Summer 2013 summaries and overall views

[Weather-history]

Am still baffled how it has got so high in the msi listings!

Easy to explain by looking at these maps around Manchester area

Index is dependent on maxima, sunshine hours and rain days.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/anomacts

June sunshine: above average

June rain days: below average

June maxima: about average against 1981-2000

July sunshine: well above average

July rain days: below average

July maxima: well above average

August not out but it is clear to see that sunshine was above average, rain days below and maxima, above average hence why the index is well up the table.

[mushymanrob]

; 8 consecutive days with Max T over 28C and 20 days in the month over 25C

 

interesting, according to accuweather derby had  17 days with temps over 25c, 7 of which were in excess of 28c (but not consecutive, that was 5 for july 15-19 inc). (so your location was better, and supports my earlier 'inconsistent' discription of summer 2013)

 

it was that  cool cloudy weekend (20th 21st) that knocked a hole straight in the middle of the heat, coming at a weekend impacted its effect in losing those days, and my/local impression of the heatwave suffered as a consequence.

Edited September 1, 2013 by mushymanrob

[cheese]

August 2013, Church Fenton

 

Mean max: 22.0°C (+1.2)

Mean min: 12.2°C (+0.5)

Mean: 17.1°C (+1.1)

 

Highest max: 30.8°C (1st)

Lowest min: 7.8°C (8th)

Highest min: 16.5°C (1st)

Lowest max: 17.7°C (31st)

 

Rainfall: 82.0 mm (141.6%)

Rain days: 12

Sunshine: 165.5 hours (90.5%)

 

Warm, duller than average, and wet - the wettest month of the year by far, but mostly because of downpours and that amazing thunderstorm.

Edited September 1, 2013 by cheese

[Captain Shortwave]

What to say

June - The first half was awful, way to draw the short straw, even June 2012 we got temperatures which were ok, but struggling to break double figures for the first half of June is simply ridiculous. My fault to wanting the March cold spell to continue on. The other half was pretty average with just one day exceeding 25C which came from a single day of tropical maritime air. It was drier than average overall. Score - 4/10

July - Pretty darn good month though again our best weather seemed to come at different points to others but that's the ebb and flow of high pressure dominated set ups. Contrary to a lot of areas, the last week or so was really decent with temperatures remaining in the mid/high twenties even when the weather has supposedly already broken down. Drier than average again. Score - 8/10 (marked down for lack of storms and the few days which had persistent low cloud)

August - Started with a real flourish with 34C reached inland. Then not much to say apart from the last third of the month being warm and pretty sunny with the exception of one very wet day in places. Score - 7/10 (got a thunderstorm on the 2nd, the only one this summer )

 

Overall there is a feeling of what could have been at times, I mean if March 2013 had not happened and resulted in SSTs being 4-5C below normal at the start of the season then the synoptics we got could have pulled out a truly memorable summer. On the other hand I was almost writing summer off by mid June due to the awful persistent north easterlies and frankly to pull a good or very good summer from there is a pretty good result.

[johnholmes]

my actual stats showed the summer coming out overall as the maximum being 1.0C above my 17 year average with the minimum +0.4C, rainfall below normal.

[MeteoMadrid]

2013 to August in my city (close to Madrid, Spain)

 

Minimun temperature: -9,8º

Maximun temperature: 40,4º (record)

Snow days: 12 (max 8cm, April)

Storm days: 18

Fog days: 39

Nights below 0 degrees: 51

Nights up to 20 degrees: 7

Days below 5 degrees: 23

Days below 0 degrees: 1

Days up to 30 degrees: 38

Days up to 35 degrees: 8

 

August 2013:

 

Minimun temperature: 9,9º

Maximun temperature: 40,4º

Days below 25 degrees: 3

Nights below 15 degrees: 4

Nights below 20 degrees: 27

Days up to 35 degrees: 4

Days up to 30 degrees: 19

Storm days: 7

Very warm month.

