Summer 2021: Moans, Groans, Ramps and Banter

[emmett garland]

4 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

Yeah I know. Ireland summers are usually damp and wet, and not all that warm.

I speak from experience, as we used to visit my grandmother’s brother in cork in summers of 85, 89, 90, 91, 93. All of which were poor. 

We have had avery dry spell since 27th May and our reservoirs are low as we are in a very rare heat spell for us. Pretty much since the 12th of July we have had clear skies and since last Sunday tempeatures have reached 29 -31 degrees apart from testerday 27.6 which will be breached again today. The irish are not used to this so 4 million people water there gardens constantly and paddling pools all sold out. We also feel its ridiculous to ban some use as we know its the terrible harbringer of rain. I myself am out sunbathing for the umpteeenth day in a row and its been bloody marvelous with 22 -26 degrees for the last 10 days in Dublin its paradise and swimming for 1st time since 2018 with a beautiful water temp. You never really need 30 degree heat thats why I go to greece but what I will say is there is no place like home when the sun shines.

[markyo]

What a fantastic summers Sunday, really makes up for last Sunday's over the top, unusable heat. Lawnmowers are going, cars are getting washed, much more activity. So much better.

[Timmytour]

19 minutes ago, emmett garland said:

 there is no place like home when the sun shines.

Couldn't agree more...I say the same about Kerry and for that matter Devon and Cornwall.

[kold weather]

Classic 2021 summers day down here with cloud and light drizzle around. My guess is it will broadly stay that way here with the convective cells spilling their cloud into this region and probably killing any chance of anything more interesting.

The prospect of another 2-3 weeks of this is rather unsavoury but it looks likely to be the case.

Also quite probable this ends up being the wettest summer since at least 2012 down here in the SE, and depending on how August evolves may well be a top 10 wettest ever for the region given how exceptionally wet June was down here (150-200% of average).

Its going to be interesting as I suspect the record books will show 2021 as overall a pretty decent summer on average (cet, ewp, etc)  but that will belie a large regional difference compared to the regional average.

Edited July 25, 2021 by kold weather

[mb018538]

Models have overplayed the rainfall in my region so far this weekend. Yesterday actually ended up being nice (too much cloud stifled convection, so the storms never arrived), and today as been dry so far. May change later of course, depends how these cells behave!

[al78]

2 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

It’s interesting to hear others are having a better summer than us. Apart from last week, and the first two weeks of June, this summer has been a poor one.

Yes the SE has been hammered with poor weather for much of the last three months.

Scotland summer rainfall total up to 21st July: 75mm

Northern Ireland summer rainfall up to 21st July: 48mm

SE England summer rainfall up to 21st July: 142mm

(Taken from a UKWW forum post)

It is insult on top of injury when the flip from baking hot to dull wet and crap happens on the weekend. What is it with the SE and crappy weekend weather? Almost every weekend since the beginning of May has either been uncomfortably hot or a claggy rain fest for at least half of it.

[al78]

28 minutes ago, kold weather said:

Its going to be interesting as I suspect the record books will show 2021 as overall a pretty decent summer on average (cet, ewp, etc)  but that will belie a large regional difference compared to the regional average.

That is the problem with looking at averages over an entire country or month, they hide regional and temporal variation. If a summer month was warm, sunny and dry for 30 days and a thunderstorm dropped 150 mm of rain on day 31, is that a dry month or a wet month? That is why I like looking at the Met Office monthly summary maps, although they are heavily interpolated they give a good idea of the spatial variation.

Edited July 25, 2021 by al78
typo

[Nick L]

We've reverted to 2021 summer alright! Dreadful in the SE, decent elsewhere.

[Cheshire Freeze]

2 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

I still feel if august is a let down, it brings the summer down a little bit, because you want the summery weather to last into the school holidays. Days are still long as well. 
 

Recent summers feel like the ones we used to get in the 80s. A hot spell followed by several weeks of gloomy cloudy weather, and a mix of humid and cooler days thrown in.

August is the summer equivalent of February…yes it can be hot but naturally the descent into autumn begins and, just like the days rapidly lengthen in Feb, they shorten rapidly in Aug.

Winter is better for me in Dec and Jan and I think many summer lovers would prefer a baking June and July.

[MATTWOLVES 3]

1 minute ago, CreweCold said:

August is the summer equivalent of February…yes it can be hot but naturally the descent into autumn begins and, just like the days rapidly lengthen in Feb, they shorten rapidly in Aug.

Winter is better for me in Dec and Jan and I think many summer lovers would prefer a baking June and July.

Many complain about August these days,but for me September is becoming more of a Summer month than an Autumnal one. In all fairness the Seasons are becoming shot to pieces.

[Guest]

48 minutes ago, Nick L said:

We've reverted to 2021 summer alright! Dreadful in the SE, decent elsewhere.

Yup no sun. Grey and rubbish. 

[BruenSryan]

2 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

Yeah I know. Ireland summers are usually damp and wet, and not all that warm.

I speak from experience, as we used to visit my grandmother’s brother in cork in summers of 85, 89, 90, 91, 93. All of which were poor. 

1989 was most certainly not poor.. 1990 too to an extent.

[East Lancs Rain]

2 hours ago, Timmytour said:

 

 

 

Just a wild stab in the dark here, but I'm going to guess that Alderc was  referring to a place about 4 miles north of Dubrovnik 

I've scrutinized his original post in minute detail and believe I've stumbled across a clue that has been left in the subtext which would be hard for anyone to have picked up apart from most people.  

