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August 1998 and August 2007


Philipsfd

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Reading through the July '99 thread and how it often isn't well remembered, it made me think of other summer months which seem to have an unfair tag on them. I've chosen two which stick out a bit; August '98 and August '07. I have very fading memories of '98 now but the met office summary for the month paints a positive picture of lots of sunshine, albeit rather on the cold side. Does anyone remember August '98 in more detail?

It's a similar theme for August '07 in the met office summary; above average sunshine; below average rainfall; but again on the cool side. I can remember this month in more detail, can recall plenty of sunny days and a short, modest hot spell at the beginning of the month.

It seems these two months are a little underrated, perhaps because the June and July of both years were both so bad, or perhaps because they weren't hot. Are there any other summer months within the last 25 years which are perhaps underrated, even if they weren't spectacular? July and August 2000 perhaps?

Edited by Philipsfd
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Posted
  • Location: Irlam
  • Location: Irlam

They were the "best" summer months for those summers, July 2000 was mediocre and August 2000 didn't standout.

August 1991 is underrated IMO. There are not many Augusts in recent times that had a really decent second half compare to its first half.

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Posted
  • Location: East Devon
  • Location: East Devon

I sometimes think of August 2006 and possibly 2013 as a bit underrated (or perhaps just better here than most of the country with 2006, the anomaly maps suggest that to an extent)

August 2006 didn't seem that bad to me even after July, it averaged similar to August 2016 at Exeter airport, though 2006 actually had a warmer mean than any August since. It got briefly hot again with 28C on the 6th, not reached in August since..., and only once failed to reach 20C with 19C on the 25th, again not matched since.. though these stats speak far more about recent Augusts than 2006!

August 2013 is possibly on my list because I've heard it spoken about in not too favourable terms (though I'm not sure of the average opinion). Here it had a lot of pleasant low-mid 20's weather with the mean maxima finishing about 1C above average.

2013 and 2016 are the only decent Augusts since 2006 though.

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

I remember Augusts 1998 and 2007 mainly for their lack of notable weather events. 

August 1998 was a north-south split month, and from the Midlands southwards it was generally dry and sunny with fairly warm days and chilly nights, but further north it was breezy and sunshine was mostly near or slightly below normal with below-average daytime temperatures, although even in the north most places were drier than average.  I was in South Tyneside that month and there were numerous sunny and fairly warm days in the first two-thirds, when the winds were mainly westerly, but in the last third the wind veered northerly and it turned cool and cloudy with a few days having maxima of 13 or 14C.

In August 2007 there was a rather different regional distribution, with east Wales, the Midlands and north-east England coming out driest and sunniest relative to normal, whereas northern Scotland and to a lesser extent East Anglia had a cloudy month.  Correspondingly in South Tyneside the month was predominantly dry and sunny with average temperatures. 

August 2000 was a pretty significant turnaround from earlier in the summer in South Tyneside, the second half was quite memorable, often sunny with sporadic heavy downpours, although we had sea fog on the 21st while most other regions had thunderstorms.  The month must have been pretty memorable in Northern Ireland (again especially the second half), where Aldergrove reported well above average rainfall and sunshine, and 7 days with thunder.  It was also a very sunny month in parts of East Anglia.  However, some areas such as Manchester only had close to average sunshine.

July 2000 was a west-east split month, dry and sunny in western Scotland (the Glasgow area fared particularly well if I remember rightly) but very dull and rather cold in the east.  Lowestoft had only 50% of average sunshine, and parts of Norfolk had mean temperatures 1.5 to 2C below the 1961-1990 normal according to RMetS Weather Log.

Edited by Thundery wintry showers
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Posted
  • Location: halifax 125m
  • Weather Preferences: extremes the unusual and interesting facts
  • Location: halifax 125m

August 1998 was the best of the summer months that year.Working on the farm at the time I remember trying to make dry hay, I think st swithens day certainly had a bearing on this year although not wet but poor weather for making hay with lots of cloud and dull conditions.The last couple of weeks were dry,calm and lots of sunshine albeit hazy a lot of the time unfortunately when there is lots of dew it is still difficult to make hay as the stuff does not dry without any breeze.August 2007 was dry ,breezy and mainly sunny although pleasant at times I remember it for cooler temps and cool winds,did not feel like summer here at times,more like early may.

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  • 2 years later...

I’m 36 now and seem to remember there being a lot of thunderstorms in Aug 98 and the weather being very humid in the South.I’m in Southampton and I’m sure I recall there being a death from a lightening strike near Oxford around the middle of the month.

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Posted
  • Location: Cheshire
  • Location: Cheshire
15 minutes ago, Davis36 said:

I’m 36 now and seem to remember there being a lot of thunderstorms in Aug 98 and the weather being very humid in the South.I’m in Southampton and I’m sure I recall there being a death from a lightening strike near Oxford around the middle of the month.

Yes, this was on Saturday 1st August 1998 and was at Chalgrave near Oxford. involving three boys, one of whom sadly died. A report of the inquest can be found in the online Oxford Mail. I remember coming south that day from Lancaster to visit my mother near Worthing and being caught up in frequent thunderstorms, the last of which, on the road from Winchester to Petersfield, was particularly frightening and accompanied by serious flooding. As is the nature of things, when I arrived at Worthing, I found that they had been basking in the sun and seen no rain whatsoever that day!     

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  • 1 month later...
Posted
  • Location: Perth, Scotland
  • Location: Perth, Scotland

August 1998 was definitely a north south split. I can’t remember the month as I was too young but according to my local data it was a rather average month with slightly below average sunshine and temperatures, although September 1998 was extremely warm and 25.C was reached on the 21st.

August 2007 was quite a wet month for me with nearly 140% of average rain although sunshine was near normal temperatures were below average again and it was the coldest August at the time since 1993 in my area although 2011 and 2014 have been colder since. However it was definitely the best summer month that year.

August 1998 seemed to fair best in the south east and 2007 in the midlands.

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Posted
  • Location: Hounslow, London
  • Weather Preferences: Csa/Csb
  • Location: Hounslow, London

August 1998 was sunny with average temperatures in London. It reached 32c early in the month.

August 2007 was cool, dry, with near average sunshine. The warmest day of the month (and year) was a paltry 29c. It really wasn't enough after the total disaster of June and July.

August 2006 was cool, wet and very cloudy. August 2012 had average temps and near average sunshine.

Edited by B87
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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

I recall mentioning in another recent thread that at Heathrow August 1998 was the second sunniest August of the 1990s, behind only the record-breaking one in 1995.  In contrast, at Durham it was the third dullest August of the 1990s, two examples which reflect the north-south split during that month.  I don't think August 1998 was a particularly thundery month overall - there were some localised events including the death from lightning in Oxford on August 1, but most sites in the RMetS Weather Log had just one or two thunder-days at the most.  Thunder was also rare in August 2007.

August 1991 was the third sunniest August of the 1990s at both Heathrow and Durham, bearing out Kevin's earlier comment about August 1991 being underrated/overlooked.  I am not old enough to recall August 1991, though I do have vague memories of the sunny summer of 1989 and the snow in February 1991.

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