Summers of the 1990s, best decade for summers for the 20th century?

[Weather-history]

or if you don't like summery weather, the worst decade  but if you look at the three basic elements that make up a famous summer: hot, dry, sunny, I think the summers of the 1990s, at least for my area, were overall the best decade for summery weather of the 20th century. The Manchester Summer indices show this

Summer decadal index values

1900s: 204
1910s: 206
1920s: 199
1930s: 212
1940s: 219
1950s: 205
1960s: 206
1970s: 222
1980s: 211
1990s: 229
2000s: 206
2010s: 202 (up to 2017) 

Even the two poor summers of the 1990s, generally considered to be 1993 and 1998 were not as poor as 2007, 2008 and 2012. 

Most of the 1990 summers had at least one month that was generally decent: Summer 1991 had a very poor June but really picked up at the start of July and August was pretty decent. Summer 1992 was almost the inverse of the previous summer, which started from the second half of May. 

Summer 1995 was the pinnacle but the summer before and after this wonderful summer had some decent spells as well. 

Summer 1999 had a decent July overall. 

For summer thunder lovers, the 1990s were a pretty good decade for plumes and home grown thunderstorms. They were some cracking storms during that period, sometimes starting in May. Late May-early June 1992, late June-early August 1994 being examples.

They weren't all perfect summers and there were some poor months in that period but they weren't overwhelming.

 

[TJM14]

Yeah the 90s were good for summers, the best decade anyway in my opinion. But I don't think the 2000s were that bad. 

[hillbilly]

I thought the 60s had no really good summers and generally cool,yet is listed fairly average?

[cheeky_monkey]

On 02/06/2018 at 09:21, Weather-history said:

or if you don't like summery weather, the worst decade  but if you look at the three basic elements that make up a famous summer: hot, dry, sunny, I think the summers of the 1990s, at least for my area, were overall the best decade for summery weather of the 20th century. The Manchester Summer indices show this

Summer decadal index values

1900s: 204
1910s: 206
1920s: 199
1930s: 212
1940s: 219
1950s: 205
1960s: 206
1970s: 222
1980s: 211
1990s: 229
2000s: 206
2010s: 202 (up to 2017) 

Even the two poor summers of the 1990s, generally considered to be 1993 and 1998 were not as poor as 2007, 2008 and 2012. 

Most of the 1990 summers had at least one month that was generally decent: Summer 1991 had a very poor June but really picked up at the start of July and August was pretty decent. Summer 1992 was almost the inverse of the previous summer, which started from the second half of May. 

Summer 1995 was the pinnacle but the summer before and after this wonderful summer had some decent spells as well. 

Summer 1999 had a decent July overall. 

For summer thunder lovers, the 1990s were a pretty good decade for plumes and home grown thunderstorms. They were some cracking storms during that period, sometimes starting in May. Late May-early June 1992, late June-early August 1994 being examples.

They weren't all perfect summers and there were some poor months in that period but they weren't overwhelming.

 

i wonder what the decade 1988 - 1998 would look like..or being even more picky the period 1989-1997..every other year was a good summer and had a few back to back good summers..89,90..94,95 etc

[Lauren]

Long hot, stormy summers that would turn the grass yellow. I remember them well. *sigh*

[danm]

I agree, the 90s overall had excellent summers. 

We all remember the endlessly glorious of summer of '95, however the summers of '94 and '96 are often overlooked because of '95. '97 and '99 also had some great warm/hot spells and up until 2003, 1990 held the UK temperature record. 

The 90s was also the decade of my childhood (aged 4 to 14) so spent most of my time outside during the summer holidays!

[MP-R]

The only summer month of the 1990s, which I was old enough for to have summer holidays (1995 onwards) that was disappointing was July 1998. August that year was pretty decent in Bristol until the end of the month. I think August 1999 also turned briefly unsettled but was largely warm throughout with emphasis on thunderstorms or downpours.

[Lauren]

Cracking all night storms in the 90s too.

[Snowyowl9]

Summers went downhill in the late 90`s.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I don't think the 1990s were particularly thundery compared with previous decades (I recall Philip Eden having thunder day stats in one of his books showing that the 1990s overall were a bit down on the earlier decades) but thundery activity declined further after the 1990s in most parts of the country with certain exceptions such as the Tyne and Wear area.  But yes, what thundery spells we did get were sometimes spectacular, the summers of 1994 and 1999 stick out for me here, also July 1995 (which I saw as a hotter and sunnier version of July 1994) and August 1996.

I certainly agree that it was the best decade for warm dry sunny summers.  I started to get into weather recording in 1993 and so got used to the 1990s summers   I also remember in my childhood having numerous trips to the beach at South Shields in the summers of 1995 and to a lesser extent 1996, and not subsequently.  This gave me the impression that this was what summers were normally like, so it was a shock to the system when we subsequently went into a run of cloudier wetter summers. 