Edited September 1, 2013 by MeteoMadrid

[TonyH]

Mean temp: 15.5c

Mean Max: 21.0c

Mean min: 9.9c

 

Summer 2013 was rather warm overall, thanks to the very warm July (Mean temp 17.4c)

 

Rainfall total: 172.6mm well below average (250mm approx), each month being below normal. Just 35 rain days, a very low figure.

 

Sunshine: June quite sunny, July very sunny, and August near normal; quite sunny overall.

 

Thunder: 2 days = below average

 

Overall, a dry, rather warm and quite sunny Summer, the warmest and driest since 2006.

Edited September 1, 2013 by TonyH

[Stargazer]

Here goes for my summer 2013 stats, central Reading:

 

Average maximum: 24.0Average minimum: 13.3Average for the season: 18.6Highest maximum: 32.3 (August 1)Lowest maximum: 17.4 (June 9)Highest minimum: 19.0 (July 23)Lowest minimum: 6.0 (June 3)

 

No frosts; thunder heard on 5 days.

 

Rainfall: 100mm (70% of average); sunshine 670 hours (115% of average) [Reading University readings].  I don't have enough records to assess the temperature against the long-term average, but I'd expect around 0.5-1.0 deg C above average to be a reasonable assessment overall.

 

June: very dry with near average temperatures and sunshine overall.  Slow to warm up after the cold spring and some cold nights earlier in the month.  25 deg C was recorded for the first time this year on the 19th, the latest in the year that I can remember.

 

July: a cool start then a 3-week spell of dry, very warm and sunny weather in the middle of the month with 18 days above 25 deg C and 5 days above 30.  The end of the month was unsettled with a couple of very wet days but still warm.  Statistically very warm and sunny overall with near average rainfall.

 

August: a plume on the 1st brought the hottest day of the year, the first time 32 deg C has been reached here since 2006; thereafter still generally warm with sporadic generally light rainfall and a run of warm nights in particular.  Overall somewhat warmer, drier and sunnier than average.

 

Certainly the best summer here since 2006;  in terms of consistent good weather over all three months perhaps slightly better.  I'd put it roughly on a par with, say, 1989 or 2003 overall - not as good as the stunning summers of 1976 and 1995 but very decent nonetheless.  I think central southern England has fared pretty well this summer, with little of the cloudy North Sea influence in June and only a couple of brief wet spells, notably the last few days of July.

Edited September 1, 2013 by Stargazer

[J10]

Of course, timing of the weather is important, does anyone have a breakdown of weather at the weekend as opposed to that during the week,

 

I would suspect, that the weekend weather unusually this summer, was better than that during the week.

[SimonR]

in a word.... inconsistent.

 

was it the best sumer since 06?... yes... but it was inconsistent, not everyone got all the sun/warmth others did, some areas missed out on the best whilst others basked, we had cloud breaks, unwelcome ones at that. june was nothing special although early june was eventually sunny warm and dry. august was spoilt by too much cloud.

 

to me, the mark of a good summer is one where everyone enjoys it, without spoiler days, where near enough the whole country gets the sun/heat, as in 76, 83, 95 etc. so summer 13 wasnt a 'great' summer, apart from 3 interrupted weeks in july, it really wasnt anything special.

 

Wasn't August the warmest (at least daytime-wise) since 2003? That to me makes the summer a bit better than "not anything special", even discounting the long heatwave in July. True, June wasn't spectacular, but people seem to forget that June 1995 wasn't particularly great either, pretty much entirely down to its abysmally cold and dull first half (though I'm aware that it may have been better in other parts of the country).

 

And while 1995 may have been more consistent in terms of sunshine, I don't think temperature-wise it was that far removed from 2013, with this year's July being even warmer.

 

Here's how I'd rank the top 5 summers in my lifetime (I was born in 1976):

 

2006

2003

1995

1983

2013

 

And if we have a September that comes close to rivalling that of 2006 or 2003, then 2013 may turn out even better than 1995 (which, along with 1983 had a much cooler September than those above years did).

