Summer 2009 - good or bad?

[Harry233]

One summer that I believe gets a very bad rep but I actually think was quite a underrated summer was 2009. A wet but an often warm and sunny summer from memory for me. I remember June 2009 starting very warm and sunny coming off the back of a warm spell at the end of May with temperatures into the mid 20’s it then quickly became unsettled and for a time very cool and wet before getting warmer around the 9th. The month up until about the 22nd was rather unsettled but there was some very good sunny days in that period albeit not being especially warm. From the 22nd the month was very warm and sunny once again but rather humid. The met office at the time predicting a very good summer. The heat continued into the first week of July with my area in central Scotland nearly reaching 30.c on the 2nd July. The weather broke down by about the 6th and I remember July being a very unusual month with there being plenty sunny and dry weather during the mornings followed by a torrential downpour most afternoons before a warm and sunny evening virtually every day. If I hadn’t of been for the downpours July 2009 for me would’ve ended up probably the second best July of the 2000’s. There was then more heavy showers and less of a sunny feel for August but there was still plenty of useable days thrown in between the heavy rain days. 
 

It will definitely be interesting to hear different opinions as I think it was a very different summer depending on where in the UK. Northern Scotland 2009 looked at being one of the best summers on record. Certainly for me being in central Scotland I would say it was a decent summer, not as good as 2003 or 2006 but if I hadn’t been for the rain it would’ve probably been nearly as good. However for wales and south west I could imagine it was a very poor summer.

[hillbilly]

The only saving grace for 2009 was that it followed the apalling 2008.Helping out on the farm we had yet another Summer when no hay was made in July ,almost unheard of in  almost every summer since the 70s that i know of.Yes you are right ,the weather was pleasant and plenty of sunshine but it did indeed rain almost every day.I remember watching the forcast and it was constant low after low after low ,you cannot make hay when it rains.August was the best summer month there were a couple of weeks of relatively dry weather.

Edited May 31, 2022 by hillbilly

[damianslaw]

Remember it being wet but with some sunny warm weather mixed in. A very changeable summer, very much in the vein of the summers between 2007 and 2012. Quite probably the warmest out of the lot without delivering anything especially notably warm. Coming on the back of the dismal 2007 and 2008 summers it was welcomed to an extent. I remember July being exceptionally wet though very heavy frequent thundery downpours. 

[cheeky_monkey]

spent a glorious three weeks in Cyprus June 2009 came back to the UK for that hot week that straddled the end of Jun early July ..after that it was pretty average from memory never got hot again although there were some warm spells don't remember it being wet either 

[MP-R]

Lots of good weather here in summer 2009 but also some horrific conditions in July. June was a good month overall, often sunny and warm with brief less settled interludes and a very warm thundery finish. July started well with a few hot days that then broke down into 4-5 weeks of full blown Atlantic influence, but mainly in the form of thundery downpours. This spilled into the opening days of August before settling down again and August was respectable with plenty of dry fine weather albeit nothing notable. Another brief unsettled spell in late August / early September then mainly settled again for the rest of the month.

In isolation the summer was nothing special, but I rate it higher than 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2012. On a par, in a different way, to 2010 for me.

[damianslaw]

1 hour ago, MP-R said:

Lots of good weather here in summer 2009 but also some horrific conditions in July. June was a good month overall, often sunny and warm with brief less settled interludes and a very warm thundery finish. July started well with a few hot days that then broke down into 4-5 weeks of full blown Atlantic influence, but mainly in the form of thundery downpours. This spilled into the opening days of August before settling down again and August was respectable with plenty of dry fine weather albeit nothing notable. Another brief unsettled spell in late August / early September then mainly settled again for the rest of the month.

In isolation the summer was nothing special, but I rate it higher than 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2012. On a par, in a different way, to 2010 for me.

