Summer 2021: Moans, Groans, Ramps and Banter

[NEVES SCREAMER]

MAJOR SHOCK: Another weekend approaching. Another area of low pressure. Must be 4 weekends in a row now with low pressure slap bang over the top of the central parts of the UK. What is it with the crappy climate in this country? 

[TwisterGirl81]

12 minutes ago, NEVES SCREAMER said:

MAJOR SHOCK: Another weekend approaching. Another area of low pressure. Must be 4 weekends in a row now with low pressure slap bang over the top of the central parts of the UK. What is it with the crappy climate in this country? 

We have definitely lucked out this summer, shocking....Only thing that can save it now is a beautiful rest of August and September....

I'd be really interested to know why the UK (more generally the south) has has so much low pressure around and that the jet stream more often than not has been to the south of us, anyone? 

Edited August 13, 2021 by TwisterGirl81

[Captain Shortwave]

On 13/08/2021 at 09:45, NEVES SCREAMER said:

MAJOR SHOCK: Another weekend approaching. Another area of low pressure. Must be 4 weekends in a row now with low pressure slap bang over the top of the central parts of the UK. What is it with the crappy climate in this country? 

I think the weekend will be more meh or disappointing than a write-off. Rainfall predictions show a few mm of rain at most.

East Anglia and the South East could see temperatures into the mid twenties if the sun manages to come out for a decent period of time. There has been worse this summer.

[Weather-history]

Manchester Summer Indices. Summers in order with the best at the top and the worst at the bottom

 

1976 301

1995 298

1983 278

1955 277

1911 274

2018 272

1984 271

1959 269

1975 268

1949 267

1989 262

1947 255

1933 251

1901 249

1921 249

2003 247

2013 247

1925 246

2006 246

1996 245

1935 243

2021 242 (up to 12th August)

1994 240

 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, NEVES SCREAMER said:

MAJOR SHOCK: Another weekend approaching. Another area of low pressure. Must be 4 weekends in a row now with low pressure slap bang over the top of the central parts of the UK. What is it with the crappy climate in this country? 

Weekends have been utterly dreadful. Had two belters but they are really the only two weekend that score more than 5 out of 10. 10% of summer has been lovely, 90% and almost nothing in between.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

3 hours ago, sarahng said:

Yes, it's really depressing.  I found myself shouting at the sky this morning - 'where's the sunshine gone'!!!   Trouble is, it will be cloudy and threatening rain all day until about 5pm when the sky will start to clear and then it'll be cloud-free by 8pm when it's too late to be outside!!

It always does this!!

[Azazel]

3 hours ago, TwisterGirl81 said:

We have definitely lucked out this summer, shocking....Only thing that can save it now is a beautiful rest of August and September....

I'd be really interested to know why the UK (more generally the south) has has so much low pressure around and that the jet stream more often than not has been to the south of us, anyone? 

That's the default/common summer jet-stream position - I don't care what they say, but it's actually "unusual" for it to migrate north and for us to get warm/hot sunny weather.

Yesterday was utterly revolting - drizzled all day and then brightened up about 7pm.

Today is overcast and benign. 

Worst summer I can ever recall following a non-existent spring.

[Thundery wintry showers]

The weather in Lincoln has recently been "usable" - nothing too exciting, but Wednesday had a mix of cloudy spells and some sunny intervals, and yesterday was mainly sunny.  Today has sunny intervals but it's windy.  It's been around 22 to 24C.

I'd say it's been a decent summer so far in these parts.  It's been let down by a rather dull second half of June, and the first half of July was dull but redeemed to some extent by frequent thunderstorms, but the first half of June was warm and sunny and there was that hot sunny spell in mid to late July, and August so far has had some decent if unremarkable weather.  To a certain extent I'm reminded of summer 2005, which I thought was almost a very good summer but it was let down by the very dull second half of July, but still at least decent overall.  That summer had some big storms in Lincolnshire and NE England as well.

Edited August 13, 2021 by Thundery wintry showers

[summer blizzard]

It's interesting how this can be the worst since 2012 for some in the south as a marker of just how consistently decent summers in the south usually are.

Up here I don't view the summer as anything special (fairly sunny and average otherwise) but there have been far worse and better summers. Notably 2015 and 2017 were much worse than this year (albeit I actually like summers that end in July).