Edited September 2, 2013 by SimonR

[MP-R]

Of course, timing of the weather is important, does anyone have a breakdown of weather at the weekend as opposed to that during the week,

 

I would suspect, that the weekend weather unusually this summer, was better than that during the week.

 

Quite the opposite here.

 

15th/16th June - wettest day of June on the 15th then windy on the 16th

22nd/23rd June - dull and very windy with a little rain after and before a much warmer week

20th July - a cloudy and breezy day in what was otherwise a long run of hot sunny days

27th/28th July - pouring rain on the 27th which cancelled a sailing trip I was going to do and windy on the 28th

03rd/04th August - dodging the downpours on the 3rd then persistent rain and cool on the 4th

17th August - the only wet day of that week with quite a gusty wind too

24th/25th August - dull, cloudy and cool with the best weather coming after 5pm on the 25th

 

So not a great summer was cooperative weekend weather.

[Bottesford]

Yes how weekends, especially Fri nights & Saturday (party time!) pan out has a strong baring on how a period of weather feels. No point having 28c on Tuesday for it to be 18c on Saturday.

 

Notable bad ones were 22nd/23rd June (my wedding) with strong winds and heavy rain. We were very lucky to avoid much rain during the actual event with only a rather sunny force 9 gale to contend with.

20th/21st July was awful - cold cloudy and drizzly. As Mushy said - that really blew a hole in the lovely weather that had gone before. 

Otherwise most weekends have been fairly good this year - especially once July kicked in.

[hillbilly]

Wasn't August the warmest (at least daytime-wise) since 2003? That to me makes the summer a bit better than "not anything special", even discounting the long heatwave in July. True, June wasn't spectacular, but people seem to forget that June 1995 wasn't particularly great either, pretty much entirely down to its abysmally cold and dull first half (though I'm aware that it may have been better in other parts of the country).

 

And while 1995 may have been more consistent in terms of sunshine, I don't think temperature-wise it was that far removed from 2013, with this year's July being even warmer.

 

Here's how I'd rank the top 5 summers in my lifetime (I was born in 1976):

 

2006

2003

1995

1983

2013

 

And if we have a September that comes close to rivalling that of 2006 or 2003, then 2013 may turn out even better than 1995 (which, along with 1983 had a much cooler September than those above years did).

You live down London and get much better weather,like today have just been to towcester and its a lovely sunny day yet back home here its cloudy ,windy and trying to drizzle only saved by a temp of 18....yesterday it was 14!!!

[Summer of 95]

No comparison to 1995 or 2006 or even 1989 and 1990: it was average here. June cooler than normal, drier than normal, average sun. July warmer and sunnier than average, but also slightly wetter. August again dry, near average temps, and significantly cloudier than normal. So no month was warmer, drier AND sunnier- that's a basic requirement for a good summer. 

 

It was certainly a let down here compared to many other parts, though not to quite the extent 2003 was.

[virtualsphere]

I think we've done exceptionally well this summer in SW Wales - taking into account that my preference is for sunshine over extreme heat, it's probably been my favourite summer since 1995.  Both June and July were excellent here, and August, while being much more of an average month, still produced some very decent sunny spells despite working out as quite a wet month.  

 

This sums it up nicely for me:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/climate/actualmonthly/14/Sunshine/Wales.gif

(Source: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/actualmonthly)

 

It sounds like most people had a great July.  June is what has made a difference in my location, because we were lucky to get some decent sunshine while parts further east were plagued by cloudy and cool conditions.

 

Only 1 day of thunder heard though - we had more in January!

[Cloud 10]

The 500mb anomaly chart for summer 2013 tells the story nicely with well below normal heights over the Greenland/Arctic region with corresponding +ve anomalies over the UK and especially Northern Europe.

 

 

 

Contrast this with summer 2012!

