August 2008: horrific

[B87]

An utter shambles of a 'summer' month. It made July 2008 look good!

104 hours of sun is barely over 50% of average. Only August 1954 was cloudier (and then 2 years later it was almost matched again in August 2010). It was also combined with high rainfall and max temps 2c below normal.

Meteociel - Climatologie mensuelle de London / Heathrow (UK) ( United Kingdom )

WWW.METEOCIEL.FR

---

Résumé mensuel des observations météo ( températures minimales et maximales, précipitations et ensoleillement) de la station...

 

Edited July 6, 2020 by B87

[Sunny76]

3 hours ago, B87 said:

An utter shambles of a 'summer' month. It made July 2008 look good!

104 hours of sun is barely over 50% of average. Only August 1954 was cloudier (and then 2 years later it was almost matched again in August 2010). It was also combined with high rainfall and max temps 2c below normal.

Meteociel - Climatologie mensuelle de London / Heathrow (UK) ( United Kingdom )

WWW.METEOCIEL.FR

---

Résumé mensuel des observations météo ( températures minimales et maximales, précipitations et ensoleillement) de la station...

 

It was a shambles of a summer. August was particularly bad. Really dull and not that warm at times. 

[Met.]

I was doing my weather records starting 2007. June 2008 was a bit cool and boring, but July was a decent month IMO. August was just very cloudy, but mild. I don't think 2008 was a terrible summer overall. Just forgettable. Not in the leagues of 2007, 2011, 2012 or 2015.

[MP-R]

1 minute ago, Thundershine said:

I was doing my weather records starting 2007. June 2008 was a bit cool and boring, but July was a decent month IMO. August was just very cloudy, but mild. I don't think 2008 was a terrible summer overall. Just forgettable. Not in the leagues of 2007, 2011, 2012 or 2015.

If I had to compare the summer months in 2007 and 2008 here, I'd say:

June 2008 and August 2007 were fairly similar - quite cool, uneventful, mostly dry, and sunny with one warm spell early on in both months

July 2008 and June 2007 were similar - largely unsettled but a warm/hot spell in the final third of July 2008, and a similar warm, dry spell in the first third of June 2007

August 2008 and July 2007 were equally diabolical, with abundant rainfall, wind and below average temperatures and sunshine

[B87]

26 minutes ago, Thundershine said:

I was doing my weather records starting 2007. June 2008 was a bit cool and boring, but July was a decent month IMO. August was just very cloudy, but mild. I don't think 2008 was a terrible summer overall. Just forgettable. Not in the leagues of 2007, 2011, 2012 or 2015.

2011 and 2015 were better summers than 2008. 

[Met.]

1 hour ago, B87 said:

2011 and 2015 were better summers than 2008. 

Statements like this are completely meaningless if you're not talking about specific locations. In Northern England 2011 was far worse than 2008 as was much of 2015. I don't care about what it was in London because I don't live there.

In my location 2008 had a good July (yes, good), it also had regular convection. August was cloudy but not over wet nor cold (my two least favourite things). 2011 had not a single thunderstorm all summer, the only such summer I can remember that being the case - and it was the coldest summer in somewhere around 23 years locally. June and July 2015 were both very cool and lacking in convection (apart from 1st which had some storms up north). 2008 was better than either 2011 or 2015 here.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Thundershine

[Harry233]

2 hours ago, Thundershine said:

Statements like this are completely meaningless if you're not talking about specific locations. In Northern England 2011 was far worse than 2008 as was much of 2015. I don't care about what it was in London because I don't live there.

In my location 2008 had a good July (yes, good), it also had regular convection. August was cloudy but not over wet nor cold (my two least favourite things). 2011 had not a single thunderstorm all summer, the only such summer I can remember that being the case - and it was the coldest summer in somewhere around 23 years locally. June and July 2015 were both very cool and lacking in convection (apart from 1st which had some storms up north). 2008 was better than either 2011 or 2015 here.

2008 wasn’t as bad as 2011 or 2015 I’d agree. June and July 2008 were never particularly cool and the second half of July that year was actually quite a bit warmer than average, 2011 only had a couple of days at the start and end of June and July where it was noticeably warm and 2015 only had a couple of days at the end of June and beginning of July. 

[SummerShower]

Yes this was one of the worst summer months I have lived through.. from memory it rained nearly every day in the south, not always large amounts but just so consistently.  There was so little sun that nocturnal cooling and daytime heating were forgotten about (the cet wasnt bad, but had pretty high night min this month, and very low daytime max).  It was equally as bad as Jun 97, Jun 07, Jul 07 and Jun 12.  Aug 10 and Aug 14 very nearly matched it for poorness though.

[East Lancs Rain]

9 hours ago, B87 said:

An utter shambles of a 'summer' month. It made July 2008 look good!

