what is a "washout" summer?

[mushymanrob]

this term has been banded about a lot, and indeed only last night on east midlands domanic heal referred to this summer as a 'washout' because we have had record breaking rainfall in some areas...

but does the criteria for a 'washout' summer refer to rainfall amounts, or to days when rain has fallen?
see.. what puzzles me, is that we can get 30 hot dry sunny days in a month, say july, but the last day could, in theory , deliver twice the average rainfall in a thundery breakdown. would that month be a 'washout'?

currently this year, we are getting around 2/3 of days being dry... with the rains only falling on the other 1/3.  now those rains were very heavy, but does this mean this summers a washout? to me, it isnt. as i see it it should refer to wet days, regardless of rain amounts..

what do you think?

[Terminal Moraine]

I agree, Mushy. 

The perception of a 'washout' summer is as much to do with frequency of rain, and absence of sunshine to dry things up between spells of rain, as it is to do with the amount actually falling. The summer of 1965 felt much more of a 'washout' here than this one due to persistent dull and cool weather, even though the rainfall total was much lower than in 2019.

[Jo Farrow]

Also if this (Bank Holiday) weekend is glorious, hot and sunny, will it turn people's opinion of August 2019? Then we'll await the 2nd Sept for the August rainfall figures. Is it high profile events being interrupted like tennis and cricket, or just your own holiday time/location. Parents looking back over summer holidays? so just six weeks of the summer.

[NeilN]

It's a broad definition of what constitutes as a "washout" to be fair. To me, a washout summer for me is 2012 or 2007 as they were summers that rarely got into second gear and were dominated by wet weather. 

2019....hmm.....a toughie. In my location aside from a majority soggy June (with a smattering of nice days), a majority warm and dry July and August is see June albeit a bit cooler, I would not classify this summer as a washout on a marginal basis. Why, it isn't a washout - we had a warm and majority dry July and it's not on levels of 2012 and 2007.  

Edited August 21, 2019 by nn2013

[Met.]

One where there is incessant low pressure training over the country like in June+July 2012 or 2007. Lots of frontal rain but also with lots of showery unpredictable wet days.

[Stargazer]

I'd say it's where the rainfall and number of rainy days are both well above average. Here in the south we haven't had a washout summer since 2012, but no doubt parts of the country have fared much worse than we have this year. For us June 2019 was wet but July and August have both been drier than average, although August has had more rainy days than usual. Reading University's site provides a good summary of the season so far for our area: www.met.reading.ac.uk/weatherdata/Reading_monthly_summaries.html.

Edited August 22, 2019 by Stargazer

[Weather26]

For this Summer I'd say for some places yes but depending on where in the country you are 

[Bristawl Si]

Here in BS34 it has defo NOT been a washout; far from it. Yes, August has brought days as wet as those in 1st half of June, but we've also had plenty of warm, sunny days.

End June into almost whole of July was warm and sunny. 1st 5 days of August was warm and sunny. Since early this week it has been increasingly warm, with a few warm sunny days ahead.

The worst parts of Summer have been 1st 3 weeks of June, plus mid-August. No washout though.

[Snowyowl9]

June was an extreme washout,july was mostly dry,august very mixed but mostly unsettled and wet.

 1988 summer cold and a washout except for june.

[mushymanrob]

19 hours ago, Snowyowl9 said:

June was an extreme washout,july was mostly dry,august very mixed but mostly unsettled and wet.

 1988 summer cold and a washout except for june.

............ but the stats show that 2/3 of june was dry... unless you live in a microclimate.. this is the point, although we had well over the average rainfall in june, some places had double the average, the rain only fell on 1/3 of the days, 2/3 were dry.... that to me isnt a 'washout summer' because 2/3 were dry.

[Weather-history]

The one summer that I would definitely call a "washout" without hestitation is 2012. That was wet from the start and it more or less never relented. There wasn't a single day that didn't record something, regionally.

Summer 2007 had a very wet period from about the 10th June to very late July but there were some drier periods. 

