Maximum today for PSJ 16.3c. Comfortable with a breeze to 14 mph. Along with humidity at 31% rh.

Another perfect day here in the Epsom Downs in what is probably the best spell of weather I can remember in the UK and numbers don't do justice to it really!

Pleasant and usable heat and relentless sunshine. The indoor temperature is still a very pleasant ~24C during the day and ~21C during the night.

And this could turn out being the best summer of our lifetimes (at least for those who like this kind of weather!)

29.4C max today. Disappointing not to hit 30C but mustn't complain too much. 

One question I have for the stats gurus: Has a blowtorch summer ever been followed by a genuinely cold winter? The winters which followed summers 76, 95 and 03 weren't anything special. 

Plenty of 28s today but looks like the run of 30c days has come to an end. 33c possible  tomorrow though

CASTLEDERG reported 30C earlier according to the Met Office feed.

https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twodata/uk-weather-archive-map.aspx

95-96 was certainly notable, with plenty of snow and cold in places. Not to mention equalling the UK all time cold record - special enough.

 Thanks Michael. For some reason I thought the cold winter was 94/95. 

If my memory serves me correctly Jan (96) was nothing special but the December and February were cold.

It may not be a popular view but I would happily put up with a rubbish winter if the rest of the summer was like this. 

Even more so in Manchester where it nearly always rains!

I think that was yesterday? highest hourly today is 26.7C from what i can see.

Highest anywhere so far today on the hourlies is Porthmadog at 28.7C

Yes 1976-77 was a cold one. Often forgotten how cold December 1976 was, a CET of 2.0C.

It broke a run of mild winters. 

And there are quite a few more. The most obvious are

1933, 1899, 1846 and 1826

The first three had very cold Decembers, the final one had a mild December but very cold Jan and Feb

Done a lot of shift work myself so understand where you are coming from. 

@Retron. Yep, something I must invest in. I am beginning to find summer temperatures less and less tolerable the older I get, probably due in no small part that they are lasting longer and longer these days, so much so that I'd now consider September to be a summer month. 

Yet Manchester & NW England really does do well when there is a SE’ly, easterly or NE’ly based summer spell.

We get more than our fair share of rain here in standard setups but we don’t usually get plagued by cloud in summer settled spells such as these (unlike NE England and Eastern Scotland). 

So there 😉.

As you say we do usually get a fair amount of rain so I am milking every minute of this. 

We don't normally either - because easterlies are not usually this prevalent during summer heatwaves (they were prevalent in August 1995 but of course low cloud is pretty much never an issue by then since the North Sea is at its warmest). Indeed, during such spells like July 2006 sunshine was highest relative to average across the north east of England.

Yes it's noticeable now, the air has a slightly humid smell now too. Thermometer says 23.9c

There were days in June/July 1995 where it took until the afternoon for the low cloud to burn off, i remember staring at the cloud out of the year 6 portakabin window wishing it would go. However overall a fantastic summer. I accept that from time we will get some low cloud but that is easy to live with as the default setup with W or SW winds should lead to more broken cloud this side of the Pennines.

No complaints from me this year either. The last week or so in particular has been perfect and the low cloud lasted till 8.30am on one morning ,that was it. Quite enjoying the non-heatwave conditions. Consistantly 25c and as high as 28.7c. Still 24-25c in the house most of the day so any warmer would be difficult.

Once again, no heatwave in this part of the world today.

Unlike yesterday, there has been no shortage of sunshine today.

Just like yesterday though, this has been a day where the temperatures have refused to rise in response to that sunshine, thanks to that nagging easterly wind which just keeps on continuing to blow in this part of the world.

25C during the day is fine, it's the low humidity combined with the easterly breeze that results in evenings being rather cool -if you want to dine outside after a certain time then you really need a jacket or outdoor heater to feel warm (unless you are in direct sunlight with no wind).

I was chatting to a neighbour today who have installed solar panels on the roof of his house and he told me that during the last few days solar energy has covered all their electricity demand and then fed back into the grid around £10 of electricity per day. Not bad!