Summer 2020 - Moans, Ramps & Chat

[Freeze]

2 hours ago, 38.7°C said:

Not seen weather like this in July since 2012 

Last time I checked it was still June, we haven’t even entered July yet so you can’t go making comparisons just yet. 

[markyo]

20 hours ago, MP-R said:

You can include Bristol folk into that. I certainly don't wear shorts in less than about 25C, unless actually sitting in the sun or doing exercise. I certainly wouldn't be in shorts in anything less than our summer average, especially if the sun wasn't out.

In the same way as many southerners are a bit soft when it comes to cold, northerners certainly are when it come to moderate warmth let alone heat!

i wear shorts all year round,never wear long trousers,not for 2 years now(and i honestly mean never) only relented for a couple of days in the Beast from the East  in 2018 then.....but i am a Northern softy who can't stand the heat to what would you expect! Could it be a new North South divide?

Edited June 27, 2020 by markyo

[MP-R]

22 minutes ago, markyo said:

i wear shorts all year round,never wear long trousers,not for 2 years now(and i honestly mean never) only relented for a couple of days in the Beast from the East  in 2018 then.....but i am a Northern softy who can't stand the heat to what would you expect! Could it be a new North South divide?

Why am I not surprised lol...

[Schnee]

Given the choice, i'd be somewhere cold. I'm a Yorkshireman and it's in my blood. However, as i've mentioned before I tend to use the summer for boosting my heat tolerance with a side effect of being a giant troll who wears a fleece still. For some reason it really triggers some people.

Looking forward to not waking up at 4am tonight. For the last 3 nights i've woke up, relented and put the a/c back on.

[East Lancs Rain]

I've come up with my own personal summer index! I know that some people on here have created their own summer index for their local town/city, but I'm guessing that hot sunny weather scores highest on their index and cold rainy days scores lowest. Whereas my index is based on the number of usable days of weather based on my own summer preferences (not too hot or too cold, or too rainy). In my opinion, a 30C sunny day is just as bad as a 12C and heavy rain one, in that they are both bad and useless for me (can't go outside without getting soaked or scorched) so both days would score 0 points on my index. Whereas a dry sunny day with temps between 20-25C is pretty much perfect conditions in summer for me, so would score maximum points on my index.

 

My index points system is:

Rainy day with maximum temperature below 20C - 0 points
Rainy day with maximum temperature between 20-25C - 1 point
Dry cloudy day with maximum temperature between 15-20C - 1 point
Dry sunny day with maximum temperature between 15-20C - 2 points
Dry cloudy day with maximum temperature between 20-25C - 2 points
Dry sunny day with maximum temperature between 20-25C - 3 points

Any day with maximum temperatures below 15C - 0 points
Any day with maximum temperatures above 25C - 0 points

 

BONUS POINTS:

A day with at least 1 audible crack of thunder - 3 points

A day with at least 1 flash of lightning - 3 points

A day with at least 5 flashes and cracks of thunder (ie a thunderstorm) - 15 points

Criteria:

A rainy day is defined as any day where 1 mm or more rain falls between 9 am and 9 pm.

A sunny day is defined as any day where there are 2 or more hours of sunshine.

A cloudy day is defined as any day where there are less than 2 hours of sunshine.

 

I will use the weather observations from a local weather station. At the end of the summer I will then add up the points, the higher the points, the better the summer (for me). I will then be able to compare back to previous years. It will be an interesting thing to do if nothing else.

Edited June 27, 2020 by East Lancs Rain

[damianslaw]

Avery changeable start to summer 2020 so far, we've had a major switch in the space of 48 hours, this time 2 days ago temp was still sat at 27 degrees, right now it's 14 degrees with rain and low cloud.

Looking ahead temperatures significantly below average for the north at least. 

[East Lancs Rain]

10 minutes ago, MP-R said:

Why am I not surprised lol...

Must admit I am one of the first to get the shorts out in early Spring as soon as it's sunny and the temperature hits double digits. I wore shorts on quite a few days at the end of March this year, with temps between 12 and 17C, full sun and it felt very pleasant too. :) I definitely wasn't the only one wearing them either. I draw the line at wearing them during late autumn/winter though. Cold rain on the legs does not seem like fun...

