  32  0 3.93  32Lerwick (84 m)        111 092 091 294  33  3 3.38  33

These figures are up to and including 30th August.

 

Overall this summer, western areas have done better for sunshine, however this has switched around in August to Eastern areas.

 

If we take the last couple of days as an example, High pressure did not make it as far north as expected, so we found ourselves with  Westerly / South Westerly winds on the northern flank of High Presure rather than Easterly winds on the southern flank of High Presure, so what would have been the best weather in the west turned out better in the east.

 

Whilst it's not so great here Eskdalemuir must be one of the dullest places in Britain, been following that station for over 10 years and a lot of the time it reports cloudy skies.

[cheese]

Whilst it's not so great here Eskdalemuir must be one of the dullest places in Britain, been following that station for over 10 years and a lot of the time it reports cloudy skies.

I believe the apparent cloudiness of Eskdalemuir may be down to the surrounding hilly topography.

[Summer of 95]

116 for Shawbury to 30 August (and little more yesterday, 2 hrs max)- I wasn't imagining it then it was very dull. That's on a par with 2010 and 2011, and not much better than 2008. Just about the dullest place in England again.

[Summer Sun]

Another very warm week ahead forecast for the start of Autumn as the summer warmth continues - http://forum.netweather.tv/topic/69782-weather-in-the-general-media-newspaper-features-etc/?p=2778842

 

[hillbilly]

Another very warm week ahead forecast for the start of Autumn as the summer warmth continues - http://forum.netweather.tv/topic/69782-weather-in-the-general-media-newspaper-features-etc/?p=2778842

 

Its far from summer here......its autumn...had my coat on all day first time in ages and I was frozen...a stiff wind  low cloud and a high of 14!!!!!!!!!

[cheese]

116 for Shawbury to 30 August (and little more yesterday, 2 hrs max)- I wasn't imagining it then it was very dull. That's on a par with 2010 and 2011, and not much better than 2008. Just about the dullest place in England again.

It's really quite dull even on average in comparison to the surrounding area. I'm not sure why. Perhaps Shawbury's valley position means topography blocks daylight, or it is more prone to fog?

[Milhouse]

Winter stole a month of spring so hopefully Summer can manage to hang on for a while yet. I'm rather looking forward to the warmth returning soon so i can get the shorts back out.

[laserguy]

Its far from summer here......its autumn...had my coat on all day first time in ages and I was frozen...a stiff wind  low cloud and a high of 14!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Really autumnal here today - very breezy,very cool and with those glowering,steely grey skies more redolent of mid-Nov than the first day after August. It's wonderful and feels like coming home from an excursion to hell. Messing around in the garden,tinkering with me motorbike etc etc without battling the sun,warmth,humidity and general yukkiness which has dominated the last five months or so. Leaves aren't turning yet but the breeze of today has them rattling like fingers on the hands of a skeleton. Ah,good riddance,summer!

[Summer of 95]

It's really quite dull even on average in comparison to the surrounding area. I'm not sure why. Perhaps Shawbury's valley position means topography blocks daylight, or it is more prone to fog?

 

Shawbury is on the North Shropshire plain, it's miles away from the really hilly areas of the county. The biggest hills nearby are only 150-200m (Haughmond and Clive/Grinshill), they don't block hardly any sun. It's not particularly foggy there- less so than by the Severn in Shrewsbury (Preston Montford by that river is even duller according to the MO averages).

 

It is just inexplicably, unbelievably cloudy most of the time round here!

[Mark Neal.]

What a summer it has been! Any unsettled weather has been brief. Many areas round here are suffering from having hardly any rain. Sunshine amounts well above average and temperatures have seemed warm for months now. What a contrast from recent summers aye 

[Jax]

Another fantastic summers day here has been had, early call on it being cool did not last long.

[laserguy]

 Many areas round here are suffering from having hardly any rain.

 

Hopefully autumn will put an emphatic end to that suffering...

[AderynCoch]

With regards to rainfall, it was actually quite remarkable, with a total of 91.3mm, making it the 3rd driest in 248 years with only 1976 (74.0mm) and 1995 (66.9mm) being drier.

 

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadukp/data/ranked_seasonal/HadEWP_ranked_ssn.dat

 

That's only June and July. August's figures haven't been confirmed yet.

 

I should imagine that it will still be a pretty dry summer though.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I see that according to Roger Brugge's stats, Church Fenton records sunshine using a Campbell-Stokes recorder, rather than a Kipp & Zonen sensor as used at Leeming.  Typically in summer the K-Z sensor records 10-15% less sunshine because the C-S recorder overburns the card in strong intermittent sunshine.

 

Hence, although the "raw" stats may show up Church Fenton as having had 2% more sunshine than Leeming, in reality it was almost certainly cloudier.  The main difference between the two locations stems from June, when Leeming recorded 10 hours more sunshine with the K-Z sensor than Church Fenton did with the C-S sensor.  This is consistent with my recollections of several days during early June when the Leeming/Topcliffe region was not affected by low cloud to anywhere near the extent that places further east were.

 

It appears that Church Fenton did have a relatively cloudy summer, though being something of an anomalous case, perhaps more prone than most to the incursions of North Sea stratocumulus during the June and July anticyclonic spells.

Edited September 1, 2013 by Thundery wintry showers

[cheese]

Yes, I'm not making it up, it was a cloudy summer here. July's sunshine anomaly wasn't even that great compared to almost everywhere else. I was hoping to get over 50% of possible sun in July but that didn't happen. It's been a cloudy year in general though with only April and July having above average sunshine, although February was very 'average' according to the Reading Met site.

Edited September 2, 2013 by cheese

[Bottesford]

February I remember as constantly dull, cold/raw (but not freezing) and windy. Pretty grim but then my image of it was tainted with many mornings spent freezing to death on Tamworth station changing trains.

[Milhouse]

February I remember as constantly dull, cold/raw (but not freezing) and windy. Pretty grim but then my image of it was tainted with many mornings spent freezing to death on Tamworth station changing trains.

 

I had gone down to London one weekend late in February to watch the Gunners vs Aston Villa. I recall stepping off the train in Kings Cross at about 9am in the morning wondering why i had chosen to get such an early train down and having to endure 6 hours of cold before the match. It was in one of those all too frequent raw easterly spells. Even in mid April i was travelling down to London again looking at all the bare hedgerows and very sorry looking fields. It soon changed though within a month.

Lovely and warm today i must add. People out in tshirts again after yesterdays coats.