D'oh! My brain obviously was not functioning at peak capacity last night! 

2 hours ago, Timmytour said:

Working from home just outside London while regularly listening to Radio Kerry it's been very bizarre on quite a few days over this summer to listen to them talking about beautiful sunshine and warmth while I'm listening to the rain pouring down outside.  At times I've had to pinch myself to remember they are broadcasting from Kerry!   also, I find it incredible that, after just two of three days of fne warm weather, they invariably start talking about water shortages.  What on earth happens to all the water out there!  I know from the experience of many fortnight holidays spent out there that it comes in abundance! 

Yeah usually it would be the opposite way around. I remember summer 2017 was the the biggest NW/SE split summer I'd ever seen! The SE got plenty of warm, dry and sunny weather, whereas in the NW (NW England, NI, Scotland) it was nearly always raining and below 20C. Got really fed up of hearing about the south enjoying sunshine and warmth whereas further north and west it was just rain, rain, rain and more rain. I remember June 2017 in particular was very wet here but was very warm, dry and sunny in the South East. Things evened up a bit in August 2017 though when things even turned bad down south, though up here was still wet.

 

Looking at the pressure anomaly for that summer, low pressure was anchored to the north west, high pressure to the south, so that is why the north west was so wet, that setup also meant we brought in a lot of chilly and also breezy westerlies, thanks to the strong pressure gradiant between north and south. This summer is the opposite, low pressure anchored over France, lots of easterly winds, better for NW worse for SE.

 

So it's defintely nice to see a reverse of the usual "Summer restricted to the SE". No doubt the usual NW/SE split will rear it's ugly head again next summer.

2 hours ago, Timmytour said:

My classic was going for a five week holiday in Kerry as a kid which I thought beforehand was great!  Only it was the summer of 1976 and when I went back after the summer holidays I was the only white kid in school!

I thought Summer 1976 was grand everywhere though?

2 hours ago, markyo said:

What a fantastic summers Sunday, really makes up for last Sunday's over the top, unusable heat. Lawnmowers are going, cars are getting washed, much more activity. So much better.

Wasn't it last weekend though when you said folk were wearing winter coats and hats outside?  Have to say I haven't noticed any increase in activity here, if anything it's quieter this weekend. I think a lot of people are on holiday at the moment though.

33 minutes ago, Alderc said:

Yup no sun. Grey and rubbish. 

Don't fret.... It will probably be 20C and sunny in February! 

Edited July 25, 2021 by East Lancs Rain

[Sunny76]

I can hear rumbles of thunder to my east. I’m out by Ealing, but my uncle in Chelsea and my mum up near London Bridge are now experiencing a thunderstorm. 
 

Central London is getting hammered. 

[Sunny76]

24 minutes ago, BruenSryan said:

1989 was most certainly not poor.. 1990 too to an extent.

It was the week I was there. We still had sunny warm days, but it felt chilly because I was experiencing the hot summers of 1989 and 90. 

[Weather-history]

1 hour ago, al78 said:

Yes the SE has been hammered with poor weather for much of the last three months.

Scotland summer rainfall total up to 21st July: 75mm

Northern Ireland summer rainfall up to 21st July: 48mm

SE England summer rainfall up to 21st July: 142mm

(Taken from a UKWW forum post)

 

That's my post

 

[summer blizzard]

3 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

Yeah I know. Ireland summers are usually damp and wet, and not all that warm.

I speak from experience, as we used to visit my grandmother’s brother in cork in summers of 85, 89, 90, 91, 93. All of which were poor. 

Like the UK Ireland likely has Victorian plumbing and if they've not done any more replacement work than us it will generate huge leakage as ours does. Being wetter they probably also don't carry as much spare capacity 

[Weather-history]

6 hours ago, northwestsnow said:

Thanks Kevin.

Backs up my post in the model thread.

Its been a very decent summer locally.

 

 

Crap summer for thunderstorms though. 

[Weather Enthusiast91]

From a meterological perspective, this is a rather boring day as the weather isn't doing anything; just overcast. What happened to this washout weekend we were supposed to be having?

 

Though from a personal perspective, I am enjoying the fresher conditions and am glad that the mugginess has left us. 

Edited July 25, 2021 by Weather Enthusiast91

[Guest]

Ugh, what a terrible day. Was hoping for storm potential. Cold and drizzling again. Typical given the flow would have bought storms into the area unlike yesterday’s prevailing flow which pushed them away. 

[markyo]

A warm and very pleasant Sunday for once! BBQ lit, beers in fridge, food ready, nice 20c light wind fantastic weather

[Northwest NI]

25 degrees and blue skies here today though I believe that might be the last for a while 

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Just scrapped 21c here and cloudy all day. Thankfully the rain didn't materalise as my 5 year old had her birthday party outside this morning!

[Sunny76]

Around 22c today and quite humid and muggy. The storms did arrive eventually,  but they were further east towards central and east London. Still heard loud rumbles of thunder on and off for two hours, and the rain was quite heavy. It’s still raining steadily now. 

[damianslaw]

9 hours ago, Penrith Snow said:

In  North West England we haven't had a good August since 2003 and looking at this  mornings output that run of poor months is not going to end in 2021.

Can't complain really as July was exceptionally good.

Andy

After a fairly poor start, July is about to deliver 2 excellent weeks of weather here.. but also will end on a rather unsettled note. The last 2 weeks have been every bit as good as the best 2006, 2013, 2014 and 2018 had to offer. However, 2 great weeks don't make a great month overall.. and for many I suspect it will not be rated as highly as those 4 July's.