July 2006 - Heat!

[damianslaw]

Memories of July 2006 flooding back given we have quite a similar spell if weather as we had that month around same time. Then we reached 36.5 degrees 19th July Wisley.. we are nowhere near those levels this month.

Indeed July 2006 brought widespread maxes in the 30s, we are not in the same league.

Correct if wrong but think it is the warmest month on record.

Welcome stats and memories of July 2006. It seems an increasingly forgotten month..

Edited July 20, 2021 by damianslaw

[MP-R]

Is it really a forgotten month? If anything, I'd say July 2005 is, because of July 2006.

I have many good memories of summer 2006, up until mid August anyway when the weather slid off an edge. The heatwave in early July was during the final week of school for me, and was very similar to this one in terms of skies and temperature. It did end with storms though during the 04th-06th period. After the brief cooler break, the longer heatwave was something else and became increasingly humid as it went on so that by the very end it was quite steamy. We missed most of the thundery outbreaks here later in the month, and instead were gifted with thunderstorms in mid August when it cooled down. It was still very muggy and warm in early August. 

Not to forget of course, that June had a heatwave between the 06th and 12th and ended very warm too.

[A Face like Thunder]

I recall our school sports day was called off 2-3 times because it was too hot! The weather then broke in the NW as we broke up for the summer holiday at the end of July. Sod's law!

[sundog]

23 hours ago, damianslaw said:

Then we reached 36.5 degrees 19th July Wisley.. we are nowhere near those levels this month.

Ireland had its highest ever  July temperature recorded on that date 32.3c in County Roscommon. 

[Frigid]

I was quite young at the time so don't have any memories of Summer 2006 but looking at the stats, it must've been an exceptional summer especially that July. And also the very warm September and October mustve been quite unusual. 

Edited July 22, 2021 by Frigid

[summer blizzard]

8 hours ago, Frigid said:

I was quite young at the time so don't have any memories of Summer 2006 but looking at the stats, it must've been an exceptional summer especially that July. And also the very warm September and October mustve been quite unusual. 

The June was probably as notable as July for day to day experience. I enjoyed the summer a lot. The June was drier and the most anticyclonic on record.

[BruenSryan]

A terribly underrated July and summer for Ireland that I hear very few recollections about. July 2006 was my earliest weather memory as we had owned a mobile about half an hour away from where we currently reside in Dublin. I was only 5 years of age but I just about vaguely recall it feeling scorching in that mobile for many days and seeing the pics. 

It was the last time 30C was achieved in Dublin - in fact 31.0C at Casement on 19 July 2006 is the record high for Dublin for any month. Up until 2018, July 2006 made 2006 my favourite summer I have experienced.

I have no recollections of June 2006 but statistically, another fine month with the first 9 days in particular being very sunny and pleasant. 

29 of the days achieved 20C or more at Kilkenny which is an impressive feat for Ireland. 

A rare occasion where Ireland joined in on the very warm/hot conditions that Europe had which is another reason why I like July 2006. Typically, we're too far west and under low pressure in most of such setups.

Edited July 22, 2021 by BruenSryan

[Weather-history]

Forecasts form July 2006

 

[damianslaw]

Summer 06 let down by a very dull average August, though not a washout. Definitely one of the best summers up there with likes 76, 95 and 18.

[cheeky_monkey]

On 20/07/2021 at 15:39, damianslaw said:

Memories of July 2006 flooding back given we have quite a similar spell if weather as we had that month around same time. Then we reached 36.5 degrees 19th July Wisley.. we are nowhere near those levels this month.

Indeed July 2006 brought widespread maxes in the 30s, we are not in the same league.

Correct if wrong but think it is the warmest month on record.

Welcome stats and memories of July 2006. It seems an increasingly forgotten month..

2006 is not like 1983..which IMO is definitely a forgotten summer

[Fourty Point Three Degrees]

In my opinion July 2006 was far better for nationwide sun and heat than Aug 2003.    

[Summer18]

Remember it well it was a scorcher, around the time school broke up around mid-late July was the peak of the heat and then august was much cooler. The period during the World Cup I remember being hot. There were some decent storms that year too, a decent one in early July and later on the 14th September we had a huge one in Leeds which resulted in a small tornado. 

[Thundery wintry showers]

I was in Leeds that month and it felt like spending a sunnier than average summer month in continental Europe, with the consistent sunshine and heat and occasional thunderstorms thrown in.  I think it was the 3rd which had a potent thunderstorm move slowly in from the west, the cumulonimbus looming out of the haze at around 6pm and then the thunder and lightning commenced from around 9pm.

Sunshine totals were particularly exceptional in north-east England and the east Midlands.  Morpeth (Northumberland) and Waddington (Lincolnshire) for example both exceeded 300 hours, and even on the north-east coast, average maxima of 23C were commonplace (23.4C at coastal Whitby for example).  Not sure how much sunshine Leeds had, but Bradford's weather station, which normally has 10-20% less sunshine than Leeds, had an average max of 24.8C and 265 hours of sunshine, suggesting that Leeds might have had close to 300 hours of sunshine too.  The only comparably exceptional month I can find for heat and sunshine in this region of the UK was June 1940.

Cheeky_monkey's post raises a good point about regional variation: in many parts of the south and west, and especially the south-west, July 2006 was not as hot as July 1983, and sunshine wise it fell a fair way short of August 1995 and also July 2013.  Thus, as is often the case, there was some regional variation.

