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What has happened to cloudless days?


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Posted
  • Location: Runcorn, Cheshire
  • Weather Preferences: Snowy winters, hot, sunny springs and summers.
  • Location: Runcorn, Cheshire

Just a topic of interest. Has anyone had any completely cloudless sunny days this summer?

It seems that this summer has failed to produce any strong, UK-centred high pressure cells; and as a result there never has been a cap on the convective cloud bubbling up around 11am.

The last time I can recall having a completely cloudless day was last autumn/winter. This summer has truly been shocking for sunshine, although it has been very dry.

What's it been like where you are?

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Posted
  • Location: Pemberton, Wigan, 54 M ASL. 53.53,-2.67
  • Weather Preferences: Winter - snow, Irish sea convection. Summer - thunderstorms, hot sunny days
  • Location: Pemberton, Wigan, 54 M ASL. 53.53,-2.67

For me, living on the coast in proximity to the colder than Average Irish sea this year has meant that there has been a good amount of sunshine, but heat and thunderstorms have been at a premium; in fact the latter non-existent.

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Posted
  • Location: Wildwood, Stafford 104m asl
  • Weather Preferences: obviously snow!
  • Location: Wildwood, Stafford 104m asl

too far east here, all morning to my west is completely clear skies, but to the east is unsettled, if i lived wales, may be cloudless

 

clear days in summer surely rare, and much rarer than in winter

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Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset

Have had a few down here this summer, mainly from westerly or northwesterly airstreams. Had a fair few in June, and of course June 30th which had that lovely dry southeasterly brought clear skies all day. No completely clear days in July or August though - sunny ones but with at least a third of the sky covered in cloud.

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Posted
  • Location: Nymburk, Czech Republic and Staines, UK
  • Weather Preferences: Sunny and warm in summer, thunderstorms, snow, fog, frost, squall lines
  • Location: Nymburk, Czech Republic and Staines, UK

Can't remember any completely clear days here this summer. There may have been one in early summer? June here was quite sunny (but cool), since then there have been masses of cloudy days or days that start off sunny but by 11am vile infill appears and covers the sky, only melting away again past 7pm.

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Posted
  • Location: Leeds
  • Weather Preferences: snow, heat, thunderstorms
  • Location: Leeds

Cloudless days aren't very common here in summer I find. More common in spring. The sun is too strong in summer and that causes convective cloud to build. Very annoying but whatever.

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Posted
  • Location: Shrewsbury
  • Location: Shrewsbury

They have been extremely rare in summer since 2006, and I think in decline since the late 90s. It seems that even the best days tend to feature some Cu bubbling up, and it's now rare to see the classic "fair weather cumulus" afternoons, they have huge patches or at worst complete cloud cover instead. And every time we get warm air it's full of that mid level muck, unlike the 90s when they were clear.

Outside summer we still do get them: April 2007, April 2010, Sept and Oct 2011, March and May 2012, April 2015. Just June-August when they are almost extinct.

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Last cloudless day (or couple) was this March, then we hadn't had one single cloudless day for the rest of the year. I do miss them now that they have been gone for so long, and as pjl20101 they won't be coming back for a while now.

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Posted
  • Location: Truro, Cornwall
  • Weather Preferences: Winter - Heavy Snow Summer - Hot with Night time Thunderstorms
  • Location: Truro, Cornwall

I just don't get why the Azores high can never detach and get east of the UK anymore?

Why does high pressure always build so easily near Greenland in summer and then lows just topple Down on us so it's a UK vs the rest of Europe weather scenario?

Can someone answer this?

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Posted
  • Location: Edinburgh (previously Chelmsford and Birmingham)
  • Weather Preferences: Unseasonably cold weather (at all times of year), wind, and thunderstorms.
  • Location: Edinburgh (previously Chelmsford and Birmingham)

There have been quite a lot of sunny days here. I'm not sure about cloudless though, at least not from start to finish.

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Posted
  • Location: Cardiff, Wales
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, Thunder & Lightning, Thundersnow, Storms, Heatwave
  • Location: Cardiff, Wales

Plenty of cloudless days here! But we've also had plenty of horrendous days this summer. Seems to always be the case on the coast here in west wales that we do seem to have more cloudless days than many inland as convective cloud rarely builds up or only lasts for a short time. The only problem here is that heat is non existent. Had one day this summer over 25c but most days high teens. Today and yesterday both almost completely cloudless but only 18/19c. Still pleasant though

Edited by bradythemole
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Posted
  • Location: Carryduff, County Down 420ft ASL
  • Location: Carryduff, County Down 420ft ASL

The predominant Westerlies have been the problem adding extra moisture into the atmosphere.

Need continental influence for clear blue skies.

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Posted
  • Location: Truro, Cornwall
  • Weather Preferences: Winter - Heavy Snow Summer - Hot with Night time Thunderstorms
  • Location: Truro, Cornwall

The predominant Westerlies have been the problem adding extra moisture into the atmosphere.

Need continental influence for clear blue skies.