[*Stormforce~beka*]

19 minutes ago, Azazel said:

That's the default/common summer jet-stream position - I don't care what they say, but it's actually "unusual" for it to migrate north and for us to get warm/hot sunny weather.

Yesterday was utterly revolting - drizzled all day and then brightened up about 7pm.

Today is overcast and benign. 

Worst summer I can ever recall following a non-existent spring.

This is what makes it so bad. I keep forgetting its summer and feel like i'm still waiting for Spring to arrive even! The lack of both is the killer. Just an eternal Autumn! Last year topped everything for me. But that could be because Spring was so warm and long it felt like Summer in itself so anything that followed I didn't care about. I had seen heat and sun for a long time!

[MP-R]

22 minutes ago, Azazel said:

That's the default/common summer jet-stream position - I don't care what they say, but it's actually "unusual" for it to migrate north and for us to get warm/hot sunny weather.

Yesterday was utterly revolting - drizzled all day and then brightened up about 7pm.

Today is overcast and benign. 

Worst summer I can ever recall following a non-existent spring.

Nope. Jet stream should be over northern or north of the UK in summer. Southerly tracking jet streams are not the norm in summer, otherwise climatology would suggest such. 
 

Of course, the default pattern doesn’t mean wall to wall sunshine and instead delivers the typical NW/SE split. That has been reversed this year.

[TwisterGirl81]

26 minutes ago, Azazel said:

That's the default/common summer jet-stream position - I don't care what they say, but it's actually "unusual" for it to migrate north and for us to get warm/hot sunny weather.

Yesterday was utterly revolting - drizzled all day and then brightened up about 7pm.

Today is overcast and benign. 

Worst summer I can ever recall following a non-existent spring.

Respectfully I don't think it is common in the summer at least for the south for this length of time anyway....I wouldn't mind if it migrated south in the winter as consistently then southern areas would get more wind storms and more snow instead of mild and damp.

 

But yes I agree worst summer in years, last spring/summer was beautiful in the south west....My tomatoes are still green and have been for weeks....Hopefully things improve

[Weather-history]

2 hours ago, Weather-history said:

Manchester Summer Indices. Summers in order with the best at the top and the worst at the bottom

 

1976 301

1995 298

1983 278

1955 277

1911 274

2018 272

1984 271

1959 269

1975 268

1949 267

1989 262

1947 255

1933 251

1901 249

1921 249

2003 247

2013 247

1925 246

2006 246

1996 245

1935 243

2021 242 (up to 12th August)

1994 240

 

If rest of summer had rain everyday, zero sunshine and a mean max of 15C then the index will be at 205

If  rest of summer had no rain, 12hrs of sunshine everyday and a mean max of 25C then the index will be about 283

 

1983 278

1955 277

1911 274

2018 272

1984 271

1959 269

1975 268

1949 267

1989 262

1947 255

1933 251

1901 249

1921 249

2003 247

2013 247

1925 246

2006 246

1996 245

1935 243

1994 240

1934 238

1940 238

1941 236

2014 236

1970 235

1969 234

1973 234

1999 234

1997 232

1990 229

1917 228

1926 227

2005 224

1905 223

1932 223

1945 223

1967 223

1977 223

1914 222

1992 222

1908 220

1960 217

1950 216

1957 216

1968 215

1906 214

1942 214

1937 213

1939 213

1904 212

1929 211

2001 211

1903 209

1943 209

1991 207

1913 205

1971 205

[Azazel]

21 minutes ago, MP-R said:

Nope. Jet stream should be over northern or north of the UK in summer. Southerly tracking jet streams are not the norm in summer, otherwise climatology would suggest such. 
 

Of course, the default pattern doesn’t mean wall to wall sunshine and instead delivers the typical NW/SE split. That has been reversed this year.

I can't find data on the mean summer position of the jet-stream over the UK so I can't say - however even in the south, in a good summer with several warm periods, it still feels like Atlantic/Zonal driven weather is more common than settled weather?

[MP-R]

6 minutes ago, Azazel said:

I can't find data on the mean summer position of the jet-stream over the UK so I can't say - however even in the south, in a good summer with several warm periods, it still feels like Atlantic/Zonal driven weather is more common than settled weather?

