Summer 2021: Moans, Groans, Ramps and Banter

[Guest]

Heathrow on just 96hrs hours of sun for august so far. Can’t see any tomorrow. Has it ever failed to reach a 100hrs in a summer month? 

[NEVES SCREAMER]

Trouble with uk climate is there is no clear difference between summer and winter. It is just a matter of about 8 or 9 c either way. If you get a rubbish summer like this year the differential is narrowed. Summer is now gone. For a heat lover like me it's a long way until May. Just dreading the cold and dark. 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, NEVES SCREAMER said:

Trouble with uk climate is there is no clear difference between summer and winter. It is just a matter of about 8 or 9 c either way. If you get a rubbish summer like this year the differential is narrowed. Summer is now gone. For a heat lover like me it's a long way until May. Just dreading the cold and dark. 

 

 

 

 

Yep that’s the problem, no amount of pleasant sunny days in November or February make up for the warmth of summer, being outside in shorts and T-shirt’s, light warm evenings. I’ll be outta here as soon as the kids are old enough. 

[Sunny76]

1 hour ago, NEVES SCREAMER said:

Knowing our climate Xmas Day will be 17c and mild SW breeze from the Azores.  Which will actually do me just fine. 

That’s what I hate. A cool summer to be followed by a mild winter. 
 

If I get a snowy winter, or a colder one at least, it will be the trade off for a poor summer. I’m a fan of heat,  but prefer winter to be chilly. 

[BruenSryan]

37 minutes ago, Alderc said:

Heathrow on just 96hrs hours of sun for august so far. Can’t see any tomorrow. Has it ever failed to reach a 100hrs in a summer month? 

No (just abouts). Closest attempts are June 2016 (101.7 hrs), August 1958 (103.1 hrs) and August 2008 (104.3 hrs). 

Edited August 30, 2021 by BruenSryan

[Sunny76]

3 hours ago, Azazel said:

It does feel very winter like at the moment - just a touch warmer. We get those periods every winter where it’s just grey with not a lot happening. It feels very much like that.

I was very tempted to put the heating on for half an hour, just to take the chill off the flat. Never really need to do this until the second or third week of September at the earliest.

[Summer18]

Has to be the most boring period of weather in many years. Just days of absolute nothingness. 

[TM1400]

July was ok but August has been very bad in terms of Sun could be cloudiest here on record or  since 1963/54 if tomorrow records less than 5hrs of sunshine. On a 103 rn

Edited August 30, 2021 by TM1400

[Arid Acle]

At 19:03, the sun out in its first appearance of the day. By 19:07, it had had enough and disappeared back behind the unrelenting blanket of grey cloud. 4 minutes of sun on August 30th!

 

[HellItsHot]

Took the bike out for a ride today. Cool, cloudy day but I thought it would at least stay dry. No such luck, got a thorough soaking from some fairly poxy looking showers. 
 

Goodbye summer 2021, you won’t be missed. 

[Weather Enthusiast91]

3 hours ago, NEVES SCREAMER said:

Knowing our climate Xmas Day will be 17c and mild SW breeze from the Azores.  Which will actually do me just fine. 

Don't think I've ever come across anybody on here saying that before. Still, there's a start to everything. 

Edited August 30, 2021 by Weather Enthusiast91

[Guest]

Spot the difference from the last few days! 
 

 

Fooled you, there isn’t one! 

[Jo Farrow]

The Daily Star have grasped at an Indian Summer in their never ending claims for 27C (and they don't mean at Tyndrum)

If we could make a media BINGO card for next year- what phrases could go on it (thinking of different times of year)?

INDIAN SUMMER Aug/Sept

 

[I remember Atlantic 252]

looks worse today, drizzle and sea mist

[sarahng]

Welcome to yet another day of thick, grey cloud and unrelenting gloom!  At least if it rained, it would be different!  Oh wait - a nice deluge expected here on Sunday and Monday!

[Guest]

Goodness, just looked at the models. What a complete mess once this weekend comes along. As fully expected the FI modelling being warmer conditions and a better positioned high have completed collapsed. It now a full Atlantic assault an outlook that’ll ruin my golf weekend 10-12th. 

[Weather-history]

On 29/08/2021 at 13:07, Weather-history said:

Up to 237

I think the index will end up around 238 now. Pretty decent summer overall. 

