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1980


Sunny76

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Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London

The first year of the 80s. 
 

What weather events stand out for you this year? And what are your memories if any?

I was only 4 at the time, but do have vague memories of a narrowboat break in Hertfordshire. Think it was the late May half term, (possibly early June?). 
 

When reading the archives for this year, many point to a terrible summer and lots of cool weather, but while on the narrowboat holiday, the weather was hot, and that night we witnessed some severe thunderstorms. 
 

I have no recollection of winters either side of the year, but I get the impression they were average to mild. The Spring that year appeared to be warm and sunny at times.

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Posted
  • Location: Cheshire
  • Location: Cheshire

Yes, we were camping in Hampshire during the week of the Spring Bank Holiday and the weather was good up until the last evening - Friday 30th May - when the rain came pouring down. And it continued to rain for a good many days after. The weather at our summer camp in East Anglia at the end of July was reasonable but not spectacular. We were told to prepare for spectacular thunderstorms one day as an active cold front moved across the country and came up against some warm air, but where we were, it amounted to absolutley nothing.   

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Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London
21 minutes ago, A Face like Thunder said:

Yes, we were camping in Hampshire during the week of the Spring Bank Holiday and the weather was good up until the last evening - Friday 30th May - when the rain came pouring down. And it continued to rain for a good many days after. The weather at our summer camp in East Anglia at the end of July was reasonable but not spectacular. We were told to prepare for spectacular thunderstorms one day as an active cold front moved across the country and came up against some warm air, but where we were, it amounted to absolutley nothing.   

There were weather disappointments even back then. 
 

 

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

I wasn't even born then, but I have seen plenty of stats suggesting that late spring 1980 was exceptionally sunny in some parts of the country, especially the north-west.  June stands out as an unusually thundery month, with 9 thunder-days in Newcastle, which is about what Newcastle normally gets in a whole year.  This was mainly due to a warm humid thundery first week and then a spell of sunshine, showers and widespread thunder from 22-26 June associated with slow-moving low pressure close to the UK and a lack of accompanying fronts.  However it would appear that the rest of that month was generally cold, dull and wet.  July and August were notably cool and cloudy for most, though not generally as wet as June.

November 1980 was interesting: there was an exceptionally early snowfall on Jersey around the 6th and some wintry showers affected many parts of southern and eastern England.  A northerly blast near the end brought widespread snow showers to the north and east, but it was generally mild in between and so the month as a whole wasn't particularly cold.

Edited by Thundery wintry showers
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Posted
  • Location: Edmonton Alberta(via Chelmsford, Exeter & Calgary)
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine and 15-25c
  • Location: Edmonton Alberta(via Chelmsford, Exeter & Calgary)

First time i went abroad was in June 1980..went on holidays with my parents and older brother..was cold and dreary..in fact every time i have been to France its the same..went with my Mum in May 1984 was cold and wet..went again in Sept 1998 on my 2nd wedding anniversary with my wife again was cold and wet..not going again

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Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London
On 08/06/2020 at 19:35, cheeky_monkey said:

First time i went abroad was in June 1980..went on holidays with my parents and older brother..was cold and dreary..in fact every time i have been to France its the same..went with my Mum in May 1984 was cold and wet..went again in Sept 1998 on my 2nd wedding anniversary with my wife again was cold and wet..not going again

You were just unlucky, as May 1984 was cold in London also. September 98 was warm and sunny in London, but the summer was poor. 

 

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Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset

I think we’ve got some selective memory going on again. September 1998 was, in the main, very unsettled and wet with average temperatures, more unsettled than July and especially August. There was, however, a warm dry spell between the 18th and 25th.

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Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London
8 minutes ago, MP-R said:

I think we’ve got some selective memory going on again. September 1998 was, in the main, very unsettled and wet with average temperatures, more unsettled than July and especially August. There was, however, a warm dry spell between the 18th and 25th.

I just remember a warm spell in September, but also recall quite a lot of cool and dreary weather around it, mostly in the summer. 98 was a stinker of a year for weather.

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Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
4 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

I just remember a warm spell in September, but also recall quite a lot of cool and dreary weather around it, mostly in the summer. 98 was a stinker of a year for weather.

Wasn’t it just! Not many redeeming features at all.

Although having looked through 1980, it looked equally pants.

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Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London
6 minutes ago, MP-R said:

Wasn’t it just! Not many redeeming features at all.

Although having looked through 1980, it looked equally pants.

I would take 1980 over 98, despite the poor summer. At least 1980 had a dry sunny winter during 79/80, and a cold January, but had a mild February.

1980 also had more thunderstorms, and more sunny weather in the spring. 
 

1998 had nothing to offer, just a very mild winter to start the year, warm spell in February, which wasn’t too bad, chilly april from what I remember, then a poor summer and unremarkable end to the year. 

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Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
19 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

I would take 1980 over 98, despite the poor summer. At least 1980 had a dry sunny winter during 79/80, and a cold January, but had a mild February.

1980 also had more thunderstorms, and more sunny weather in the spring. 
 

1998 had nothing to offer, just a very mild winter to start the year, warm spell in February, which wasn’t too bad, chilly april from what I remember, then a poor summer and unremarkable end to the year. 

Yeah fair point about the January - quite a bit below average and some ice days here. June and July look pretty thundery in 1980 too.

You know 1998 was a poor year when I can remember the interludes of fine weather - i.e. February, mid May and early August! Maybe a thread should be started on 1998, and a challenge set for people to actually remember anything from that year. 

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Posted
  • Location: Hounslow, London
  • Weather Preferences: Csa/Csb
  • Location: Hounslow, London

August 1998 was very sunny though, even with temperatures average at best.

If I had to pick a winner for each month:

Jan: 1998

Feb: 1998

Mar: 1998

Apr: 1980

May: 1998

Jun: 1980

Jul: 1998

Aug: 1998

Sep: 1998

Oct: 1998

Nov: 1998

Dec: 1998

10-2 in favour of 1998. The months where 1980 won, were due to them being less terrible than 1998s equivalent, rather than them actually being good months.

Edited by B87
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