Yes agree with you there best of the 07-12 period. 2010 was drier but cool with little notable warmth. The period Sept 08 to Jan 11 I enjoyed very much, lots of continental influence, akin somewhat to Mar 95 to Jan 97 without the heat though. 

[Sunny76]

From memory as it was 13 years ago now. 
 

It was the best out of the bad run of summers between 2007-12, better than 2007, 2008, 2011, and 12, but probably on the same level with 2010.

09 and 10 had decent hot spells in late May and June, which provided the best weather with the longest days of the year.

I remember the sunny days going on for a number of weeks in 2009, and think we had slightly better weather in June that year, but June 2010 was almost just as good.

July however was a disappointment, with many dull days and thunderstorms here and there. August was also a bit cloudy, with some sunny days mixed in.

Overall it was a poor to average summer. 

[Thundery wintry showers]

I quite enjoyed that summer, though I was quite fortunate with my locations. 

I spent June 2009 in Exeter, where it was a very eventful month.  There were a couple of outstanding events: an exceptional deluge of rain on the 6th, with thunder early on, and thunderstorms with hail on the 15th, resulting in a statistically very wet month, but most of the rest of the month was sunny and dry, especially the last week, and the number of wet days wasn't high.  Then I went to Norwich for July and August 2009. 

In Norwich, July was showery and thundery but quite warm and sunny, so I quite enjoyed it overall, especially early on in the month.  I noted thunder on 7 days, plus a hailstorm on the 30th.  Exeter was generally dull as well as wet that month and not particularly thundery as it was often in the breeding ground for thundery showers further east, so I wouldn't have been too happy with the month there.

The first week of August 2009 was dry but dull in Norwich, but the middle part of the month had a good ten days or so of mainly warm/hot and sunny weather.  I remember some minor thunderstorms from an import of continental air near the end of the fine spell when temperatures got close to 30C.  The last third was more ordinary and changeable. 

Not a classic summer overall, but like many others I regarded it as the best of the 07-12 period.  I remember enjoying the first half of summer 2010 in Norwich, but certainly not the second half.

Edited June 2, 2022 by Thundery wintry showers

[Don]

Summer 2009 was ok overall and paved the way for an awesome winter! 

[Weather-history]

Good....England regained the Ashes....

Not that a great summer, weatherwise, but the standout was not the weather nor the sport but the noctilucent cloud displays. They were the best I have ever seen. Also we had the volcanic sunsets. 

[Weather-history]

End of June 2009 was pretty hot

 

[Summer8906]

Ah, the much-pilloried "barbecue summer", which was forecast to be much better than 2007 and 2008.

And to be fair it was, though it was influenced by a very poor dull, wet July, which was by all accounts as bad as July 2007 or August 2008 (though thankfully I was on the continent for much of it). Looking back I think the summer has a worse reputation than it perhaps deserves by virtue of the worst weather coming right in the middle of it.

June was actually more or less consistently fine, warm and sunny, with just one interruption of cool, wet weather in the first weekend and a brief cool but dry plunge around the solstice. This was followed by a warm sunny week, then an odd sequence of events in which thunderstorms spread from the SE one evening (the evening Michael Jackson died, I distinctly remember that) and these were followed by hotter and more humid weather, the exact opposite of what might normally happen. The rest of June was very humid and hot as was the first couple of days of July before a rapid breakdown to cool, changeable weather. As often happens the cold front itself was very weak but it produced a radical change in conditions. I only experienced sections of this, around the 3rd-10th (cool, cloudy and changeable, occasional showers) and 27th-31st (zonal westerly weather with active frontal systems and transient ridges). From what I gather the worst weather was actually the period I was out of the country, around the 11th for two weeks. However I did experience a wet and exceedingly cool Saturday 18th July in the Bavarian Alps, with maxima of only 10C down in the valleys and lying snow down to around 2000m. (Oddly I had also been in Germany on Sat 18 July 1987, and on that day it was also cool and wet!)