 

 

 

As for my location in NE England,overall its been a cracking summer. 

[Evening thunder]

Today epitomises why this summer has irritated me so much - beautiful sunny start, followed by cloud later. Even getting a mostly sunny day is really hard now, and this NW flow is no better than the NE flow of June or parts of July. I just want to look outside and see a beautiful  blue sky with little cloud - why is that so hard to achieve? Grr! I hate cloud SO MUCH! If it isn't going to deliver a thunderstorm, it can bugger off. Filthy, disgusting grey scud.

 

 

 

Lol what's that wrong with a few fair weather cumulus like in those images?

 

To me a bit of convective cloud can add to the summer feel of things, as long as it doesn't hit a cap and spread out. I can actually get a little bored of endless blue skies for days on end (which it felt like we had in July here)

 

June - slightly below average temps, very sunny first 10 days though I was in Surrey then where it wasn't quite so good, total sunshine about average or a tad above, very warm on the 19th but cool other days, not much other weather of note 4.5/10

 

July - 10 days in a row over 25C and 14 in total (could have been 16 in a row if not for 2 surprisingly cooler but still 100% sunny days on the 11th and 12th), Very sunny. Some thunder late in the month, to the east twice but visible lightning and a lone close strike another day. Though let down slightly by no proper/strong or overhead storms. 8.5/10

 

August - has felt decent with plenty of decent enough warm summer weather. More cloud at times than July. Not sure about sunshine amounts but hasn't felt a cloudy month here at all. Some very nice mostly sunny days approaching 25C late in the month too. thunderstorms in Devon on August the 2nd but let down for me by lack of thunder or other weather events after that. Mean max of 22.0C was 1C above average though. 7/10

 

Overall score - 7/10. A quite good score and this may be a bit higher for people just interested in dryness warmth and sun. All months had below average rain with just 85mm all summer (which is my main problem, no day over 8mm since May and seen some mainly young drought stresses/dead trees recently)

[reef]

Stats for Hedon:

 

Mean Temp: 16.5°C (+0.6°C)

Sunshine: 640hrs (113%)Rainfall: 102.6mm (59%)

 

Individual months:

 

JUN: 13.8°C (-0.6°C) / 55.0mm (93%) / 186hrs (101%)

JUL: 18.0°C (+1.2°C) / 22.6mm (42%) / 249hrs (126%)

AUG: 17.8°C (+1.2°C) / 25.0mm (42%) / 205hrs (111%)

 

A very good summer in this neck of the woods. Only 29 days out of 92 saw measurable rain and just 18 days saw >1.0mm. The only slight spoiler was June wasnt a great month as the persistent north-easterly winds meant the first half particularly was rather cold, indeed the coldest since 1991. The second half made up for it temperature-wise, but like other good summers (1990, 1991, 1995, 1999) it ended up below average. July and August were the driest combined since 1976 and had remarkably similar mean temperatures to 1995.

[cheese]

Lol what's that wrong with a few fair weather cumulus like in those images?

 

To me a bit of convective cloud can add to the summer feel of things, as long as it doesn't hit a cap and spread out. I can actually get a little bored of endless blue skies for days on end (which it felt like we had in July here)

Well yes, that is the point - they hit a cap and then cover the entire sky, which is why I don't like them bubbling up, because I know exactly what will happen. A sunny day with fluffy cumulus and a temp of around 22-23C is actually one of my favourite types of days, but here, it's never that simple. And plus, I would like completely clear days every now and again, which is really hard to achieve here it seems, this year anyway. Those blue dome days with low-mid 20s temps, dews below 10C and humidity around 20-40% with a gentle breeze are to die for. But yes, it would get very boring after a while. But since it has only happened a few times this year, it's kind of a novelty. These days seem to occur more in winter and spring than summer.

