Summer 2018 - Moans, Ramps, Chat etc

[Mokidugway]

1 minute ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

nope SS I don't

I don't  either  but I'm shure  my summer of  76 in salinas was much better 

[Sunny76]

2 hours ago, B87 said:

Probably more like 50000ft if it was totally dark. I remember a few thunderstorms in March/April 2016 had cloud tops around 35-40000ft. 

Yes, it was pitch black for an hour or so. It must have been something unusual. Haven’t seen anything in London as dark as that since.

[Ice Man 85]

1976? I remember 1346 more fondly

[Fourty Point Three Degrees]

Ahh yes 1976, the famous ladybird summer. I was only two years old so cant remember it but was told the roads, walls and pavements were covered in ladybirds just like snow covers the pavements in winter.

[stainesbloke]

6 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

Cloud tops must have been 40,000 feet that day. I wonder if flights were diverted? 

I read somewhere that cloud tops were approaching 60,000 feet that day, as reported by various pilots. 

[cheeky_monkey]

1976 is the first major weather event i can remember and put a year on it

[Thundery wintry showers]

June 1980 was a notably thundery month in many areas so might at least have generated a fair amount of interest in the convection/storms area.  The first week was hot and thundery and the period 22nd-26th had sunshine mixed with slow-moving thundery downpours over much of the country.  The rest of the month appears to have been a washout though and July's stats point to a cool and grey month for most.

The Met Office's Monthly Weather Report shows how much of a washout July 1988 was for a large majority of the country, with a cyclonic first week followed by a near-relentless stream of cloud and rain at frequent intervals from a west to south-west flow.  According to that link the highest temperature recorded anywhere in the UK was 24.7C, but according to Philip Eden's 1995 book Weatherwise Plymouth got no higher than 18.3C (a value which, amusingly, got exceeded on 28 days out of 31 in July 1989).  The month however highlighted one of the big ironies of the Tyne and Wear climate - sometimes that area ends up among the sunniest areas of the UK when we get long spells of cloudy west to south-westerlies, due to a "cloud shadow" effect in the lee of the Pennines, and thus it was one of the very few areas to reach near average sunshine in July 1988.  The other extreme was highlighted in July 1983 when this region was plagued by haar and most of the rest of the UK had a sunny and exceptionally hot month.

Edited May 8, 2018 by Thundery wintry showers

[Sunny76]

11 hours ago, stainesbloke said:

I read somewhere that cloud tops were approaching 60,000 feet that day, as reported by various pilots. 

11 miles high? I can’t imagine how scary that must have looked over London.

I work near St Paul’s in central london, and sometimes think about that picture in the newspaper, where the skies are pitch black and St. Paul’s is covered in darkness.

Also reminds me of the Pink Floyd video and A Guide to Armageddon(nuclear war doc on bbc early 80s)

[Sunny76]

The first weather event I remember is with my mum in Hyde Park London. It was August 1979 I think, or maybe 1980. We were caught in a sudden thunderstorm, which became torrential.

We had to run into The Serpentine cafe in Hyde Park. 

[Sunny76]

12 hours ago, stainesbloke said:

I read somewhere that cloud tops were approaching 60,000 feet that day, as reported by various pilots. 

I wouldn’t have wanted to be a passenger flying into Heathrow or Gatwick during that storm lol.

[Matthew.]

I’m a tad nervous for summers prospects with the current remarkable weather and foreseeable weather too

[Stozzy]

25 minutes ago, Matthew. said:

I’m a tad nervous for summers prospects with the current remarkable weather and foreseeable weather too

Yep I am too . Great at the moment but you just know what's gonna happen come June July August

[Summer Sun]

Britain to bask in one of the warmest summers since 2010

Quote

 

After a wobbly start to warm weather this spring, the summer season is predicted to be one of the warmest in the past eight years for Britain.

Wales, the Midlands and southern England will top the charts with temperatures persisting in the mid- to upper 20s to around 30 C at times.

AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys said: “I do expect London and other parts of southern England to see one to three days where the maximum temperature will be around or above 32 C (90 F).”

Father north, in southern Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England, temperatures in the high teens and lower 20s C will prevail.

Scotland will reach into the mid- to upper teens.

On a positive note for festival goers, sun worshippers and those weary of spring showers, the summer is forecast to be a dry one for Britain.

Roys said: “Even in the areas we’ve highlighted as the most likely to see rainfall throughout the season, precipitation will still fall below summer normals.”

Much of this precipitation will come in the form of brief rainy periods or brief scattered showers.

Roys added: “Spotty thundery showers and thunderstorms will develop sporadically across Wales, the Midlands and southern England this summer, mainly from July into August.”

As persistent heat accompanies the dryness, meteorologists are concerned for building drought conditions as the summer progresses.

Roys said: “The prolonged cold that finally broke once we moved into April already impacted the growing season across the United Kingdom. These drought-like conditions are likely to further impact agriculture.”

This could cause a spike in the cost of produce as other European countries experience similar conditions.

 

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/britain-to-bask-in-one-of-the-warmest-summers-since-2010/70004931

[damianslaw]

I'm expecting quite a settled summer but more thanks to mid atlantic heights than continental heights, at times some cooler northerly/northwesterly incursions, but a decent summer overall. As per usual the better conditions more likely in the first half, going downhill in August. I'm hopeful given how this May has panned out, history has delivered very good summers on the back of Mays that have brought lengthy warm settled conditions - much more so than April. 1947, 1976, 1989, 1990, 2006 all spring to mind. 1992 brought a good June but it went downhill thereafter. 1998 also not a good match. 

