Looking around the country temperatures were generally 0-1C above the 1981-2010 mean. Here are a selection:

Camborne +0.7C 

Yeovilton +1.0C

Northolt +0.9C

Cardiff St Athan +0.4C

Belfast Aldergrove +0.4C

Hawarden +0.8C

Coleshill +0.6C

Keswick +0.4C

Linton-on-Ouse +0.8C

Edinburgh Gogarbank +0.1C

Fair Isle -2.6C 

Sunshine was generally disappointing. Most places at 70-80% of mean. But a few were higher:

Wittering 99%

Herstmonceux 78%

St Athan 80%

Camborne 70%

Gogarbank 73%

Aberdeen Dyce 106%

Lerwick 158% 

Rainfall was generally well below average but some places in the south were quite wet:

Kinloss 45%

Rhyl 46%

Northolt 74%

Charlwood 130%

Thorney Island 214% 

I understand GW-thank you. Your figures this morning were very close to what the final confirmed figures were for each day and I am duly impressed by that. Clearly this works- is there any reason why the MetO can't use a similar methodology as the month unfolds? It has dawned on me that the daily estimates are not that reliable on the hadCET site through the course of the month and after years of watching them evolve,  I wonder if it's worth doing that at all until the month's end.

Fantastic service you do all readers on here anyway.

I'm actually quite pleased with a 5th place summer- there have been plenty in the last few years when we would have prayed for such an outcome!

None whatsoever. They claim daily support for the CET series is not available. That is a coded way of saying they are lazy. They manage to produce accurate data on the 1st of each month for every single day of the previous month. So there is no reason at all why they could not do it daily. They have the data. I could do it for them in 5 minutes each day if they gave me the data. If only they made Pershore College and Stonyhurst into SYNOP stations that reported daily maximums and minimums my figures would be even closer to the final CET figures they publish. That should not be too difficult to do. It was only very recently they converted Rothamsted into a SYNOP station.

About 18 months ago the Met Office said they were going to upgrade their CET pages and provide daily data, including that for each of the three CET stations which was encouraging. This project seems to have been put on indefinite hold. They clearly have other priorities and don't see this as important which is disappointing given this data series is over 350 years old and has a great deal of importance.

Despite the cool finish to August the combined CET mean for the 5 months April to August 2018 of 14.99C is the highest ever.

It comfortably beats the second placed year which is 1976 with a mean of 14.70C.

The summer CET mean finished in 5th place in the series.

The maximum CET for the summer of 2018 is 2nd in the series. However, the max and min series only go back to 1878 so the hot summer of 1826 does not feature in this series.

Highest maximum summer CET means:

1976 23.47C

2018 22.73C

1995 22.50C

2003 22.27C

2006 22.17C

1899 22.17C

1975 22.13C

1911 22.10C

1983 22.03C

The minimum summer CET finished at 11.83C which is the 11th warmest in the series.

The downward adjustment this month from the provisional to the final CET was 0.34C. The provisional CET figure finished at 16.98C

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/cet_mean_est_2018

I have slightly changed my CET calculation methodology over the past couple of months to try and make it more accurate. I am going to make another small adjustment for September. If this adjustment had been applied for July and August my figures would have exactly matched the final Hadley numbers to two decimals for each of those months. 

Phew - that was a big drop. When you think we needed 18.2C or over to break the record - That was over 1.6C short. Disappointing really - but thats the British weather for you.

AS August is over along with summer My Average for Summer prediction was 18.03. My actual turned out to be 17.2c. An anomaly 0.;83c difference.

My JJA summer mean ended up at 18.11c 

June 16.51 (CET 16.1)

July 19.94 (CET 19.1)

August 17.82 (CET 16.6)

Interesting as it makes this summer sound drier and clearer- more desert-like, maybe. I notice in the CET seasonal ranked max and min data that 6 of the coldest 30 for summer maxima were in the late 70s or 1980s, but only 1 in the top 30 (1977) for lowest mins. A cloudier, more maritime series of summers?

2018 CET competition - August update

Darren S continues to extend his lead at the top of the table. The average prediction error was quite large this month as the cool end caught many out. Stormchaser was one of those who lost out most in the top 10 from this cool finish. Jerry P had the best prediction this month and moves up into the top 10.

TABLE

Here are the charts for August

Here is the final summer CET chart. We finished at 17.30C using the final Hadley data. Fifth place.

TABLE

Interesting stat that and gives a better feel for just how well we have done since April.
Natuarally we all get absorbed in the exact seasons and calender months.
GW are there any other "different" comparisons/ records.

Any 90 days period/ 60 day period/ 4 or 6 calender months etc

Well we know that the 4 month period April to July was the hottest on record as well.

Summer is a 13 week period in total. If we take the middle portion of summer - i.e. a six and a half week period, lets say the 45 days from 25 June to 8 August, what do we have. Well 2018 is the hottest on record.

CET for the 45 days from 25 Jun to 8 Aug:

2018 19.10C

1995 18.89C

2006 18.82C

1976 18.64C

(EDIT - if you take a 46 day period which is exactly half of the 92 summer days (starting on 24 June) then the 2018 mean is 19.03C so still just above 19C)

Created by a very hot July with a hot end June-start August. 1995 just never sustained the heat through July, although it had a fairly decent end of June and a very hot start to August.

GW- what about Ingrid Holford's 'extended summer' - the May to Sep window. What are the current tops and what would we have to get in Sep. to top that. A first in that would be very pleasing.

The May to Sept period is the year of 2006 which is easily the warmest for that period

May to Sept CET:

2006 16.16C

1947 15.90C

1976 15.76C

2003 15.68C

1868 15.68C

To equal the 16.16C of 2006 we would need the September CET this year to be 15.7C

2006 also holds the record for the 6 month period from April to September with 14.90C. If the CET this September was 15.7C then the 2018 April to September period would be 15.11C. To beat the 2006 figure for April to September we only need the September CET to be 14.5C.

Gosh, you've been busy this evening GW!

Thanks for the prompt update to the competition and all the other information. I was a bit disappointed about the month end and how far out my prediction ended up being, but I see my prediction wasn't as far out as others so I was pleasantly surprised to extend my lead.

Just back from my hols and couldn’t wait to catch up with this thread as I don’t use any electronic devices or get on the internet when I’m abroad!  

GW, you’ve put together some amazing data!  I’m disappointed that the summer fizzled at the end but 5th place is still amazing and even more so, the April to August record!  It’s been such a great year for weather and the CET threads have really kept it exciting!  It’s so special when you can share such an interest with like minded people, such as posters on this thread!  Thank you!  

Now I’m back from 33c Caribbean sunshine to about 20c lower, wearing a fleece and socks!