Edited August 25, 2019 by Weather-history

[MP-R]

I can’t recall any other summer as worthy of washout status as 2012. As said above, only half of 2007 was washout. Second half of June and all of July was wet, but the first half of June was actually dry as was August.

Peak summer 2008 was comparable but June was dry.

[Snowyowl9]

On ‎25‎/‎08‎/‎2019 at 08:24, mushymanrob said:

............ but the stats show that 2/3 of june was dry... unless you live in a microclimate.. this is the point, although we had well over the average rainfall in june, some places had double the average, the rain only fell on 1/3 of the days, 2/3 were dry.... that to me isnt a 'washout summer' because 2/3 were dry.

13 days dry 17 days washout in june.

Infact this summer is very close to as wet as 2012.........only 0.05" needed to = it.

Made 23.9c today woke up to drizzle and fog what a slow start.

 

Edited August 26, 2019 by Snowyowl9

[mushymanrob]

15 hours ago, Snowyowl9 said:

13 days dry 17 days washout in june.

Infact this summer is very close to as wet as 2012.........only 0.05" needed to = it.

Made 23.9c today woke up to drizzle and fog what a slow start.

 

you had 17 days in june where it rained all day?.... after all, a shower, a couple of hours of rain, doesnt make a day a 'washout' does it!

 

[Snowyowl9]

It was the wettest june in living memory it doesn`t get any wetter than that period it was a washout,saint swithins day is a myth never happens.

[Froze were the Days]

Far from a 'wash out' in my neck of the woods (Essex coast)...just walked through the local park near the river and it is absolutely parched. The summer as a whole will be remembered for the relatively poor June but in my opinion it was the first wide scale poor summer month we've had since 2012 but even then the last 7 days finished okay, and the spikes of record breaking heat). July and August on the other hand have both been relatively good (again talking about my neck of the woods) many warm to very warm days with the odd hot one thrown in as like today, may dry days with sporadic rainy wet windy briefer interludes stopping both months being 'good' in my opinion.

So far this August we've had only 14mm of rain (so probably only 33% of average) I should think the wash out days though big variations apply more to central and northern areas of England and parts of Scotland (certainly since end of June).

 

Edited August 27, 2019 by Froze were the Days

[B87]

I'd consider it a wash out if a summer has above average rainfall and maybe 40%+ of summer days recording rain.

It will also be cloudy and cool. I wouldn't consider August 2004 a washout, as it was warmer than average and still recorded average sunshine, it still felt like a summer month, unlike July/August 2011 or June/July 2012.

An average summer here sees around 20-25 days with rainfall. Cool and cloudy with at least 35 days and it's a washout.

[Weather-history]

On 27 August 2019 at 21:04, B87 said:

I'd consider it a wash out if a summer has above average rainfall and maybe 40%+ of summer days recording rain.

It will also be cloudy and cool. I wouldn't consider August 2004 a washout, as it was warmer than average and still recorded average sunshine, it still felt like a summer month, unlike July/August 2011 or June/July 2012.

 

I definitely consider August 2004 a washout here. Manchester Airport recorded 195mm, that was actually wetter than any of the autumn 2000 months and only 6 days it didn't rain. 

[mushymanrob]

On 27/08/2019 at 16:18, Snowyowl9 said:

It was the wettest june in living memory it doesn`t get any wetter than that period it was a washout,saint swithins day is a myth never happens.

no youre missing the point, please read my op...

[Katrine Basso]

I would say a washout summer was when the whole of the UK has continually unsettled weather from June to late August.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I generally think of a "washout summer" as a summer with significantly above average rainfall, with emphasis on the frequency of rain rather than necessarily the quantity, combined with significantly below average sunshine.  In recent years 2012 is the big standout for me, and 2004 is a contender as it was very wet, but not on a par with 2012 for lack of sunshine.  In the archives, the summers of 1912 and 1954 particularly spring to mind.  The stats for Durham for the summer of 1912 are shocking: all three months much cooler and wetter than the relatively cool 1961-1990 average, and with less than 50% of the normal sunshine, which would have contrasted particularly starkly with the summer of 1911.