As we approach the 9th of our 12 meteorological weeks of summer its time to start talking about perceptions again.

Locally this year has been a reversal of so many summers we've become accustomed to in recent years. Many summers in the last 10 years have been ok in June followed by mixed July's and generally rather poor Augusts.

This year we endured a dreadfully cloudy and cool start to June before an improvement to a warm but often thundery month with average sunshine, July started mixed but improved drastically from mid month..after a hiccup on the opening days of the month August is improving..if the outlook should verify its possible we could buck the trend and have a good August.

With Summer holidays starting in mid July the kids have been on the beach most days..I've never seen them so brown !

Perception is good among the locals..7/10 so far. 

How's it rating with everyone else ?

 

 

 

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Consistently wetter than average and cloudier than average - you can work out my perception from those stats. It could have been worse but it could also have been so so much better.

Edit: For a numerical rating I would give it 3/10

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I'd have to agree with this take on summer. Very wet June here with a completely opposite July. August has had some rain but appears to be following on from July in terms of dryness. Never cold bar the odd day, but not spectacular either so 7/10.

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Decent summer so far. June was rubbish, but July was decent - average sunshine, below average rainfall and slightly warmer than average.

August seems to be following suit - very little rain still, and none in the forecast. If current output verifies then it could well end up the best month of the year.

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It's been a mixed summer here so far. It's had some very decent spells and some poorer spells.

June - a very nice first 10 days of the month, with lots of sunshine and temperatures into the mid-twenties quite consistently. This spell was then followed by quite a few thunder days with some interesting convection. After this there was then the odd day mixed in, but still overall a half-decent June. [6.5/10]

July - overall quite a forgettable month, in all honesty. The first half was generally quite poor with cloud and rain and a decisive lack of sunshine. The only thing that stands out was the Spanish plume on the 19th where 32C (my second highest maximum in my records) was recorded here. The warm and humid week following it was also nice too, before it turned poorer again late in the month. [5/10]

August - the opening days were poor, but the last two or three have been very good here. Going by the models it could be a memorable month. Let's just hope we have a proper August for once!

Summer 2016 so far - 5.5 to 6 out of 10. OK, but not brilliant.

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June: 4/10
July: 7/10
August so far: 7/10 - and could end up higher still

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August has turned out fantastic. Perception is now widespread that this has been a very good summer with the warm wet June and cool and unsettled first week or so of July now a distant memory.

All 6 weeks of the School Summer holidays have been largely dry, warm and sunny. The number of cloudy and damp days can be counted on one hand. Infact August could be very close to a record breaker for sunshine levels locally.

1976, 1995, 1983, 2006, 2003..2016 isn't too far behind. 

8/10.

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Worst summers for Manchester
1954 143
1907 147
1956 155
1912 156
1924 158
2012 164
2008 168
1987 169
1946 170
1909 171
1931 173
1978 173
1980 173
1920 174
1923 174
2007 174
1927 175
1948 176
1938 177
1922 178
1985 180
1958 184
1972 185
1916 188
1986 189
1965 189
1910 190
1936 190
1988 191
1966 192
1998 192
2015 192
1953 193
1963 194
1993 194
2009 194
1902 195
1915 196
1981 196

Going to be not far off last summer's index figure around 190.

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Has to be up there amongst the most NW/SE split summers on record, along with 2009.

There should be an index for this. Maybe a new Kent summer index minus Kevin's Manchester index.

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Doubtful. Looking at the weather stats on Reading University's website, the weather hasn't really been that different throughout England. It's just people's perceptions of the weather that have differed. 

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The Met Office August 2016 Sunshine and temperature anomoly charts will be interesting. 

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Heathrow Airport has recorded 90% of the August average sunshine so far, while Aberdeen Dyce has recorded 99% of the average. Leeming (N Yorks) has recorded 100%. 

Manston in Kent has recorded 121% of the average though, so the Kent coast has indeed done very well. 

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The July charts from the Met office certainly were. Parts of the South had less than 10mm but the E&W rainfall was above average.

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In terms of rainfall yeah, but sunshine and temperature showed comparatively little regional variation. Heathrow Airport for example was actually slightly duller than average despite being so dry.

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Are you saying people in the SE are just happier with our lot than in the North? That we are of a generally sunnier disposition? Could this explain the patterns in the Brexit vote? Or is it the Pennines that are the real dividing line, not the wash-Severn line?

Certainly the June and July stats showed a marked E-W split, greater than the N-S one.

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an indifferent and at times poor start to summer with a distinct lack of sunshine in june secon d half of summer much better and indeed august has been a good month dry warm and often sunny overall 7 out of ten for summer 2016 once again the south east has come out better than anywhere else particularly the south east coast

Dunno - average weather is generally nicer in the SE, so maybe that's why. Or maybe certain people just love to moan. 

