Ranking the summers since 2013

[SqueakheartLW]

3 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

Was June 2015 really as poor as that where you are?

Here it was likely the sunniest June between 2015 and 2022 inclusive, with long spells of settled weather and moderate temps except at the end when it became briefly very hot.

Think southern areas had the least bad weather in summer 2015. For us in N Lincs we got stuck under weather fronts that passed through central parts of the UK at times. This theme began in May 2015 and continued on into the June.

Apart from the 1 day heat spike the summer in general was not very good weather wise.

[Summer8906]

23 minutes ago, SqueakheartLW said:

Think southern areas had the least bad weather in summer 2015. For us in N Lincs we got stuck under weather fronts that passed through central parts of the UK at times. This theme began in May 2015 and continued on into the June.

Apart from the 1 day heat spike the summer in general was not very good weather wise.

Thanks for that. The summer as a whole was fairly poor down here, but June and the first 10 days or so of July were generally good.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Summer8906

[summer blizzard]

On 22/06/2023 at 12:34, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

If I had to group the summers over the last 10 years into tiers, then this is what I would choose.

The god tier
2018, 2022 (classic summers and the best ones since 1995)

The top tier
2013, 2014 (decent summers with plenty of warmth and sunshine)

The medium tier
2016, 2017, 2019 (nothing to write home about, but not particularly bad either)

The low tier 
2020, 2021 (had their moments, but poor overall)

The best confined to the bin tier
2015 (apart from one hot day, it was a poor summer)

God Tier - 2018. While it got a bit humid, it was exceptional for 2 and a half months. On par with 2006 and 2003.

Top Tier - 2013 and 2022. July 2013 and August 2022 were exceptional in their own right but up here July was 2 very hot days and nothing else. 

Medium Tier - 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021

Low Tier - 2017, a summer of two halves.

Worst Tier - 2015, though I enjoyed it personally I can see how bar 1 day it was devoid of anything.

 

[Weather-history]

2018

2013

2022

2014, 2021

2015

2019

2016, 2017

2020

 

The best and the worst were obvious to me but the rest were not as clear cut especially those near the bottom. I didn’t rate last summer that highly. It didn’t stand out for me as 2018 did.

 

[Sunny76]

7 hours ago, Weather-history said:

2018

2013

2022

2014, 2021

2015

2019

2016, 2017

2020

 

The best and the worst were obvious to me but the rest were not as clear cut especially those near the bottom. I didn’t rate last summer that highly. It didn’t stand out for me as 2018 did.

 

2018 was far superior to 22. It had weeks of sunny clear days starting in early May and lasting until almost mid August, give or take a few unsettled cooler days.

22 had a good July and August, which provided one of the best school holiday periods for a long time, but June was fairly benign, and late May was more unsettled. 

[Sun Chaser]

22 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

2018 was far superior to 22. It had weeks of sunny clear days starting in early May and lasting until almost mid August, give or take a few unsettled cooler days.

22 had a good July and August, which provided one of the best school holiday periods for a long time, but June was fairly benign, and late May was more unsettled. 

I love a good May/June more than anything else but last year the period 10th May - 4th July here was pretty unsettled barring that one hot week in June, and I was out the country for most of August. so while it was an amazing summer it wasn't quite 2018 level for me, and the settled weather came in shorter 2-week spells rather than being consistent like in 2018

[Sunny76]

22 minutes ago, plymsunshine said:

I love a good May/June more than anything else but last year the period 10th May - 4th July here was pretty unsettled barring that one hot week in June, and I was out the country for most of August. so while it was an amazing summer it wasn't quite 2018 level for me, and the settled weather came in shorter 2-week spells rather than being consistent like in 2018

2022 was still a nice summer and much better than the likes of anything in between 2018 and 22, but 2018 was just in a league of its own. Plus the World Cup was in the summer that year, so gets an added bonus for me.

 

[alexisj9]

I can't really rank mine, as can't fully remember what happened when anyway, but summer is summer, no matter the weather. There are perfect days like today, warm, nice breeze, started fully sunny, now sunny spells, too hot, hasn't happened quite this year, it's been nice, over cast, a bit disappointing, rainy, often needed when it happens.

[Snowyowl9]

June 2023 has to be top..

July 2023 looks like before pretty darn awful until later in the month..

[Summer8906]

5 hours ago, plymsunshine said:

I love a good May/June more than anything else but last year the period 10th May - 4th July here was pretty unsettled barring that one hot week in June, and I was out the country for most of August. so while it was an amazing summer it wasn't quite 2018 level for me, and the settled weather came in shorter 2-week spells rather than being consistent like in 2018

It's interesting trying to gather info about last summer as I too was out of the country for much of it. On balance though it "looks" slightly better than 2018, mostly due to June 2022 being probably slightly better than August 2018.