Edited July 23, 2021 by Thundery wintry showers

[Alexis]

July 2006 was amazing. I remember it being 27C at 9am at its peak.

[Weather Enthusiast91]

July 2006 was a great summer month. It was hot on many days, but it wasn't particularly oppressive like the spell we just had. I was 14 at the time and it was the end of the academic year. I can remember going to Drayton Manor theme park with my year group on the 20th of that month, and I recall thinking what a fabulous day it was for it.

[CassieLouise]

Okay not July but I don’t remember much about that month except starting college.

That was one amazing summer!!, I was16 last summer between the end of childhood and knocking into adulthood, I busted my ankle on 13th June, finished my GCSE exams on 16th June and went to see Foo Fighters and supporting acts in Hyde Park on 17th June, it was Amazing, but it was one long hot summer, from the day I went to hyde park I still have sunburn scars at aged 32, (in a rush we left the sun screen in the car miles and miles away!!.) Maybe I see through rose tinted glasses just like the summer of 1995, I was only 5 then but I remember my first holiday and hot sunshine. 
So much more happened that summer  2006 I loved it and wish I could reverse time, weather wise I cannot pinpoint particular days other than days of exams and all fire doors being thrown open as it was so hot and everyone got free water.

[SummerShower]

On 22/07/2021 at 16:31, 38.7°C said:

In my opinion July 2006 was far better for nationwide sun and heat than Aug 2003.    

Yes, August 2003 wasn't always great in the west, but July 2006 was truly great nationwide, at varying periods throughout.

This was the summer month that for me comes closest to perfection.  I remember on the 1st we lost to Portugal in the world Cup, I was with a lot of disappointed people but the fact there was a plume around ensured my mood stayed very positive indeed.

There were thunderstorms on the 2nd-6th with some severe ones in places.  We had a good one here on the 5th.  Then we had the briefest of cooldowns before a pleasant spell of dry heat until about the 15th.  In fact if I remember some places actually had a frost on the 14th!  Then the heat just built and built until the 19th.  That day was the warmest day I ever remember here at over 35C (25th July 2019 might have matched it but only just).  Then after that it became tropically humid, with a number of thunderstorms (this period i feel was similar in character to august 1997) and the East actually did fare better from about 21st to 26th.  Then there was only a gradual cooldown through the rest of the month but even by the 31st it was still just above average.

For the combination  of heat and thunderstorms not many months come close.  The July's of 2013 and 2018 were good, but not in the same league as July 2006.  That said,  I would have loved to have experienced July 1983 though.

Those were the days

[grayson123]

I was only 6 then but I remember getting a headache because of all the heat 

Best historical data I could find: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjj7NqH55LyAhUSV8AKHa2SBvIQFjACegQIBhAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.tutiempo.net%2Fclimate%2F07-2006%2Fws-37790.html&usg=AOvVaw0JNwa52QFcwCAn2yXXBGHJ

 

On 24/07/2021 at 20:35, SummerShower said:

Yes, August 2003 wasn't always great in the west, but July 2006 was truly great nationwide, at varying periods throughout.

This was the summer month that for me comes closest to perfection.  I remember on the 1st we lost to Portugal in the world Cup, I was with a lot of disappointed people but the fact there was a plume around ensured my mood stayed very positive indeed.

There were thunderstorms on the 2nd-6th with some severe ones in places.  We had a good one here on the 5th.  Then we had the briefest of cooldowns before a pleasant spell of dry heat until about the 15th.  In fact if I remember some places actually had a frost on the 14th!  Then the heat just built and built until the 19th.  That day was the warmest day I ever remember here at over 35C (25th July 2019 might have matched it but only just).  Then after that it became tropically humid, with a number of thunderstorms (this period i feel was similar in character to august 1997) and the East actually did fare better from about 21st to 26th.  Then there was only a gradual cooldown through the rest of the month but even by the 31st it was still just above average.

For the combination  of heat and thunderstorms not many months come close.  The July's of 2013 and 2018 were good, but not in the same league as July 2006.  That said,  I would have loved to have experienced July 1983 though.

Those were the days

2018 was almost identical to 2006, perhaps 0.1 degrees difference either way in London. Was sunnier in both 2013 nd 2018 and if i'm correct late june 2018 to early august 2018 was widespread warmth across the UK, so I would put july 2018 slightly above those 2.

[cheeky_monkey]

July 2006 put an end to my love affair with summer heat...like many on here i had always craved cold and snow in winter and heat and storms in summer..but for some reason the hot July of 2006 began too turn me off summer heatwaves for good.

[Harry233]

Was a brilliant summer. I would’ve been away to start my last year at primary school then. I remember June being nice throughout but having a few very warm days towards the end just in time for the summer holidays (being in Scotland they start earlier). July that year the hot and sunny weather just seemed to go on forever. Think I spent the whole summer holidays outside. I remember it hitting 31.C I think either on the 18th or 19th of July which for Scotland is extremely rare the east coast I remember struggled to reach 20.C at that point. There was quite a big thunderstorm as well around the 25th, if I remember correctly in which I think virtually all the rain fell that month. It cooled off in the final days. Despite what everyone said about August that year. It was still quite a pleasant month for me. There was a return of the heat around the 6th and plenty pleasant days thrown in but it was more unsettled.

 

Definitely one of the best summers along with 2018.