It could all go wrong though.

[summer blizzard]

Just looking at prior years with a similar CET pattern in March-April or April-May and it's a pretty rare combination we have seen since 1950.

In March-April (years 1C below and then 1C above the 1981-2010 average) we have only 1995 and 1987 and in April-May (years with both 1C above) we have only 1952. 

The summer of 1995 saw an average June followed by the hottest July-August combination on record (extremely dry).

The summer of 1987 saw a cool June followed by a near average July and August. 

The summer of 1952 was near average throughout (followed by one of the coolest Sep-Dec periods on record). 

[Snowyowl9]

How wet is it going to be that is the biggest question,as its much much wetter to what it use to be like, much more intense falls of rain nowadays.

Edited May 27, 2018 by Snowyowl9

[matty007]

I wish I was old enough to remember this month, but I was only 3. What an amazing month, wow. Not a drop of rain all month and very high temperatures. July 2006 and July 2013 are the best months I can recall. 

 

[summer blizzard]

Looks like a good amplitude MJO wave is setting up. The only years to see similar are 1987 (one of the years above), 1990 (shades of 95) and 1993 (abandon ship and like 1952 above, a very cool Autumn).

[hillbilly]

Whilst many of you are predicting the weather to turn just as summer arrives,i am hoping for a very good summer  the likes we have not seen certainly since 2006 .We are well overdue a long and generally hot  and moreso a Drought of a summer.Welcome home 1976,1984,1989 and 1995!

[markyo]

Dreading the next 3 months,by far for me the most miserable,uncomfortable 3 months of the year. Today is sticky and humid,disgusting,the thought of 3 months of this fills me with revulsion.

[simshady]

3 hours ago, markyo said:

Dreading the next 3 months,by far for me the most miserable,uncomfortable 3 months of the year. Today is sticky and humid,disgusting,the thought of 3 months of this fills me with revulsion.

Won't last forever, thank god!

Edited May 28, 2018 by simshady

[damianslaw]

22 hours ago, matty007 said:

I wish I was old enough to remember this month, but I was only 3. What an amazing month, wow. Not a drop of rain all month and very high temperatures. July 2006 and July 2013 are the best months I can recall. 

 

I remember August 1995, a truly meditteranean month here, it came on the back of a very dry 4 month period. Late June and much of July brought very warm sunny dry conditions, enabling a very dusky brown appearance in the Lake District. There was a major drought that then lasted 2 years, coming to an end in the summer of 1997. Reservoirs by August 1995 were exceptionally low, even though the summer had come on the back of an exceptionally wet winter - different to summer 1975 and 1976 in that regard. It must have been the combination of sustained exceptionally low rainfall, combined with abundant sunshine and heat that caused such a sudden drought.

August 1995 was I believe the driest and warmest month on record here, and possibly sunniest. I don't think we saw a drop of rain until the very end. I was 17 at the time, and have very fond memories.

Its difficult to sustained settled conditions in August much more so than June and July, it was really was a rarity.

The start to summer 2018 looks preety decent especially here, lots more sunny dry warm weather. However, I've said numerous times, summer doesn't settle into its base state until late June, and we can see major flips occur by the time we hit the solstice. 

[cheese]

5 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

I remember August 1995, a truly meditteranean month here, it came on the back of a very dry 4 month period. Late June and much of July brought very warm sunny dry conditions, enabling a very dusky brown appearance in the Lake District. There was a major drought that then lasted 2 years, coming to an end in the summer of 1997. Reservoirs by August 1995 were exceptionally low, even though the summer had come on the back of an exceptionally wet winter - different to summer 1975 and 1976 in that regard. It must have been the combination of sustained exceptionally low rainfall, combined with abundant sunshine and heat that caused such a sudden drought.

August 1995 was I believe the driest and warmest month on record here, and possibly sunniest. I don't think we saw a drop of rain until the very end. I was 17 at the time, and have very fond memories.

Its difficult to sustained settled conditions in August much more so than June and July, it was really was a rarity.

The start to summer 2018 looks preety decent especially here, lots more sunny dry warm weather. However, I've said numerous times, summer doesn't settle into its base state until late June, and we can see major flips occur by the time we hit the solstice. 

That might be the case in the NW but I don't think it is here and especially not in areas further south and east. July and August both get around 41% of possible sun here, September around 40% and June around 37%. 

August has actually been the best summer month of some recent summers like 2007, 2009, 2012 and in some areas 2015, 2016 and 2017 (but again it depends on where in the UK you live).

Edited May 28, 2018 by cheese

[damianslaw]

20 minutes ago, cheese said:

That might be the case in the NW but I don't think it is here and especially not in areas further south and east. July and August both get around 41% of possible sun here, September around 40% and June around 37%. 

August has actually been the best summer month of some recent summers like 2007, 2009, 2012 and in some areas 2015, 2016 and 2017 (but again it depends on where in the UK you live).

Agree there was a NW bias to my post, and I should have clarified this. For the NW quarter we are more likely to see sustained dry weather in the Feb-July period.

[Summer Sun]

Summer starts on a warm note looking at GFS and ECM this morning maybe this will be the summer we finally get lucky with the warmth in the right place