104 hours of sun is barely over 50% of average. Only August 1954 was cloudier (and then 2 years later it was almost matched again in August 2010). It was also combined with high rainfall and max temps 2c below normal.

Meteociel - Climatologie mensuelle de London / Heathrow (UK) ( United Kingdom )

WWW.METEOCIEL.FR

---

Résumé mensuel des observations météo ( températures minimales et maximales, précipitations et ensoleillement) de la station...

 

If you think that is bad, take a look at Aberdeen: 

 

Only five days reached 20C.

Meteociel - Climatologie mensuelle de Aberdeen (UK) ( United Kingdom )

WWW.METEOCIEL.FR

---

Résumé mensuel des observations météo ( températures minimales et maximales, précipitations et ensoleillement) de la station Aberdeen (UK) ( United Kingdom )

 

[Weather-history]

5 hours ago, Thundershine said:

Statements like this are completely meaningless if you're not talking about specific locations. In Northern England 2011 was far worse than 2008 as was much of 2015. I don't care about what it was in London because I don't live there.

 

Manchester Summer Index says 2008  was worse than 2011 and 2015 with a value of 168 and I'm in northern England. 

2011: 179

2015: 192

My instinct even without the benefit of the index tells me that 2008 was worse.

 

 

[Met.]

38 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

Manchester Summer Index says 2008  was worse than 2011 and 2015 with a value of 168 and I'm in northern England. 

2011: 179

2015: 192

My instinct even without the benefit of the index tells me that 2008 was worse.

 

 

I lived in Lincolnshire in 2008 and further north in England in 2011 and 2015 that could be why I found 2008 better. I doubt it though, because 2008 was milder than summer 2011 or 2015 in places Iived in. Also, your index is only for YOUR location, only takes into account certain factors, of which different people may weight into things differently.   and I don't think I need an index to determine how a season was when I experienced it myself and recorded the damn temperatures, sun etc.. every day.   I found 2008 better than 2011 and 2015. I don't know why you want to make an argument about it.

TBH I'm getting a bit tired of people on this site who simply can't get it into their heads that people experience different weather, well, differently, and can't just let it go that to some body else, a season they thought was bad, wasn't as bad.  I feel it's just for the sake of being right and scoring points.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Thundershine

[B87]

London summer index for those years.

2007: 244

2008: 253

2011: 247

2012: 233

2015: 276

So 2008 was slightly better than 2011, but 2015 was the 'best' of the lot.

[Met.]

44 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

Manchester Summer Index says 2008  was worse than 2011 and 2015 with a value of 168 and I'm in northern England. 

2011: 179

2015: 192

My instinct even without the benefit of the index tells me that 2008 was worse.

 

 

Well, you are wrong. I've recorded the weather since 2007 and these are my numbers right here:

2008

June

Avg max: 18.4

Avg min: 10.7

Sun hours: 172

Rain: 54.2

July

Avg max: 21.2

Avg min: 12.5

Sun hours: 179.2

Rain: 90.7

August

Avg max: 20.7

Avg min: 13.6

Sun hours: 116.3

Rain: 58.9

2008 avg temp: 16.2

2008 sun: 468 hours

2008 rain: 204mm

Summer 2011

June

Avg max: 16.7

Avg min: 8.4

Sun: 175.3

Rain: 70

July

Avg max: 18.2

Avg max 9.6

Sun: 167.5

Rain: 104

August

Avg max: 17.3

Avg min: 10.6

Sun: 105.2 (lol)

Rain: 60

2011 Avg temp: 13.5

2011 Sun: 448

2011 Rain: 234

Summer 2015

June

Avg Max: 16.8

Avg min: 8.2

sun: 184.3

rain: 67

July

Avg max: 17.8

Avg min: 10.2

sun: 166.1

rain: 72

August

Avg max: 18.1

Avg min: 10.8

sun: 114.9

rain: 65.8

2015 Avg temp: 13.7

2015 sun: 466

2015 rain: 204

Well, I'm gonna play the numbers game and there they are: from my records. I have emboldened the final figures for all three of these summers. Now you tell me with your index and "instincts" that 2008 was "worse" than 2011 and 2015. I think NOT.

In the locations I have lived in, 2011 and 2015 were substantially colder years. Also, they had less sun than 2008 in total. Also, they had equal or more rainfall than 2008. There is no question that 2008 was a better summer than 2011 and 2015. Your figures say one thing, mine say another.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Thundershine

[Met.]

1 minute ago, B87 said:

London summer index for those years.

2007: 244

2008: 253

2011: 247

2012: 233

2015: 276

So 2008 was slightly better than 2011, but 2015 was the 'best' of the lot.

