1990: UK temperatures reach record high

[MAF]

it was on this day that the record temperature for uk was recorded, subsequently it was broken again on 10th August 2003

experts predicted then that temps could reach 40°C within the next 80 years. i wonder if they will be right

full story http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/s...000/2527311.stm

[Snowyowl9]

Still is the equal hottest day I`ve recorded along with July 19th 2006 at 32c and 1990 was a very hot summer as was 1989 with solar maximum being at it`s highest... and with the most massive northern lights display ever seen in Spring 1989. :o

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119900803.gif

[Nick H]

The 34C on Aug 3 1990 was the highest temp I have recorded here in the Chilterns until August 9 2003, which was in turn usurped the following day. All those three days were warmer here than July 19 2006 when 33.7°C was recorded.

[Weather-history]

1990 was a very hot summer

Classic example of how a single event can distort the perception of a season. Summer 1990 overall was as warm for the CET as summers 1994, 2004 and 2005. However they are never considered as hot summers.

Summer 1990 is overrated as much as summer 1994 is underrated. Both summers have similiar CETs, rainfall and sunshine figures for England and Wales but no one considers summer 1994, a hot summer but people will with summer 1990. Reason why? That short heatwave that brought record temperatures at the beginning of August.

Manchester summer indices for summers

1990: 229

1994: 240

2004: 197 Wet August contributed to a lower index

2005: 224

[damianslaw]

Classic example of how a single event can distort the perception of a season. Summer 1990 overall was as warm for the CET as summers 1994, 2004 and 2005. However they are never considered as hot summers.

Summer 1990 is overrated as much as summer 1994 is underrated. Both summers have similiar CETs, rainfall and sunshine figures for England and Wales but no one considers summer 1994, a hot summer but people will with summer 1990. Reason why? That short heatwave that brought record temperatures at the beginning of August.

Manchester summer indices for summers

1990: 229

1994: 240

2004: 197 Wet August contributed to a lower index

2005: 224

Agree to a certain extent, often people's perceptions of the summers gone by are triggered by their memories of particular hot days/spells or just that period associated with their holiday. As a child you tend to only remember the bit co-inciding with school holidays. Being 12 at the time I remember 1990 as a very good summer if not one of the best I can remember day after day on the local park spent playing baseball. I think the best part of that summer co-incided with the school holidays. Whereas, 1994 was generally good throughout if never exceptional likewise 2005.

Still though 1995 will always remain the best summer in my book. Just for nostalgia reasons could you do an account of summer 1995, it beats 2003 and 2006 hands down in my book.

[Snowyowl9]

Memory is a funny thing but 1989/90/and 1991 were 3 summers I remember much more than 1994 and which did have that bit more rain spread out over so many days so much less burning of the fields with 24c max in July 1994, as 1989 was the dryest I could remember with burnt grass covering most fields here since 1976 which was extreme, 1983 it probably was actually , followed sharply by 1990 then to a lesser extent 1991 no sign of that happening this summer.

Edited August 4, 2008 by Snowyowl9

[J10]

I also remember 1990 being a good summer, and late July I thought was pretty hot.

[MAF]

what i cant see happening though is the prediction that within 80 years we will see this country reach 40's

[Rob]

what i cant see happening though is the prediction that within 80 years we will see this country reach 40's

its possible

[MAF]

its possible

oh i am not saying its impossible, just that i wont be around to see it

seriously though, i find it difficult to imagine that sort of heat given our geographical location, the surrounding seas would be quite warm too. wonder what that would do to the ecology

[reef]

3rd August 1990 remains the warmest ever temperature recorded here at 34.0C and by some way.

The next warmest day was 6th August 2003 when I recorded 30.9C.

Summer 1990 as a whole was nothing special though, at 16.1C - 0.8C above the 1951-80 average. June was especially poor.

[Terminal Moraine]

Likewise, Reef, 31.7c on August 3rd 1990 here. In fact the 2nd and 3rd August 1990 are the only days in the last 40 years of records to reach 30c at this site, the 2nd August just scraping in with 30.1c.

The 3rd August also gave us the highest min' on record at 20.3c. I was getting up for work very early at that time and remember stepping outdoors at about 3.0a.m to be met by what can only be described as an enveloping warmth, the temperature was 21c at 0300 which is 3c above the average August max' here. I also well remember cycling home that afternoon, the heat was furnace like with shade temp's of 34-36c on low ground and probably even higher as it beat back from the tarmac: 16 miles of hill climbing in that and I had to gulp down about 2 litres of water when I got home.

[MP-R]

There were some good thunderstorms along with the hot July of 1994. London had some excellent lightning shows overnight 10/11th and the West Country got their fair share later on the 11th. I remember 1997 more than 1994 and I wasn't even around for 1990.