Even 1993 in Tyneside was merely mediocre rather than poor, although the region did have a significant shortage of sunshine in summer 1998.  I recall that July 1998 had a scattering of good "convective days" in the region, with homegrown showers in a westerly flow and a decent amount of sunshine in between, but also a number of cool grey days which resulted in below average sunshine overall, and in August 1998 we were generally a bit too far north to benefit from the ridging Azores High.

I generally think of this run of warm/hot dry sunny summers as having started in 1989.  I was only five years old at the time so I don't remember it that well, but there was definitely one summer in my early childhood when it seemed to be sunny nearly every day for a long period and the statistics from nearby Durham strongly suggest that it was that one.  It's possible that I could be recalling July/early August 1990, but my hazy memories point towards a rather longer sunny spell than that.  Our summers were thus off to a flying start when the 1990s came around.

Edited June 30, 2018 by Thundery wintry showers

[WhiteFox]

I'm sure Weather History probably has the figures in his head (and of course others will have records), but as I recall the mid-nineties was extremely dry, if not exceptionally so? Of course, we had the summer of 1995 which goes down as the best I can remember in my lifetime (possibly 1983 (?), but I was young then and it was not as good statistically), but there was a prolonged drought IIRC.

I moved to Nottingham in 1994 and remember the winter of 1994/5 being rather disappointing; other than some late season snow we largely missed out. Then followed the extremely dry summer with the dry weather persisting through Autumn and winter with a notable winter of 1995/6. I also remember the grass being brown very early in 1996 (probably even April) and reading some articles advising people not to buy shares in water companies as there was little return in a company reliant on a dwindling resource!

This lasted until June 1997 when it suddenly flipped to the wettest June for a long time (possibly on record?) and a reversion to less good summers... In terms of these patterns, was there a notable event in 1995 such as an SSW which may have helped to cause the dry spell? I know that 1997 saw a strong El Nino event which may go some way to explaining the sudden flip to wetter conditions.

I would be extremely grateful if anyone has rainfall records for the period which they could share which may back up my memories or prove that I am looking back through rose-tinted glasses at my younger days!

[Harry233]

90’s summers were good. Aside from 1993 and 1998, although these weren’t as bad as some recent summers.1993 was notable for its real lack of any warmth. July and August were actually quite dry and sunny but very cool, 1998 was a wet and cool summer but not on par with summer 2007, 2008, 2011,2012, 2017. 1990, 1995, 1997 and 1999 were all fantastic summers. July 1991 was also a very good summer month but let down by a very poor June.

[Weather-history]

6 hours ago, WhiteFox said:

I'm sure Weather History probably has the figures in his head (and of course others will have records), but as I recall the mid-nineties was extremely dry, if not exceptionally so? Of course, we had the summer of 1995 which goes down as the best I can remember in my lifetime (possibly 1983 (?), but I was young then and it was not as good statistically), but there was a prolonged drought IIRC.

I moved to Nottingham in 1994 and remember the winter of 1994/5 being rather disappointing; other than some late season snow we largely missed out. Then followed the extremely dry summer with the dry weather persisting through Autumn and winter with a notable winter of 1995/6. I also remember the grass being brown very early in 1996 (probably even April) and reading some articles advising people not to buy shares in water companies as there was little return in a company reliant on a dwindling resource!

This lasted until June 1997 when it suddenly flipped to the wettest June for a long time (possibly on record?) and a reversion to less good summers... In terms of these patterns, was there a notable event in 1995 such as an SSW which may have helped to cause the dry spell? I know that 1997 saw a strong El Nino event which may go some way to explaining the sudden flip to wetter conditions.

I would be extremely grateful if anyone has rainfall records for the period which they could share which may back up my memories or prove that I am looking back through rose-tinted glasses at my younger days!

Yes the mid 1990s were dry, there was a weakness in the westerly flow from mid 1995 to  about the start of February 1997. This resulted in a cold winter followed by a cold spring of 1996 where easterly winds dominated.

[danm]

On 03/07/2018 at 14:35, Harry233 said:

90’s summers were good. Aside from 1993 and 1998, although these weren’t as bad as some recent summers.1993 was notable for its real lack of any warmth. July and August were actually quite dry and sunny but very cool, 1998 was a wet and cool summer but not on par with summer 2007, 2008, 2011,2012, 2017. 1990, 1995, 1997 and 1999 were all fantastic summers. July 1991 was also a very good summer month but let down by a very poor June.

1994 and 1996 were also good summers. Particularly ‘94

[cheeky_monkey]

On 06/07/2018 at 09:47, danm said:

1994 and 1996 were also good summers. Particularly ‘94

i think 1994 is tied with 1997 as the 2nd best summer after 1995..and then 1990...i believe 1994 and 1997 were opposite...94 started hot and July was one of the hottest on record at that time but tailed off through Aug ..whereas 1997 started wet and cool but finished with the 2nd hottest August on record.