I've used a couple of sources to get a feel for it (besides comments on here).

Firstly the archive charts. They showed unsettled from June 23 to about July 2, then after a few days of rather anticyclonic westerlies, strongly anticyclonic from the 7th to the 17th, the breakdown on the 19th and then ill defined westerlies for the remainder.

In August the charts show slightly changeable conditions for the first three days, strongly anticyclonic 4th-12th, and surprisingly cyclonic on the 14th given it was still sunny by all accounts. The next week or so actually looks decidedly unsettled before the final few days were anticyclonic again.

The weather archive on timeanddate.com paints a better picture than the charts suggest. In London looks like July 7th-19th was sunny and the remainder of the month had 3 or 4 sunny days. August was very sunny from the 4th-15th but even the unsettled spell from the 15th seemed relatively warm, only a small amount of rain, and often sunny - a good deal drier and warmer than the charts suggest.

That said perhaps there was a sharp east-west gradient which could tilt things in favour of 2018 away from the east. I also seem to remember that July 19th and even perhaps the 18th was rather cloudy in the Hants/Dorset area and we didn't get the extreme temperatures here, which could perhaps have restricted July's really sunny weather to 11 days in this area.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Summer8906

[Sun Chaser]

On 02/07/2023 at 21:18, Summer8906 said:

Firstly the archive charts. They showed unsettled from June 23 to about July 2, then after a few days of rather anticyclonic westerlies, strongly anticyclonic from the 7th to the 17th, the breakdown on the 19th and then ill defined westerlies for the remainder.

In August the charts show slightly changeable conditions for the first three days, strongly anticyclonic 4th-12th, and surprisingly cyclonic on the 14th given it was still sunny by all accounts. The next week or so actually looks decidedly unsettled before the final few days were anticyclonic again.

The weather archive on timeanddate.com paints a better picture than the charts suggest. In London looks like July 7th-19th was sunny and the remainder of the month had 3 or 4 sunny days. August was very sunny from the 4th-15th but even the unsettled spell from the 15th seemed relatively warm, only a small amount of rain, and often sunny - a good deal drier and warmer than the charts suggest.

That said perhaps there was a sharp east-west gradient which could tilt things in favour of 2018 away from the east. I also seem to remember that July 19th and even perhaps the 18th was rather cloudy in the Hants/Dorset area and we didn't get the extreme temperatures here, which could perhaps have restricted July's really sunny weather to 11 days in this area.

I think 2022 is actually one of those rare summers where the west did almost as well as the east, in contrast to other recent heatwaves!

June was unsettled in the main but overall good enough, fairly sunny and warm and definitely helped by the hot mid month spell.

July was incredible here. First 4 days were cool and cloudy but after a warm-up, the 7th to 18th was stunning and the 18th was the hottest day of all time here, reaching over 35C. (previous record being 32C in 1976 I believe). The 19th was sadly just cloudy and damp here but we got a good thunderstorm at least. After this the rest of July was pleasant - dry, warmer than average and fairly sunny, with some hot days like the 22nd, 28th and 29th.

August I was out of the country for the main heatwave but while I was here:

1st-4th carried on as July left off. On the 5th it turned anticyclonic giving us clear blue skies and turned hot by the time I left on the 7th. On my return on the 25th it was once again just pleasant with low 20s and mostly sunny days before the weather broke on September 3rd and turned very wet.

Compare to 2018 where it was almost constantly hot and sunny from May 18th to August 8th (but for a week in mid June) and I think you'll understand why 2022 felt a little more stop-start in comparison.

I enjoyed May/June 2023 so much because it gave the same vibes as 2018 where the sunny weather felt like it wouldn't stop at one point. Overall we got 470 hours in those two months combined which isn't far off the totals for all of summer 2018 or 2022!

[Summer8906]

3 hours ago, plymsunshine said:

I think 2022 is actually one of those rare summers where the west did almost as well as the east, in contrast to other recent heatwaves!

June was unsettled in the main but overall good enough, fairly sunny and warm and definitely helped by the hot mid month spell.

July was incredible here. First 4 days were cool and cloudy but after a warm-up, the 7th to 18th was stunning and the 18th was the hottest day of all time here, reaching over 35C. (previous record being 32C in 1976 I believe). The 19th was sadly just cloudy and damp here but we got a good thunderstorm at least. After this the rest of July was pleasant - dry, warmer than average and fairly sunny, with some hot days like the 22nd, 28th and 29th.