Well yes, more so later in the summer than earlier on, but the key difference is where the jet stream is situated. When it's situated over the northern UK, the north is often wet and unsettled, and the south is much drier and changeable, with higher likelihood of warmer air and sunshine. If the jet ploughs through the UK then widespread wet and windy conditions would predominate. When it's south of the UK, then the south fares worse, as it has done this summer, with drier conditions further north. This was often the case in August 2010.

So, one can expect a pretty moribund jet stream earlier in the season, stirring as we enter August, and getting more organised later in the month. It's no coincidence that late August sometimes brings the first gales of the autumn season. If there was a time I'd most expect the jet to be north of the UK, it would be the high summer period of 20th July - 10th August or thereabouts.

The page is very basic, but the Met Office page below surmises the jet stream:

What is the jet stream?

WWW.METOFFICE.GOV.UK

---

The jet stream is a core of strong winds around 5 to 7 miles above the Earth’s surface, blowing from west to east.

 

Personally, I'm hoping the jet shifts north sharpish. That way, we may have half a chance of settled weather continuing into September before the traditional Atlantic onslaught later on.

[Badgers01]

1 hour ago, Thundery wintry showers said:

The weather in Lincoln has recently been "usable" - nothing too exciting, but Wednesday had a mix of cloudy spells and some sunny intervals, and yesterday was mainly sunny.  Today has sunny intervals but it's windy.  It's been around 22 to 24C.

I'd say it's been a decent summer so far in these parts.  It's been let down by a rather dull second half of June, and the first half of July was dull but redeemed to some extent by frequent thunderstorms, but the first half of June was warm and sunny and there was that hot sunny spell in mid to late July, and August so far has had some decent if unremarkable weather.  To a certain extent I'm reminded of summer 2005, which I thought was almost a very good summer but it was let down by the very dull second half of July, but still at least decent overall.  That summer had some big storms in Lincolnshire and NE England as well.

certainly 2013-20 inclusive have all had significant heatwaves somes hort or long but down here in the south  we have had a run of generally good summers through this period this year has been poor ....

[cheeky_monkey]

another hot sunny spell underway here..temps between 32-34c through the weekend..cools off next week...looks like the weather patterns are beginning to change thereafter..looks more a seasonable second half of August

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Sun just trying to pop out here now ... Lots of cloud still around though but I can see bits of blue now

[reef]

Sunny again here with a max temp of 23.2C and a breeze. Another decent day.

It didn't drop below 14.1C this morning either, so today's mean of 18.7C is rather warm.

[Emz by the Thames]

Had my family down from the north all this week...and every photo I've taken is in cloudy gloom and we haven't sent a single evening outdoors. "Sad times" as my teenage niece would say. 

Meanwhile at the allotment, I've lost all my pumpkin and squashes overnight to some sort of blight or rot. Gutted. Never happened before. The plants love warmth and sun and the have really struggled this year because of the frequent showers and lack of hot sunshine. 

[Nick L]

Another gloomy, blustery day with the odd spot of drizzle. It's like being stuck in weather purgatory. At least if we had some decent Atlantic storms it would be interesting.

[damianslaw]

19 hours ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

but for your location isn't April/May on average summerier than Aug?

Temperature wise no, April nearly as cold as November. Yes in terms of dry sunny weather on average better than August. May this year was very disappointing though. April though dry was cold although sunny.

Our warmest weather is usually in July and August. 

[Andy Bown]

3 hours ago, Team Squirrel said:

Had my family down from the north all this week...and every photo I've taken is in cloudy gloom and we haven't sent a single evening outdoors. "Sad times" as my teenage niece would say. 

The differences across this country are amazing sometimes! We are on the 7th evening of 7 in Dorset and every evening has been dry and either partly cloudy or clear! 

[Frost HoIIow]

22 hours ago, I remember Atlantic 252 said:

but for your location isn't April/May on average summerier than Aug?

Had snow cover here on the 10th April. Certainly wasn't a summery month. May wasn't either. Summer has been our best for sun and warmth. But yes you are right that normally it's spring that gives us this in the NW.

[Nick L]

Despite day time maxima often very disappointing, night time minima have been pretty high. It's nearly 18C here at 10.30pm. There have been very few single figure nights here, and looks like we won't get another for at least the next week or two either.