Summer 2014 thread

[Static Prevails]

We definitely have temperatures more akin to the middle of September than August here, so saying it feels like autumn isn't too inaccurate in my opinion. Then again, everyone has their own opinion on which temperatures are warm, it just feels cool to me.

[Summer Sun]

Bertha has certainly changed things thats for sure bar few settled warmer days at the end of this week (how far north this gets remains to be seen) cool and showery best sums up things at the moment

[Bottesford]

It's not just in the UK either - a real change in things over here after the Bertha tail front smashed into us on Sunday evening. A change from high 20s days/high teens nights to low 20s day and mid teens night. It is coupled with much more cloud and a real nasty chilly wind blowing through my 5th floor flat so sadly a number of windows have had to close for first time since May. 

Seems like most of northern Europe has been flooded with this cooler Atlantic air but it looks set to turn warmer again next week at least. Good - not ready for the drop just yet!

 

Agree how mid August onwards does feel very different to a couple of months back. The fresh growth & excitement of summer gets replaced with tired looking plants and a dreading sense of "oh no I only just started getting used to these good outdoor conditions and now they're going for another 9+ months!". And yeah when I was at school that awful trip to buy the new school uniform with every shop plastered with 'Back to school'. uggghhhh....

[laserguy]

....... And yeah when I was at school that awful trip to buy the new school uniform with every shop plastered with 'Back to school'. uggghhhh....

 

But you're not at school anymore. I can't wait for my kid and his dreadful mates to go back - they're really doing my nut already. Dunno if my memory is on the blink, but when I was at school the first week back always seemed to be ridiculously hot and sunny...

[Thundery wintry showers]

I remember the depressing feeling at school in Tyneside where after a summer holiday I had to pick up the resolve to get up earlier and come into school, and the weather would be grey and cool with persistent rain or drizzle and a cold wind.  The stats back this up, as we had a run of cool dull wet Septembers from 1992-94, September 1995 started off dull and wet in the north-east, and Septembers 1996 and 1998 started grey and drizzly near the east coast.  

 

It has turned around since 1999 though with many warm dry sunny starts to September and numerous grey damp Augusts.

 

Not sure why shops are so keen on the "Back to School" tradition, or the issue that those signs have a habit of going up in June/July these days.  My guess is that it's either done deliberately to annoy the kids, or because "that's just the way we've always done things".

[Weather-history]

My summers at high school coincided with some of the poorest: 1985 to 1988. I started high school after the summer of 1984 and finished before summer of 1989.

August 1985 was bad.

August 1986 was bad, that last week of that month was terrible!

York and the river Ouse was flooding

First half of August 1987 was poor, I remember one Friday being freezing! The second half had some warmer weather and I remember the thunderstorms of 22nd August.

Don't remember August 1988 that too well, the July was awful.

[phil nw.]

I just remember school.

Too many years have passed to recall the weather without looking at the archives.

 

Agree with some comments above a more winding down feeling to those recent golden days of Summer.

[Cecil Hogmanay Melchett]

August looking like its going to be a very poor month summerwise.

At least june and july were good.

ps does anyone know how one can delete an account on this forum? i think it time for me to call it a day,amongst some very friendly knowledgable people here there are too many trolls and WUM for my liking and it would seem the mods/owner would much rather punish those who respond when they dont deal with it.

[Bottesford]

Whereas one of my school summers was 1995 - now that was a cracker! Now if only I hadn't spent it all playing Dune 2 on my computer... ooops. Altho do remember seeing the dams up in the Peak District with the flooded villages appearing out of the reservoirs!

[AderynCoch]

"Back To School" *shudder*

 

That was enough to put a dampener on August 1995.

[Thundery wintry showers]

1995 was the year that I changed from junior school to secondary school and had to get used to getting up for school at 7:20am, rather than the 8:10am.  I also spent a lot of that summer playing Doom. There had been a sense of winding down beforehand, with a relatively cool cloudy end to that phenomenal August and changeable conditions into early September, but there were still some bright days.  Thus, coming into school  for the first time on this day was certainly a struggle:

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/archive/ra/1995/Rrea00119950907.gif

 

1996 was another "wind down" summer- we had sunshine and showers during the last week of August but it continued to feel quite "summery", but my first day back at school (the 3rd) was grey and drizzly all day in spite of high pressure lying on top of the north of the country.

Edited August 12, 2014 by Thundery wintry showers

[h2005__uk__]

Since the beginning of July, I've recorded:

 

-- 5 days with a max of <20C (and today was the first <20C day for 16 days!)

-- 15 days with a max of >25C

-- 2  days with a max of >28C  (and an overall max of 28.9C)

 

June was less notable for its warmth, but I think the main bulk of this summer has been great in my location in terms of consistent amounts of warmth, but not so good in producing a sustained heatwave and/or lots of very hot days like we had last summer.

 

I suspect there may be one or two more >25C days in my location this year, but I don't think I'll beat my max of 28.9C on 18 Jul. I'm in-between the Writtle and Andrewsfield official stations - and on 18 Jul, which was the only day to reach 30C around here, Writtle recorded almost 33 but Andrewsfield barely touched 30 - even though there's only 11 miles between them! I generally record temps closer to the Andrewsfield station so I'm not surprised I struggled to get 30 on 18 Jul.

