So far today’s not too bad down here. Some biggish patches of AC but certainly serviceable weather.

Sunshine of 100.1 hours in the last 7 days making it the second sunniest week in my records after 20-26 May 2012

July has managed an incredible 62.0 hours already which must make it one of the sunniest ever starts to a month. That takes the total since 1st May up to 551 hours. Such an unbelievable turnaround from the dross of the past decade. The last four May to July periods were so dire that none managed even 500 hours for the entire three months. Must be a good chance of joining 1911 as the only other year to manage 700 hours. 

Also surpassed 1000 hours sun for the year today which is the earliest date that has been recorded in my 11 year records. Previous earliest was 9th July in 2015 with 28th August in 2012 being the latest.

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No I won't. They live in Iceland. Clue is in the name 🤣🤣🤣

What they are getting now is normal because they had great summers while here was very poor and most days were like Icelandic climate here with mid to high teens and rain daily.  I wonder how the ice melting rate in the Arctic had slow down this year due to LP staying there all the time?

omg 

Richard manages to come up with a post in which he actually praises the weather he has had recently! Well I never.

Yet more additions of high pressure to the outlook, England winning on Penalties in the World Cup and now Richard producing an entirely positive post?

Somebody pinch me! 

Serious hat back on (never for long these days...) - Tue-Thu next week has taken on a less hot look with low-mid 20s more common. Very pleasant and easier to work within but it could hurt this month's challenge for a record high CET... you can't have it all .

I sense we have a good chance of some high-end heat later in the month though, which could bring the CET back into contention even if it does turn out relatively fresh for a few days next week.

When this is the extent if weather concerns, it really is a great time to be alive here.

The farmers round here (Worcestershire) have started harvesting the wheat - something they normally do at the beginning of August, so a month early.

Quality of the crop does not look too bad though - I guess the spring rain was sufficient and the corn has just ripened very rapidly in the continuous sunshine.

If it falls in frozen, crystalline form, then we won't be complaining.

Or hell really is about to freeze over....

Best first half to summer I have experienced in this country. Didn't experience 1976. May and June have been truely remarkable here and this has now continued into the first week of July. 

Manchester Summer Indices

1976 301
1995 298
1983 278
1955 277
1911 274
1984 271
1959 269
1975 268
1949 267
1989 262

2018 260 (up to 4th July)

2013 260 
1947 255
1933 251

The amount of sun we have had over the past 2 months is unreal for these parts. So much so that when it does cloud over a bit like it did from 5 onwards yesterday, it was a surprise and the house seemed quite dark! I do hope we can keep it a little bit longer than mid July but I feel greedy in wishing that. Realistically I hope at the worst it will break and start with a new glorious few weeks of weather which seems to have been the theme since May. Rinse and repeat.

The current 25C days will do me fine. Warm without being uncomfortable.

You could be echoing my own thoughts! It seemed a genuine surprise yesterday evening when I saw clouds overhead.

Ahhh we have clouds!  Yes a rarety this year!  It looked like they might deliver too but they’re breaking up now. There is a horribly hot, sticky and oppressive feel now and even despite the cloud, it’s still 28.2c.  We really could do with a good night time thunder storm!  

It's funny that yesterday was supposed to be the cloudy day, but it ended up sunny, yet today will have been largely cloudy, and completely cloudy since 1pm-ish.

This convective infill can be another bane of summer, since it has a habit of forming along the spine of the country and not moving at all. It's completely pointless too.

Hopefully the next few days are a bit sunnier.

suprised 1990 isnt there as august 3rd saw a temprature record tumble and I recall it being a pretty decent summer. 

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/3/newsid_2527000/2527311.stm

Overrated that summer, IMO. 

June was poor and August wasn't good all the time. There was one day mid August that was a shocker here

After a very brief cooler day yesterday Max 23c the coolest day here for over 2 weeks! the heat has reloded and set to get hot from tomorrow onwards 30c widlely forecast for much of the south for the weekend. Iam confident this July will be a record breaking month if and its a big if a breakdown does not occur when the schools break up.

Well, I think I've had enough of this hot weather now.  I'm probably starting to think like Darren.  Just too much of feeling hot and sticky absolutely all the time.  Rain please!

Angus