This then persisted until the start of August. August was, by contrast, dry - even very dry - but sometimes rather cool and cloudy. There were typically a few days of sunny weather followed by a few days of cool cloudy weather, then repeat. I think low SSTs influenced this month so anticyclonic W-lies and SW-lies (of which there were many) which might normally produce average temps were decidedly cool. There were a lot of days where it reached only 18 or 19. I'd say Aug 2009 was like a typical September.

So good June, poor July, average August - I guess that makes an average summer overall but if you weight Jul/Aug as higher than June, it comes in as slightly poorer than average.

The extended summer was better with May and particularly September producing a lot of fine weather. September was a decidedly good month down here.

 

 

Edited June 3, 2022 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

13 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

From memory as it was 13 years ago now. 
 

It was the best out of the bad run of summers between 2007-12, better than 2007, 2008, 2011, and 12, but probably on the same level with 2010.

I would agree there. In 2010, June was also the best month, but July and August were swapped (dry but rather cloudy July in 2010 followed by wet August. I think Aug 2010 was less bad than July 2009, though).

[Summer18]

I can just echo what others are saying regarding this summer. I remember it being warm and humid but also very wet. I did my Work Experience Course in a garage in early July and I can recall working in some stifling days.

This summer Is also the first time I can remember a “heatwave alert” being issued which was around the end of June. I don’t have much memory of August but there were some sunny days towards the end.

We had a brilliant thunderstorm one weekday afternoon here in Leeds with hail and about 2 hours of lightning.  I think that was around May time though.

Better than the absolute shockers of 2007,2008 and 2012 but fairly poor overall. 

[MP-R]

1 hour ago, Summer18 said:

 

We had a brilliant thunderstorm one weekday afternoon here in Leeds with hail and about 2 hours of lightning.  I think that was around May time though.

 

There was quite a long wet rpm period midmonth with Lots of ‘sunshine and showers’ days so could’ve been then.

I remember doing school exams at the time and looking outside at some absolute deluges!

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Not the most memorable of summers, but I do remember it being an improvement on the previous two. 

June had around average rainfall and gave us a hot spell in the final week. July was predominently unsettled with many wet days but started off with good intentions. August was fairly benign with some pleasant late summer days.

 

Edited June 4, 2022 by Weather Enthusiast91

[BruenSryan]

Definitely underrated to me to some extent. June 2009 deserves much more credit than it's given. One of the sunniest on record in Ireland, mostly dry with only a few days of downpours giving near or above average rainfall and very warm. I never hear it get any mention for how good it was. 

July wasn't good as others have touted but least it had a lot of interest convection wise so I'd take it over other dreadful summer months like July 2020. 

August was very wet in the north and west but I escaped a lot of it and came away with a forgettable, ok month. 

Seen far worse summers.

If I was photographing, I'd have loved it solely for the noctilucent clouds and volcanic sunsets that weather-history mentions.

[LetItSnow!]

From memory, I remember reading that August 2009 was particularly a NW/SE split which would be explained by an overall SW type flow that month. Trevor Harley writes that parts of Norfolk had an exceptionally dry month yet the northwest recorded an exceptionally wet month with some places having 3-4 times the normal for August.

I was 8 at the time and I seem to remember the abundance of thunderstorms quite vividly. I was deathly afraid of storms as a child and remember thinking  at the time that 2009 seemed like a more thundery year than usual. I vividly remember the 7th having sunshine and thundery showers and more widespread thunderstorms on the 11th, though I don't remember it being overly warm, just very showery. I also have one memory of being in the back of the car on quite a hot feeling day and it being sunny but then thunder later that evening, no idea when that was though. 

Global temperature anomalies for each three months of the summer and the overall summer of 2009.

 June 2009

 July 2009

 August 2009

 JJA 2009

Interesting how much of the USA and Canada had an exceptionally cool summer in 2009.

Likewise, here are the SLP charts for each month and the overall JJA period of 2009, this time focused on Europe.