[markyo]

22 minutes ago, MP-R said:

Why am I not surprised lol...

Well of course what else would you expect! Fingers crossed you may get something more to your liking 2nd half of July, i suspect you may from what i've seen.

[markyo]

10 minutes ago, East Lancs Rain said:

Must admit I am one of the first to get the shorts out in early Spring as soon as it's sunny and the temperature hits double digits. I wore shorts on quite a few days at the end of March this year, with temps between 12 and 17C, full sun and it felt very pleasant too. I definitely wasn't the only one wearing them either. I draw the line at wearing them during late autumn/winter though. Cold rain on the legs does not seem like fun...

I can get strange looks in Winter sometimes clearing the snow off my car with shorts on...no idea why..Honestly though its due to my job mainly,you need to keep cool what ever the weather is doing,35c plus and humid for several hours is not fun. Long trousers would be a nightmare. And best of all a 35c drop in temp in Winter coming out of a decom room into sub zero temps doesn't half feel good!

Edited June 27, 2020 by markyo

[East Lancs Rain]

23 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

Avery changeable start to summer 2020 so far, we've had a major switch in the space of 48 hours, this time 2 days ago temp was still sat at 27 degrees, right now it's 14 degrees with rain and low cloud.

Looking ahead temperatures significantly below average for the north at least. 

Yes, and unfortunately these dramatic temperature swings seem to be more common in summer nowadays. Remember last summer it reached 33C here on the hottest day on record, but just two days later was raining and in the mid teens.

 

This is exactly the reason why I prefer heat and sunshine in Spring rather than Summer, as in Summer you tend to get three boiling hot days followed by a thunderstorm, then a long spell of cool damp cloudy weather. Whereas in Spring the high pressure tends to stick around much longer, giving really pleasant sunny days that aren't boiling hot, just pleasantly warm. You really can't beat a 15C sunny day in the Spring.

 

Also, humidity is lower in Spring as well, there was barely any humidity at all in April for example.

Edited June 27, 2020 by East Lancs Rain

[East Lancs Rain]

10 minutes ago, markyo said:

I can get strange looks in Winter sometimes clearing the snow off my car with shorts on...no idea why..Honestly though its due to my job mainly,you need to keep cool what ever the weather is doing,35c plus and humid for several hours is not fun. Long trousers would be a nightmare. And best of all a 35c drop in temp in Winter coming out of a decom room into sub zero temps doesn't half feel good!

I bet it does! You'd be better off working in a massive freezer lol.

[damianslaw]

5 minutes ago, East Lancs Rain said:

Yes, and unfortunately these dramatic temperature swings seem to be more common in summer nowadays. Remember last summer it reached 33C here on the hottest day on record, but just two days later was raining and in the mid teens.

 

This is exactly the reason why I prefer heat and sunshine in Spring rather than Summer, as in Summer you tend to get three boiling hot days followed by a thunderstorm, then a long spell of cool damp cloudy weather. Whereas in Spring the high pressure tends to stick around much longer, giving really pleasant sunny days that aren't boiling hot, just pleasantly warm. You really can't beat a 15C sunny day in the Spring.

 

Also, humidity is lower in Spring as well, there was barely any humidity at all in April for example.

Major switcharounds, from heat to cool and vice versa occur both in the Spring and Summer, much less so in Autumn and Winter, when we have more flatter, zonal patterns.

The trough-ridge pattern is the reason, deep long wave trough over mid atlantic cool northerly/NW airstream embedded within, ridge to the east, warm air advection through the UK, once ridge retreats, the cool airmass pounces. 

[summer blizzard]

1 hour ago, East Lancs Rain said:

Yes, and unfortunately these dramatic temperature swings seem to be more common in summer nowadays. Remember last summer it reached 33C here on the hottest day on record, but just two days later was raining and in the mid teens.

 

This is exactly the reason why I prefer heat and sunshine in Spring rather than Summer, as in Summer you tend to get three boiling hot days followed by a thunderstorm, then a long spell of cool damp cloudy weather. Whereas in Spring the high pressure tends to stick around much longer, giving really pleasant sunny days that aren't boiling hot, just pleasantly warm. You really can't beat a 15C sunny day in the Spring.