Edited September 4, 2013 by cheese

[Evening thunder]

Ah ok I understand what you mean when they do spread out and cover the sky, I guess that hasn't seemed to happen much here this summer, can only remember a day or two recently. Seem to have been lucky and they have just stayed as fair weather cumulus, or perhaps sea breezes have helped us by clearing the convective cloud near the coast.

I agree it is nice when those days happen though as well as ones with a few fair weather cumulus.

I guess in winter you don't get the convection/updrafts caused by stronger sun.

[Milhouse]

Cheers Reef for the stats. It shows that over here we were a bit behind the CET for July but well ahead of the August CET. Not suprising really as it was a month dominated by southwesterlies.

[Stargazer]

Was having a look back to see if our weekends were particularly good or bad (I'm often working weekends and having random days off during the week at the moment so tend to forget what day it is!)  In fact it looks like we were generally lucky here, with only June 15 and the August Bank Holiday Saturday and Sunday producing any significant daytime rainfall, and light showers on June 16 and 22.  There were a couple of other weekends where it rained heavily here, notably July 27/28, but all the rain was overnight.

[Richard2901]

My stats:

 

Mean Max: 18.6C (+1.1)

Mean Min: 10.9C (+0.8 )

Highest Max: 26.8C (9th July)

Lowest Min: 4.4C (3rd June)

 

Rainfall: 135.4mm (83%)

Rain days: 33 (-11)

 

Sunshine: 571.8 hours (115%)

Sunniest Day: 14.4 hours (5th July)

 

I'm awaiting the final stats from Dyce but it is likely to score similar to 2006 on my index i.e. just outside the top 10 since 1946. I thought it was much better than 2006 (a summer I don't rate at all), though nowhere near as good as 1995 and 2003. Maybe because my foreign holiday in 2006 coincided with the best weather and I had to suffer the appalling August in it's entirety whereas this year I took my holiday in the final third of August which was the worst spell of the whole summer.

 

Only the second summer since 1997 to manage 105% of average sunshine but the surplus of 73 hours barely begins to make up the 560 hour deficit that accrued over the past 6 summers.

 

Weekend weather was worse than weekday weather as it was in each of the past 6 summers 

 

Weekday Mean Max: 19.0C

Weekend Mean Max: 17.8C

 

Weekday Mean Rain: 1.34mm

Weekend Mean Rain: 1.79mm

 

Weekday Mean Sun: 6.26 hours

Weekend Mean Sun: 6.11 hours

 

The weekend stats really aren't far off average so it was really only the weekdays that were good and I would rather have a wet unsettled summer, like 2004, where the good weather falls at weekends than a dry settled summer where the cool wet muck falls at weekends.

Edited September 5, 2013 by Richard2901

[mushymanrob]

Wasn't August the warmest (at least daytime-wise) since 2003? That to me makes the summer a bit better than "not anything special", even discounting the long heatwave in July. True, June wasn't spectacular, but people seem to forget that June 1995 wasn't particularly great either, pretty much entirely down to its abysmally cold and dull first half (though I'm aware that it may have been better in other parts of the country).

 

And while 1995 may have been more consistent in terms of sunshine, I don't think temperature-wise it was that far removed from 2013, with this year's July being even warmer.

 

Here's how I'd rank the top 5 summers in my lifetime (I was born in 1976):

 

2006

2003

1995

1983

2013

 

And if we have a September that comes close to rivalling that of 2006 or 2003, then 2013 may turn out even better than 1995 (which, along with 1983 had a much cooler September than those above years did).

 

you highlight the problem with stats, or selective stats... august might have been 'warm' temp wise, but what use is that if it doesnt have the sunshine to match? or more specifically sunshine at the time of day we can enjoy.  nah, here august was nothing special, with 3 days only of temps over 25c matches aug 07!

[johnholmes]

8 here and one 25.0C, no idea bout the sunshine totals but looking at my weather diary suggests a fair amount of cloud but the August stats from the Met O and what I get in COL or Weather from Philip Eden will be the more factual.