Yes, the Pennines are often a big dividing line. July saw a more prominent east-west split. July was quite wet around Manchester and Liverpool but it was very dry in Leeds. The grass was indeed browning/yellowing here.

August, however, has been wet here too, so the grass has returned to being green. 

You also have to note the difference between the SE and the SW. SW England isn't much warmer at all than Yorkshire in summer - and it's generally much wetter. I know someone who lives in York and used to live in Yeovil, and he says the weather in Yeovil really isn't different to here at all. It's really only the coast that's noticeably sunnier. Indeed, my area of Yorkshire is amongst the driest in the country, with my nearest station getting only 603mm of rain a year on average, same as Heathrow.

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Very true. Yeovil not too far from us can be chilly in the winter with sharper frosts than closer to the coast. Early summer here can be cooled by the sea with fog more common in spring and early summer than in the autumn and winter. Certainly it has been drier this summer near the coast and probably sunnier too than inland. We went to Bristol Zoo over the BH weekend and it was noticeable how much lusher the grass was there compared to south Dorset. We are in a bit of a dividing line between the S.E and West Country. Not as warm as further east has been and not as cool as say Cornwall or Devon.

As far as this summer was concerned I would give it 7.5/10. No long lived anticyclonic spells and too much wind for a higher rating.

Nick

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I'm a little surprised that this tear is not nearer the 200 mark, although my perception is probably being skewed by the recent good weather. Still think this is a better summerthan last year though. I grew up in Manchester and visit my hometown frequently. Kevs summer index is I think very accurate re the summers as i remember them.

Is it too soon for me to say that this seems to be turning out to be a summer of two halves? Slow on the uptake with a wet June, then it slowly got the idea in July but August is turning out to be the best month. Talk about a late slow burner of a summer!

I'll give this 7/10.

The only thing that let the side down was the lack of decent thundery weather but even that now has less appeal these days, must be an age thing. Having said that, I could use some real rain to green up my now parched looking lawn.

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I would give it at 3/10 in June, 7/10 in July and this month 8/10.  Lot of usable days, warmer nights and few hot spells, at least this time UK did not miss out the hot weather as they did all summer last year when it was 30-40C in France non-stop while here was 18-23C.  Some amazing thunderstorms in June and new record of 22.5C on the early of 20th July, beating the 22C set in August 2004.  Max highest for this year is only 33.4 as now our neighbour had extend their extension much further down so that reduce the sunlight in our patio by mid afternoon, that hamper the temperatures from rising to the max absolute on the N facing wall.  I would estimated around 34C to 34.4C being reached if wasn't the big extension being built.  

No heating this summer since early June when last year was put on for a hour in July and August then often in September to take out the chill and to warm up a bit before taking a shower.  

Overal 2016 a better summer but could be more better if June wasn't a cold dull month.

Overall 8/10, this from someone who doesn't really like hot weather.

Very dry in this part of the South Coast, so plenty of opportunity to get out and about, though it hasn't done the garden any good. Disappointing that a number of plumes got shunted off to the east, and (unlike the rest of the UK) we haven't had a decent thunderstorm, only an occasional rumble; so marked down for lack of spectacular weather.

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For Northwest Britain this has been a better summer than most.

May kicked off a bedrock of warmer days with consistent if not hot weather at times (i realise this is not summer, but a precursor to the summer months that followed. Weve had a few summers recently where it felt it took a while to get going. May gave us a good starting point this year i felt)

June was a little poorer than May, but still had a few hot days - better than most Junes we get up this end. Strawberrys were ripe the first week of June. 7/10

July Average, sunny, with the odd wet spell. Able to enjoy the garden, interspersed with a few cooler days. Nothing disruptive though. Able to harvest all my plants. A good helping of Tomatos available mid July. 6/10

August, heading more towards the better than average, recent drier spells and warmer evenings has helped. 7/10.

The feel of this summer hasnt just been me. The garden has flourished, early too helped with the good weather in May. Allowing the ground to dry up, warm up and the waters that surround us warm up too. So even when cooler weather arrived, a jacket sufficed.

Heating hasnt been used this summer, which reflecting on previous years, is a good measurement of how much better and perhaps back to what we should expect this summer has been.

Another point to reflect on the good summer is the amount of wasps about at the moment. They seem to struggle in poor summers. We were really troubled by them at a BBQ on sunday.

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Agree with the Plume comment, but saying that i cant remember a summer where that setup happened with such frequency.  Did we have say 6 or 7 plumes this year?

 

Weve been lucky to get one in the past few summers.  Sure in some cases they lasted a day , or even clipped southern parts.  But they still occured and brought hot temps to places. with some cracking storms being recorded.

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A few torrential downpours in June gave us a wet month, but July was basically a dry month with only 10mm.

August has been very sunny with one very wet 24 hour period right at the start that saw just under an inch - a drizzly morning and a few light showers throughout the rest has left us at 26.5mm for the entire month.

Tree's are wilting and most vegetation is dead or rapidly dying off.