1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005 are the good summers I will remember. 2006 was let down by a cool August and September which in turn had a lot of rain.

[cheeky_monkey]

i was living in essex in 1990..i remember 1989 being a better summer esp june and july..although may 1990 was warm and very sunny i think?..i was in south london in 1994..july 94 was hot in london and the south east.

[Summer of 95]

I can remember several times comparing summer 2006 (at the time) to 1994- mostly good June, superb July, disappointing August. The main difference

being the Septembers- 1994 cold, dull and wet; 2006 a return of summer.

Personally I think that a disappointing August is more likely than a disappointing June (like 1990, 1991 and even in part 1995) to lower peoples' ratings of a summer because of a) once a summer gets going, people get used to it and are massively let down when they have to readjust to cool, dull, unsettled weather and :lol: the "school holidays" effect that damianslaw mentioned and I can recall affecting my own memories too- the classic example being 1992 which had a superb May and June followed by an abysmal July and August- I always had it down as a poor summer as a youngster but in retrospect would re-assess it as an average one.

[stewfox]

Still though 1995 will always remain the best summer in my book. Just for nostalgia reasons could you do an account of summer 1995, it beats 2003 and 2006 hands down in my book.

August 83 for some reason coming back from holiday to a warmer England has always stuck in my head, any stats to back that up ?. I was told I missed the mother of all thunderstorms when I was away

Trying to save my outside fish summer of 95 , I remember it well

[Thundery wintry showers]

Summer 1990's stats arise from a cool cloudy June, a notably sunny July, and a pretty hot August (esp. the spell at the start) which was sunny in the south and east but less so in the north and west. I think the year 1990 is also overrated, taking the country as a whole, because of the South East bias. The southeast had a remarkable year with repeated exceptional heatwaves and record sunshine totals. But for much of northern and western Britain sunshine was only slightly above average.

Summer 1994 is indeed a largely forgotten summer. I recall that between around 23 June and 4 August the weather was frequently hot with unusual persistence of southerly winds, and notably thundery in many areas. Late July and early August was particularly extreme for heat, southerlies and storms- even Tyne & Wear was heavily hit on the 3rd August. I don't remember August 1994 being all that bad- just average. That said, June had a pronounced NW-SE split, so although most of the S and E had a very sunny month, it was also very dull in parts of the NW.

Summer 1989 seems to be underrated as well, considering that in some parts of the country it was sunnier even than 1976 and 1995. I'd also call Summer 1996 underrated over much of central, southern and eastern England, though it was pretty mediocre in the NW.

As for Summer 1995, I remember it well- I remember July being like a warmer sunnier version of July 1994, and then August had almost constant hot sunny weather from the 1st-23rd. I also remember August for the big Tyne & Wear hail/thunderstorm on the 27th.

[reef]

Summer 1990's stats arise from a cool cloudy June, a notably sunny July, and a pretty hot August (esp. the spell at the start) which was sunny in the south and east but less so in the north and west. I think the year 1990 is also overrated, taking the country as a whole, because of the South East bias. The southeast had a remarkable year with repeated exceptional heatwaves and record sunshine totals. But for much of northern and western Britain sunshine was only slightly above average.

Summer 1994 is indeed a largely forgotten summer. I recall that between around 23 June and 4 August the weather was frequently hot with unusual persistence of southerly winds, and notably thundery in many areas. Late July and early August was particularly extreme for heat, southerlies and storms- even Tyne & Wear was heavily hit on the 3rd August. I don't remember August 1994 being all that bad- just average. That said, June had a pronounced NW-SE split, so although most of the S and E had a very sunny month, it was also very dull in parts of the NW.

Summer 1989 seems to be underrated as well, considering that in some parts of the country it was sunnier even than 1976 and 1995. I'd also call Summer 1996 underrated over much of central, southern and eastern England, though it was pretty mediocre in the NW.

As for Summer 1995, I remember it well- I remember July being like a warmer sunnier version of July 1994, and then August had almost constant hot sunny weather from the 1st-23rd. I also remember August for the big Tyne & Wear hail/thunderstorm on the 27th.

Summer 1991 is also forgotten pretty much, mainly due to the appauling June (It averaged just 12.2C here - just 0.6C above April 2006!). However, in this location, 1991 had just 12 days between June 29th - September 17th that failed to reach 20C and only 10 days with minima below 10C.

It was a consistently warm summer from late-June, with only 1995 and 2006 having a warmer combined July and August (July 1991 mean was 18.0C and August, 17.6C).

[Terminal Moraine]

Summer 1989 seems to be underrated as well, considering that in some parts of the country it was sunnier even than 1976 and 1995. I'd also call Summer 1996 underrated over much of central, southern and eastern England, though it was pretty mediocre in the NW.

The extended summer ( May-Sept ) of 1989 was quite exceptional in this area, the best since 1959 if not slightly better than that year overall.