 

Also, humidity is lower in Spring as well, there was barely any humidity at all in April for example.

I don’t think short hot spells are that much more likely in summer than spring. I do agree with you regarding humidity though. Although there are exceptions like July 2013 and August 1995 which kept low humidity, for the most part it’s rare to get bearable humidity in a hot spell from July onwards.

[Azazel]

Nippy out there this evening and blowing a gale. Is this a named storm?

[DAVID SNOW]

House has cooled down beautifully, so I will harp on about the next few days, thanks lol.

[B87]

3 hours ago, East Lancs Rain said:

I've come up with my own personal summer index! I know that some people on here have created their own summer index for their local town/city

I use the standard summer index formula to calculate mine, and it really shows how different summer is in the SE vs everywhere else. 2007 and 2012 were terrible everywhere, yet they score 244 and 233 respectively here. A summer index of 240 in Manchester for example would be on the higher end of summers.

[Frost HoIIow]

1 hour ago, B87 said:

I use the standard summer index formula to calculate mine, and it really shows how different summer is in the SE vs everywhere else. 2007 and 2012 were terrible everywhere, yet they score 244 and 233 respectively here. A summer index of 240 in Manchester for example would be on the higher end of summers.

Indeed. When you scroll through the years of weather history for London (Heathrow) it's pretty rare for them to have a max temp below 20 during the entirety of July & August. Up here in NW England that just isn't the case. If we had what London has every year we would call that an amazing Summer. But that's just normal to Londoners.

[damianslaw]

Getting a sense this is going to be a very topsy turvy summer, warm dry spells quickly exchanged for wetter cooler ones. 

[Iceaxecrampon]

I for one am glad this Heatwave has passed.

Maybe give the Dorset (and other) beaches a break.

F------  Melts the lot of them.

 

[Sunny76]

11 minutes ago, Iceaxecrampon said:

I for one am glad this Heatwave has passed.

Maybe give the Dorset (and other) beaches a break.

F------  Melts the lot of them.

 

Yeah they are are, and the street party goers.

A poor summer would probably be the best outcome to stop beach goers, but unfortunately, that would spoil it for the rest of us, who would like a decent summer.

In a way this whole Covid thing has cancelled summer 2020 in more ways than one, I just can’t put my finger on it. Does it make sense? 

[Puddy Galore]

What is it with the weather across the UK these days.  It is either trying to drown us, burn us to a crisp or blown us away completely.  Perhaps someone with a better memory can say whether we used to have such windy weather during summer months.  I know we have had windy spells during the last couple of summers as I have distinct memories of tying the beans to fences or any other structure to anchor them down but I don’t recall windy summers during the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s.  Is my memory faulty?  I too am glad the excessive heat has left us but this wind is also doing my head in.  The weather patterns seem so extreme at the moment, whatever happened to a nice gentle benign UK summers day.

Edited June 28, 2020 by Snowycat

[Sunny76]

7 minutes ago, Snowycat said:

What is it with the weather across the UK these days.  It is either trying to drown us, burn us to a crisp or blown us away completely.  Perhaps someone with a better memory can say whether we used to have such windy weather during summer months.  I know we have had windy spells during the last couple of summers as I have distinct memories of tying the beans to fences or any other structure to anchor them down but I don’t recall windy summers during the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s.  Is my memory faulty?  I too am glad the excessive heat has left us but this wind is also doing my head in.  The weather patterns seem so extreme at the moment, whatever happened to a nice gentle benign UK summers day.

Summer 1987 had a lot of windy days, mixed with humid and some brief hot spells, with also lots of wet weather. 

[DAVID SNOW]

If I could pick only 1 word to describe this coming July, it would have to be 'mixed'.

[Relativistic]

19 hours ago, markyo said:

i wear shorts all year round,never wear long trousers,not for 2 years now(and i honestly mean never) only relented for a couple of days in the Beast from the East  in 2018 then.....but i am a Northern softy who can't stand the heat to what would you expect! Could it be a new North South divide?

Was still wearing shorts in March 2018

Edited June 28, 2020 by Relativistic

[marky810]

Its just reached the teens here at 13.1c but the rain keeps on coming down and the wind keeps blowing. Feels like we've gone from June to Oct in 48hrs.