[Milhouse]

I would like to know the last summer that had all 3 months drier and warmer than average. Bet it doesnt happen very often so the chances of August following on from the good summer so far are actually quite small. 2/3 good summer months aint bad i suppose. July is the main summer month for me and it was superb.

[Weather-history]

I would like to know the last summer that had all 3 months drier and warmer than average.

I would have said 1989 for England and Wales if you are referring to CET and 1766 rainfall series. Conclusively, it would be 1976. All three months were clearly warmer and drier than average by a margin.1995 had all three months below average rainfall wise but June was only a touch above average for the CET In 2003, only August was below average rainfall wise. Edited August 12, 2014 by Weather-history

[I Cumbria Marra I]

August is going to spoil what would have been a great summer here.

[Summer Sun]

Bertha has certainly cooled things down across a lot of north west Europe, the eastern med is the place to go for heat currently

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/28758575

[Jon Somerset]

Compared to two years ago this August is better - 2012 was awful with the second Sunday only reaching 13C and continual rain and dark clouds. At least we're getting SOME sun this time around. But highest forecast temperatures of 18C are disappointing.

 

Unfortunately I nipped off to France in June expecting nice weather, but got a plume of Atlantic greyness and coldness while the uK had better weather! So I feel like I've only had one month of summer so far. I need more!!  

[mushymanrob]

when we have cool, wet windy weather in may or june no one says it feels like autumn they just moan the weather is horrible, but just cos we are in august it's easy to get carried away and think it's like autumn as autumn is next month, right now it don't feel like autumn as its 19c here

make up your mind, 4posts earlier you said it did feel like autumn lolsome of you have a strange way if looking at things, of course wet and windy weather in may or june doesnt feel like autumn, because theres more to feeling autumnal then wind and rain, exactly the same way theres more to summer then heat.

[mushymanrob]

I would have said 1989 for England and Wales if you are referring to CET and 1766 rainfall series. Conclusively, it would be 1976. All three months were clearly warmer and drier than average by a margin.1995 had all three months below average rainfall wise but June was only a touch above average for the CET In 2003, only August was below average rainfall wise.

thing is about rainfall stats, we could get a months rain in a thundery breakdown, thus the stats say average when in fact 30/31 days could have been dry.

[h2005__uk__]

thing is about rainfall stats, we could get a months rain in a thundery breakdown, thus the stats say average when in fact 30/31 days could have been dry.

 

This is highlighted in the fact that I recorded 70% more rainfall in July than average, making it wetter in percentage-of-average terms than  any of the wet months last winter. The reality is that most of July's rain fell here during a few intense thunderstorms.

Edited August 12, 2014 by h2005uk

[Captain Shortwave]

thing is about rainfall stats, we could get a months rain in a thundery breakdown, thus the stats say average when in fact 30/31 days could have been dry.

Very true, Canvey Island got 75mm in just 2 hours on the 20th July so a thunderstorm which developed along a sea breeze convergence. That's the thing about this time of year, it tends to not rain, it comes down by the bucket load, especially in thundery showers.

 

I must add that on that day I was just a few miles away from Canvey, simply put that thunderstorm is the best storm I've seen in years and was quite scary at times. The fact it followed two nights of stunning imported storms makes it even sweeter. I would have to say that the second half of July was my favour summer spell since July 2006, sure July 2013 was sunnier and drier and July 2010 was also warmer and drier again, the nice mix of hot sunny weather and the spectacular thunderstorms I experienced probably trumps both those months.

Edited August 12, 2014 by Captain shortwave

[hillbilly]

Very true,that is why you really have to take statistics with a pinch of salt it does not always tell the full picture..!!!!

[h2005__uk__]

I can't remember the last summer that's had as many thunderstorms as this one - I've experienced one or two a week for about a month now, the best being the one on the evening of 18th Jul. There was one in the early hours of 18th Jul too which was a cracker (literally) - probably the best storm I'd experienced in England for 5 years.

 

I was out in the sun today at about 1pm and it was striking just how hot it still is - a reminder that it's still very much summer; despite the autumnal models, Christmas displays in shops and X  Factor trailers!

[mushymanrob]

depends what constitutes a 'storm' as opposed to thundery rain/thundery showers.one clap of thunder does not a storm make... you that have had proper storms are lucky, the only one i had was just a big grey mess with some thunder and lightening in it.its odd.... because when i was a boy, storms always followed a pattern. they came up off france, were part of a squal line (as opposed to unicelular) had a great updraft with dramatic swirls, were clear and dark, had a distinct base that produced all the rain, thunder, hail... then cleared. oh plus the thunder and lightning were strong, violent, not the half hearted farts i seem to get these days.

[Summer Sun]

Matt Taylor last night on the national forecast said don't lose hope there are signs toward the end of the month we may not be done with summer just yet

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04d4dnm/bbc-weather-12082014