On a summer index I use with my own records, taking into account temperature, rainfall, sunshine and cloud cover, the extended summer of 1989 is the only one in 40 years of records when each month returned a positive value. The index works on the basis of the higher the positive score the better the weather and vice versa.

Other summers such as 1976, 1995 have returned higher positive scores but for length and consistency 1989 is top of the pile.

[Weather-history]

I'd also call Summer 1996 underrated over much of central, southern and eastern England, though it was pretty mediocre in the NW.

Summer 1996 was pretty reasonable here despite the odd really chilly days.

Manchester Summer Index for 1996: 245; 2003: 247

[Summer of 95]

1996 like 2001 I remember as very very average- a few short-lived hot spells, a few rumbles of thunder. lots of indifferent, unsettled but never truly awful weather. As for 1989, from what I remember of it May and July were very good (June?), but August was less settled around Wales and nearby parts of England with several fronts approaching from the west (suspect it was a SE-vs-the rest month then?). 1991 was very much the reverse of 1992- lousy start but decent end. Even 1993 which is often maligned had a decent spell in late June/early July and although cool for much of late July and August wasn't especially wet- I would rate it better than 1988 and 2002 and far better than 2007.

There is also worth mentioning July 1999 which here was the best summer month overall between 1995 and 2006, but is seldom remembered because it came between a wet June and August.

Edited August 9, 2008 by Summer of 95

[valiant]

I passed my driving test in May 1976 and immediately got myself a job as ... an ice cream van driver.

On commission .... ££££££££££ B)

[cheeky_monkey]

i find it difficult remembering 1990..as 89,90 & 91 were all good summers and they have tended ova the years to have got merged into one in my mind...wasnt jun 91 an exceptionally cool month?..i think summer 94 is largely forgotten because it was followed and eclipsed the following year by 1995.

[North-Easterly Blast]

Still is the equal hottest day I`ve recorded along with July 19th 2006 at 32c and 1990 was a very hot summer as was 1989 with solar maximum being at it`s highest... and with the most massive northern lights display ever seen in Spring 1989. B)

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/19...00119900803.gif

If there was ever a summer that is looked at through rose coloured glasses then it has to be the summer of 1990. Summer 1990 did have an intense heatwave with, at the time, record temperatures in early August, yet people often quote this summer as being very hot overall, when in actual fact it was only a relatively warm one overall rather than very warm. The CET for summer 1990 was 16.2*C, which was the same CET as for summers 1994, 2004 and 2005, and in actual fact summer 1994 had very much identical rainfall to summer 1990 as well, and summer 2005 had rainfall not far higher than summer 1990 too, yet 1994 is rarely quoted as a hot summer, nor is 2005. So summers 1994 and 2005 are much under rated, 1990 is much over rated. I will finally say that however, summer 2004 was also a wet summer despite its CET being 16.2, which certainly will not be remembered as anything special of a summer. Summer 1990 was certainly considerably less warm overall than the summers of 1975, 1976, 1983, 1995, 2003 and 2006, and also was still a little cooler than 1984, 1989 and 1997, although 1997 was a much wetter summer.

It only takes one significant event to bring in the danger of looking through rose coloured spectacles of assessing what a season was like. As with summer 1990, its the same with winter 1986-87. That is often quoted as a very cold winter due to the severe spell in the January, when overall it was by no means a proper cold winter overall, and statistically it was regarded as only slightly below average overall, and considerably less cold than winters 1981-82, 1984-85, 1985-86 let alone 1978-79! Even 1995-96 was still colder overall than 1986-87.

[Thundery wintry showers]

i find it difficult remembering 1990..as 89,90 & 91 were all good summers and they have tended ova the years to have got merged into one in my mind...wasnt jun 91 an exceptionally cool month?..i think summer 94 is largely forgotten because it was followed and eclipsed the following year by 1995.

Yes, you could be right about 1994 there. The same kind of thing happened with summer 1975- if I could choose to experience one historic summer from before I was born, it would definitely be that one, with remarkable contrasts (snow on the 2nd, 25-28C by the 7th!) and record sunshine in the June, mixed weather and warmth in July, and heat, sun and storms in August. However, the summer is largely forgotten because it was eclipsed by the phenomenal 1976.

Yes, 1989, 90 and 91 were all generally warmer, drier and sunnier than average. Perhaps a similar thing happened with 1989, getting eclipsed by memories of that heatwave around 3 August 1990. As for 1989 itself, Summer of 95 makes a fair point about the August- it was indeed pretty mediocre in parts of the N and W with eastern England having the lion's share of the dry sunny weather. June appears to have been a month of contrasts similar to 1975, though not as outstandingly sunny and dry, while May and July 1989 ranked among the driest and sunniest on record, and were also rather warm.