But you need high pressure over or to the east of the UK to have a real shot at this and thus it comes back to my question above.
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Posted
  • Location: Aberdeen 33m asl
  • Location: Aberdeen 33m asl

The fact is every summer since 2006 has been horrific, in Scotland at least and probably even SE England too apart from the odd short spell.

 

I'd love to hear any theories as to why our summers are now appear to be cool, wet and frequently windy with low pressure in charge?

 

It seems like there was more sun in winter in Aberdeen with the persistent westerly airstream than there has been in summer...I'm gonna check those stats now....

Edited by Zerouali lives
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Posted
  • Location: N.Bedfordshire, E.Northamptonshire
  • Weather Preferences: Cool not cold, warm not hot. No strong Wind.
  • Location: N.Bedfordshire, E.Northamptonshire

Remember during the Iceland volcanic ash crisis that the lack of planes flying over the UK led to some clear days overhead here.

 

 

So are we making more clouds? just a thought.

 

Remembered this link from a few years ago

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8309629.stm

Edited by Jax
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Posted
  • Location: Wigan
  • Location: Wigan

 the annoying thing is this convection that spoils the day from mid morning onwards never produces proper cb clouds to give good clouscapes and possible thundery activity, just flat crud ,  always no mans land here ...

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Posted
  • Location: Hayward’s Heath - home, Brighton/East Grinstead - work.
  • Weather Preferences: Snow and storms
  • Location: Hayward’s Heath - home, Brighton/East Grinstead - work.

It's down to our sunspot activity being low, and with the next 3 solar cycles being weaker than this one I think things will get worse I'm afraid.

What a load of tosh. A cloudless day over the UK has nothing to do with the sunspot activity and everything to do with the exact formation, strength and positioning of mid latitude high pressure cells.  I have yet to see a study showing that low solar activity can be linked to the presence of mid latitude highs and nothing showing that they will be less frequent over the UK.

Edited by chionomaniac
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Posted
  • Location: Edinburgh (previously Chelmsford and Birmingham)
  • Weather Preferences: Unseasonably cold weather (at all times of year), wind, and thunderstorms.
  • Location: Edinburgh (previously Chelmsford and Birmingham)

What a load of tosh. A cloudless day over the UK has nothing to do with the sunspot activity and everything to do with the exact formation, strength and positioning of mid latitude high pressure cells.  I have yet to see a study showing that low solar activity can be linked to the presence of mid latitude highs and nothing showing that they will be less frequent over the UK.

 

I haven't read this paper in detail but just looking at the abstract it looks as if there is some evidence of a relationship, except that it's the reverse (low solar activity leads to low levels of cloudiness, specifically in the lower troposphere):

http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00169.1

 

Edit:

Just found this also, which seems to say the complete opposite:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364682697000011

Edited by 22nov10blast
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Posted
  • Location: Irlam
  • Location: Irlam

It's down to our sunspot activity being low, and with the next 3 solar cycles being weaker than this one I think things will get worse I'm afraid.

A lot of assumption here. The sunniest winter on record and the sunniest April on record in the last few months. Solar activity explain this?

Are we sure that the next 3 cycles will be weaker? It was only 8 or 9 years ago the recent maximum was supposed to be exceptional.

Edited by Weather-history
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Posted
  • Location: Derbyshire Peak District South Pennines Middleton & Smerrill Tops 305m (1001ft) asl.
  • Location: Derbyshire Peak District South Pennines Middleton & Smerrill Tops 305m (1001ft) asl.

I have read some papers that claim it to lower the cloud base level.

Edited by Polar Maritime
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Quite a few around here, and today was nearly cloudless. But a lot of this is the proximity to the coast, where the sea breeze keeps any infill cloud inland.

 

But also too many days of mist and fog for my liking on the dreaded South Westerly winds.

Edited by J10
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Posted
  • Location: Morecambe
  • Location: Morecambe

I think people do tend to forget that in summer, cloud bubbling up will be at its most prevalent with the strong sunshine so 100% clear blue skies and sunshine will be quite an rare event indeed.

 

For me, I'll be happy with a warm sunny day with less than 20% of cumulus cloud cover.

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We had a few almost cloudless days in June and the beginning of July at Watford but since it the summer has gone drastically downhill - Would you believe a max of 35C at the beginning of July with a max of 12C towards the end.

 

Can somebody get a grip of those Jet Streams please and put them back where they belong at this time of year, ideally in strait between Iceland and Greenland.

 

Come to think of it the periods of 6 weeks or so of fine hot weather we used to get from July to the middle of August during the 90's and the early 2000's have now disappeared.

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Posted
  • Location: King’s Lynn, Norfolk.
  • Weather Preferences: Hot and Thundery, Cold and Snowy
  • Location: King’s Lynn, Norfolk.

30th June earlier this year, the day before the record was broken saw a cloudless day with unbroken sunshine here, as did the previous day I believe. What a brilliant spell of weather that was this year, of what now seems nothing more than a distant memory!

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