In the places I lived in, summer 2015 was 2.5°C colder than 2008, not only that but it was also cloudier. This = worse for me personally.

[Thundery wintry showers]

These figures show that it does vary depending on what part of the country you lived in, even just when considering opposite sides of the south Pennines.  One way of doing it would be to apply the Manchester summer index to the UK's areal max temperature, rainfall and rain day stats from the Met Office at https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-and-regional-series.  Here I get:

2007: 196

2008: 196

2011: 201

2012: 175

2015: 207

The Met Office provides rain days (>= 1mm rather than >= 0.2mm), which is less ideal, but the index still seems to work well, e.g. in records going back to 1919, the two highest-rated summers are 1976 (288) and 1995 (280), and the lowest by a fair margin is 1954 (161) which I expect would match up well with many people's perceptions.  Interestingly 2018 ranks 3rd for the UK with 265.

What's coming out from the various stats, though, is that they strongly bear out the original thread title.  June 2008 was a decent month for many (especially down here in the south-west, although I wasn't here at the time), and July 2008, despite being wet, generally had sunshine totals that weren't far from normal, and had a warm sunny spell in the last third of the month.  It was that August that really dragged the summer down to the level of those of 2007, 2011 and 2015 and even a bit below in some parts of the country.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Thundery wintry showers

[Weather-history]

28 minutes ago, B87 said:

London summer index for those years.

2007: 244

2008: 253

2011: 247

2012: 233

2015: 276

So 2008 was slightly better than 2011, but 2015 was the 'best' of the lot.

Manchester Summer Index is the same and has 2015 as the best of that grouping and 2012 as the worst.

I've got my timelapses from that summer of 2015, I'll have to look back at them, to gauge how many really good days there were during that summer.

 

 

 

 

 

[Met.]

26 minutes ago, Thundery wintry showers said:

These figures show that it does vary depending on what part of the country you lived in, even just when considering opposite sides of the south Pennines.  One way of doing it would be to apply the Manchester summer index to the UK's areal max temperature, rainfall and rain day stats from the Met Office at https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-and-regional-series.  Here I get:

2007: 196

2008: 196

2011: 201

2012: 175

2015: 207

Yeah exactly. I lived near Manchester in 2011 and 2015 and it was distinctly worse there than northern Lincolnshire in 2008 as the stats of the places I lived in show (which includes metoffice stats). If I'd been in one location in all three summers I might have found 2008 to be worse than 2011 or 2015. My stats show how much living on one side of the country vs. the other can make a big difference even if they are both places which are about even latitudinal wise.

Interesting that when applied to the metoffice for the whole UK those three summers are about the same. Being in two places just 30-40 miles apart can therefore easily make a  lot of difference in how the weather was

Edited July 6, 2020 by Thundershine

[mountain shadow]

I think it was around the 18th August that Belfast's brand new £100 million pound underpass was flooded.

I have never seen or heard rain like it during that day in all my life.

[Weather-history]

12 minutes ago, mountain shadow said:

I think it was around the 18th August that Belfast's brand new £100 million pound underpass was flooded.

I have never seen or heard rain like it during that day in all my life.

Wettest and dullest ever August. What a month for Northern Ireland that was.

 

[mountain shadow]

33 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

Wettest and dullest ever August. What a month for Northern Ireland that was.

 

Here's a pic from that day. 

[Don]

August 2008 was also atrocious in the south west.  I had a two week holiday in Cornwall and literally there was only one day that was decent and that's bad even by Cornwall's standards!  The rest of the time was rain, rain, rain!!  We didn't have an Indian summer that year either, with winter arriving with a vengeance in October! 

Edited July 6, 2020 by Don

[East Lancs Rain]

1 hour ago, Weather-history said:

Manchester Summer Index is the same and has 2015 as the best of that grouping and 2012 as the worst.

I've got my timelapses from that summer of 2015, I'll have to look back at them, to gauge how many really good days there were during that summer.

 

 

 

 

 

I think summer 2015, despite the poor reputation, came out quite close to average for temperature, precipitation and sunshine.

[East Lancs Rain]

3 minutes ago, Don said:

August 2008 was particularly atrocious in the south west.  I had a two week holiday in Cornwall and literally there was only one day that was decent and that's bad even by Cornwall's standards!  The rest of the time was rain, rain, rain!!

 Can’t beat a classic British summer holiday LOL!

[Don]

1 hour ago, East Lancs Rain said:

 Can’t beat a classic British summer holiday LOL!

I consumed a lot of beer that holiday! 

Edited July 6, 2020 by Don

[danm]

My abiding memory of August 2008 is dull and cool. Never a good thing in summer. I suppose it wasn't a washout, like June 2012 or parts of summer 2007, however it was pretty depressing.