August I was out of the country for the main heatwave but while I was here:

1st-4th carried on as July left off. On the 5th it turned anticyclonic giving us clear blue skies and turned hot by the time I left on the 7th. On my return on the 25th it was once again just pleasant with low 20s and mostly sunny days before the weather broke on September 3rd and turned very wet.

Compare to 2018 where it was almost constantly hot and sunny from May 18th to August 8th (but for a week in mid June) and I think you'll understand why 2022 felt a little more stop-start in comparison.

I enjoyed May/June 2023 so much because it gave the same vibes as 2018 where the sunny weather felt like it wouldn't stop at one point. Overall we got 470 hours in those two months combined which isn't far off the totals for all of summer 2018 or 2022!

Thanks for that, gives a good insight into what actually happened. Sounds similar to what London experienced but presumably a little cooler.

[TheOgre]

I’m my area 2018 had a good June with a dry and warm first two thirds and then an amazing hot final third which lasted all the way to the end of July. August 2018 was very average.

2022 had a mixed June with plenty of heat as well as crud. July started a bit dodgy but after around the 7th ish was very hot and sunny until the 19th and was warm and cloudy for the rest of the month. August was wall to wall sunshine for the first half with a length heatwave. The second half was more benign pleasant summer weather.

Overall 2018 was a more front loaded (June/July) summer and featured one very lengthy spell and 2022 was more back loaded (July/August) with two major spells broken up by benign weather in between.

[Summer18]

Classics:

- 2018 & 2022:

2018 edges it slightly because the heat started in May and lasted until early August. It was also timed perfectly with the World Cup that year. The heat wasn’t as oppressive as 2022 either with cooler nights. 2022 was more stop start in comparison but the heatwaves were truly exceptional. I never thought I’d see 40C ever in Britain let alone so widely, it felt every bit as hot as the Mediterranean. I was in Cornwall for the August heatwave too which was fantastic. 

Very good:

2013, 2014, 2021:

2013 is the top of this pile because that heatwave in July felt like such a relief after years after complete rubbish. 2014 had a lovely June and July but August was shocking. 2021 seemed to be warm throughout with the heat peaking in mid July. Some decent storms that year too.

Decent:

2016, 2019, 2020, 2023 (up to now):

2016 & 2019 were fairly similar with no real prolonged heatwave but pulses of hot weather throughout. 2019 edges it due to the extreme heat at the end of July and it was decent for storms. 2020 had the early August heatwave which was intense but the rest of it was average. This terrible July has dragged this year down for now even though June was brilliant.

Average to poor:

2017 & 2015:

2017 had a decent June but the rest of the summer was rubbish. 2015 was so boring I can barely remember anything interesting (I was away for the early July hot spell).

I would say no summer has been truly terrible since 2012 which would be bottom by a large margin if it was included in this list. 

[reef]

Summer Index here for 2013-2023:

2018: 295
2022: 292
2013: 262
2015: 235
2019: 234
2023: 234 (to 19th July)
2021: 231
2014: 230
2017: 229
2016: 224
2020: 196

You often hear how 1989-2006 had better summers than recent years, but coincidentally 1989-2006 and 2013-2023 both average 243 exactly. 2007-2012 averaged 222.

The 43 year average value (1980-2023) is 234.  What's interesting is all but 4 summers in this list are within 10 of the average. 2020 was poor, 2013 was good and 2022 and 2018 were exceptional.

[damianslaw]

3 hours ago, reef said:

Summer Index here for 2013-2023:

2018: 295
2022: 292
2013: 262
2015: 235
2019: 234
2023: 234 (to 19th July)
2021: 231
2014: 230
2017: 229
2016: 224
2020: 196

You often hear how 1989-2006 had better summers than recent years, but coincidentally 1989-2006 and 2013-2023 both average 243 exactly. 2007-2012 averaged 222.

The 43 year average value (1980-2023) is 234.  What's interesting is all but 4 summers in this list are within 10 of the average. 2020 was poor, 2013 was good and 2022 and 2018 were exceptional.

Interesting that 2015 is fourth in the list, despite many saying it was poor. Here I don't think it was that bad, not much heat, and late July was poor, but otherwise fairly pleasant. 2020 degenerated very quick by late June, July and August were very wet.. is 2023 going the same way? Here June was great only to the 17th. This July could end up one of worse summer months since June 2012, if not worst. 

[Sunny76]

1 hour ago, damianslaw said:

Interesting that 2015 is fourth in the list, despite many saying it was poor. Here I don't think it was that bad, not much heat, and late July was poor, but otherwise fairly pleasant. 2020 degenerated very quick by late June, July and August were very wet.. is 2023 going the same way? Here June was great only to the 17th. This July could end up one of worse summer months since June 2012, if not worst. 

2015 along with 2016 are fairly forgettable summers. I can’t remember anything of interest from them.