 June 2009

 July 2009

 August 2009

 Summer 2009

With all the NB there was, it's a wonder it didn't turn out worse than it did.

 

[Don]

2 hours ago, LetItSnow! said:

   With all the NB there was, it's a wonder it didn't turn out worse than it did.

Paid dividends come the winter!

[danm]

Decent summer here in London. Some good warm/hot and sunny weather. 

The best spell was between 23rd June and 5th July. Daytime temperatures exceeded 24c every day at Heathrow:

 

August also had some good spells of warm sunshine.

Not a classic summer by any means, but much better than 2007 and 2008. 

 

[StretfordEnd1996]

I do remember it as that infamous "BBQ Summer" - I personally wasn't too bothered or upset with the MO though as I seem to recall at the time there was huge media hype which is where the headline came from, it all got a little OTT in the end and most of the UK public were lead to believe that the Met Office know absolutely nothing and we should all be annoyed at them - I thought it was all a bit unfair...

As it was I enjoyed the Summer which was very mixed and had the best of both worlds, albeit July itself was largely forgettable from a dry weather perspective. I also remember September was relatively pleasant as well with warm and dry spell although I acknowledge this isn't really part of the Summer.

As I've said a few times in different threads recently, to me it was just another season back then whereby there was a nice eclectic mix of this and that throughout the season - nothing too ridiculous, nothing too dramatic like +2.5'C over the monthly mean that we see so often these days - just the good old British weather producing and giving us all a fair share of the whip. 

Looking back on it also gives me chance to remember again that between 2006 and 2013 we didn't really have a hot dry Summer - I always find this quite interesting for some reason. 

[Sunny76]

On 05/06/2022 at 17:31, StretfordEnd1996 said:

I do remember it as that infamous "BBQ Summer" - I personally wasn't too bothered or upset with the MO though as I seem to recall at the time there was huge media hype which is where the headline came from, it all got a little OTT in the end and most of the UK public were lead to believe that the Met Office know absolutely nothing and we should all be annoyed at them - I thought it was all a bit unfair...

As it was I enjoyed the Summer which was very mixed and had the best of both worlds, albeit July itself was largely forgettable from a dry weather perspective. I also remember September was relatively pleasant as well with warm and dry spell although I acknowledge this isn't really part of the Summer.

As I've said a few times in different threads recently, to me it was just another season back then whereby there was a nice eclectic mix of this and that throughout the season - nothing too ridiculous, nothing too dramatic like +2.5'C over the monthly mean that we see so often these days - just the good old British weather producing and giving us all a fair share of the whip. 

Looking back on it also gives me chance to remember again that between 2006 and 2013 we didn't really have a hot dry Summer - I always find this quite interesting for some reason. 

We went for much longer without a hot dry summer between 2006 and 2013, even compared to the 80s

[Met.]

I remember a crap week in early June and a very convective interesting July and August was OK but a bit rainy. 

[Sunny76]

2009 was the best out of those poor run of summers between 07-12, with a decent sunny June spell, and a few warm sunny days in August. 
 

July was a stinker that year, as it seemed to rain every other day and a number of thunderstorms broke out here and there.

 

[Weather-history]

On 05/06/2022 at 17:31, StretfordEnd1996 said:

I do remember it as that infamous "BBQ Summer" - I personally wasn't too bothered or upset with the MO though as I seem to recall at the time there was huge media hype which is where the headline came from, it all got a little OTT in the end and most of the UK public were lead to believe that the Met Office know absolutely nothing and we should all be annoyed at them - I thought it was all a bit unfair...

 

Met Office did shoot themselves in the foot somewhat, they promoted "odds on a BBQ summer" tabloid headline. They wrote this headline for the media.

Laura Tobin was promoting this on a BBC forecast on the 30th April 2009. Why the hell would you talk about on this on the 30th April, when the meteorological summer doesn't begin until 1st June, a full month later? 

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by Weather-history
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