[Methuselah]

My SAD has set in early this year; the past week has been more akin to the anticyclonic gloom we often have to endure just after Christmas. But at least it's too early for those silly comparisons with 1963!

[Guest]

UKV only going for maxes of 14-16C in many central areas today! Disastrous, all those in the Mod thread who were bigging up this high pressure spell must feel a little silly now.

[The real Lomond snowstorm]

Some Scottish reservoirs at their lowest level for 18 years and some parts of the country (Northwest) have had the driest summer on record. We had a couple of spells up in the mid to high twenties which was sufficient for me but have had  plenty of sunshine (compared to normal) and temperatures around twenty or twenty one.

 I would take this summer (and cold but dry) spring every year if I could.

In fact my impressions have been that the last five years or so the weather here has been drier than usual with fewer rain days and more sunshine. Autumn and early winter two years ago for example was glorious with lots of sunshine and last winter was the coldest for ten years but relatively dry (both positives in my book).

I wonder if it might be a side effect of the slowing of the AMOC.

[Northernlights]

16 minutes ago, The real Lomond snowstorm said:

Some Scottish reservoirs at their lowest level for 18 years and some parts of the country (Northwest) have had the driest summer on record. We had a couple of spells up in the mid to high twenties which was sufficient for me but have had  plenty of sunshine (compared to normal) and temperatures around twenty or twenty one.

 I would take this summer (and cold but dry) spring every year if I could.

In fact my impressions have been that the last five years or so the weather here has been drier than usual with fewer rain days and more sunshine. Autumn and early winter two years ago for example was glorious with lots of sunshine and last winter was the coldest for ten years but relatively dry (both positives in my book).

I wonder if it might be a side effect of the slowing of the AMOC.

More geese heading south today taking advantage of the gentle northerly breeze,much better cooler  conditions for physical work outside  Also think we have more defined seasons this past year with an old fashioned cold Scottish spring and still believe part of it is due to less aircraft in the sky. Any breaks we get allow superb visbility to the north making it look and feel very autumnal .Tree leaves turning fast with the dry conditions.

[B87]

13 hours ago, Alderc said:

Heathrow on just 96hrs hours of sun for august so far. Can’t see any tomorrow. Has it ever failed to reach a 100hrs in a summer month? 

In real terms (ie after being adjusted to CS from the under-reporting KZ sensor we have now), it's more like 104 hours; currently showing 51% of the 81-10 average here.

The month so far - in the British Isles

WWW.MET.READING.AC.UK

It's still the 2nd cloudiest August on record after 1958 (which is also the cloudiest summer month on record in London, with 103.1 hours - June 2016 mentioned previously recorded about 118 hours after correction, which still makes it the cloudiest June on record). The 2nd, 3rd and 4th cloudiest Augusts on record at Heathrow are 2021, 2008 and 2010.

If anyone is wondering where I got these adjusted values, I obtained them from the Met Office under an FoI request. They certainly look more like what would be expected in the UK, rather than the apparent collapse of sunshine values since 2006 when looking at raw data.CS0044355 Heathrow Monthly Sun Hours 2006-2020 (002).xlsx

 

Edited August 31, 2021 by B87

[B87]

Another insane stat; the years in which September was sunnier than August at Heathrow. 2021 looks like being added to the list.

1958, 1968, 1971, 1979, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2020

11, soon to be 12 occasions, and 7/8 of them have occurred in the last 15 years when the record goes back to 1957.

[Azazel]

And thus, the worst summer in my lifetime comes to an end and goes out with a whimper.

Lack of storms, lack of sunshine, lack of warmth (bar a week or so), lack of anything remotely interesting - just weeks upon weeks of grey, cool nothingness.

Having to wear a woolly hat because the cold easterly hurts my ears is not something I would normally expect to do until at least November, but here we are.

Nearly put the electric blanket on last night.

[Summer8906]

12 hours ago, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

Don't think I've ever come across anybody on here saying that before. Still, there's a start to everything. 

Depends where you are I guess. In Southern Europe 17c on Christmas Day would be quite nice, as there's a good chance the air will be dry and not damp, with good amounts of sunshine and the sun not setting at silly-o-clock.

In the UK I am not even sure 17C is possible around Christmas (though with slightly longer days I remember it has occurred in January - 1998 and 2003 come to mind) but if it did happen, you can just guarantee it will be drizzly, damp, tropical maritime muck...

Edited August 31, 2021 by Summer8906