I have posted this on netweather, a few years back about how memorable past years were weatherwise for my location. Its not based on preferences but what has stood out.  For me, 2002, was the worst year for weather standouts. I can recall little from that year, it was boring, tedious, nothing going for it meteorologically. 

1995, by contrast, was the most memorable year of weather I can recall. This year or at least up to the start of August has been memorable. 

There have been years that have run close to 2002 in recent times, 2014-17.

Past years that I have experienced that stuck in my memory, weatherwise

1985: cold wintry spells of January to March. Seeing snow fall at the end of April. A thunderstorm at night during May. The late May early June warmth. The poor August. The early October warmth, the cold November and the snow at the end. The mild December and the cold last week. Memorable.

1986: the early and late January snowfalls, that cold February, the March storm, the cold April, the heat of second half of June, the bank holiday washout, the cold September. Memorable

1987: the bitter easterly of January, the March cold and snowfalls, the beautiful warm Good Friday of April, early May snow, the awful June, thunderstorms of late August, didn't experience the October storm but news coverage has stuck in the memory. Memorable.

1988: late January snowfall, February gale, diabolical July, late November snow, warm December. Pretty forgettable.

1989: really memorable, latter stages not. 

1990: very memorable. Goes without saying.

1991: February snowfalls, chilly June. Back end of August, good. Pretty forgettable

1992: brilliant May and June with heat and storms, the cold October and the cold end to December. Fairly memorable.

1993: the stormy January, the late February snowfalls, the early June storms, the cold autumn and the wintry December at times. Pretty memorable.

1994: February snowfalls, the Easter snowfalls, the heat and thundery nature of the summer, that warm Novermber. Cold pre anticyclonic spell.

1995: fantastic year, unforgettable.

1996: wintry late January spell, the snowfalls of February, that cold May, decent summer, the cold November and December. Pretty memorable

1997: the early May wintry switcharound and the May as whole, late June washout, the Christmas Eve storm. Pretty forgettable

1998: mid February warmth, mid April wintry, some heat in May. Pretty forgettable

1999: early February wintry spell, mid April wintry spell, the heat of May with thunder, the July, the poor August, the September heatwave. Fairly memorable

2000: early April wintry interlude, the autumn washout and late December snow. Up to autumn, it was forgettable.

2001: January to April wintry interludes, the warm October and late December wintry spells. Not particularly memorable

2002: forgettable

2003: the heat waves from April to September, the cold second half of October. Memorable heatwaves but little else

2004: early June heat, the thundery washout August, the white Christmas. Not particularly memorable.

2005: wintry mid February to mid March spell, the autumn with the turnaround during November. Not especially memorable

2006: March snow, the wet May, the hot July and September. Fairly memorable.

2007: the January gale, the warm April, the washout May to July. The last 4 months were forgettable

2008: the sunny and temperature range of February, the wintry spells of late March-early April, the awful August, the wintry spells of late November-December. Fairly memorable

2009: the cold start to the year, the cold and snow of first half of February, the washout November, the wintry second half to December. Memorable events were either end but not a lot in between.

2010: very cold wintry start, March to mid November was forgettable. December was anything but unforgettable,

2011: pretty forgettable apart from Easter and late September-early October heatwave.

2012: the washout April and June but not much else.

2013: first three months had their moments, May Day Bank Holiday was lovely, excellent July but rest of year was not memorable

2014: As a whole though, 2014 has been a pretty forgettable year, little variety with December being the most varied

2015 was a pretty uneventful year apart from December, which was outrageous. There were a couple of other short term events such as the storms and heat around late June and early July but other than that not a lot.

2016: pretty forgettable. Disappointing thunder wise again. A couple of spring snowfalls including a late season snowfall, the latest snowfall date wise since 1987 for this location. September was decent.

2017: pretty forgettable, the red sun was a standout 

2018: Up to July, it has been memorable, the Beast from the East, the amazing May to July period. Has dropped off since July. 

Most memorable years

1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1995, 2018

Forgettable years

1988, 1998, 2002, 2011, 2014-17

There's one event that stands out from a few years ago (2014?). I do remember it was in January and concerned the most amazing squall line I've ever seen in my life. I was at work on my tea break and saw it arrive, just after 11 am. For maybe 3 minutes it was total mayhem with terrific straight-line wind, semi-darkness and torrential rain being driven horizontally by the wind. It really did look like the videos you can see on Youtube of squall lines in the Midwest USA! It cleared away as quickly as it came.

Does anyone else remember this?

2014 being a forgettable year?! I'm sorry, but seriously?! What about the 10 or 11 significant storm systems between December and March? The flooding? The sea wall at Dawlish? Etc. That was the most stormiest and violent winter I've ever experienced in all my 35 years of being into meteorology.

Even the Highlands did well snow-wise where it was the snowiest in years. Just that it was a total failure in terms of lowland snow events.

It was based on location rather national.

The standouts for me in each year have been:

2006 - A stunning summer, especially July. I specifically remember England losing the World Cup quarter-finals to Portugal on Saturday the 1st, which was then followed by a brilliant thunderstorm on the 2nd.

2007 - An amazing April followed by that diabolical summer. A total contrast to the year before. The autumn or winter I remember very little of.

2008 - Very sunny February and an interesting varied spring. The first half of May 2008 was fantastic. Unfortunately the summer was very forgettable and I remember very little of it. The snowy spells in December do stand out, however.

2009 - I remember the cold start to the year and the February cold spell. I also remember quite a few decent days in the spring (particularly March and April), which was very mild. I don't remember mych of the summer and very little of the autumn, apart from the November flooding. The wintry December was then a standout, with a few snowfalls and lying snow on Christmas Day.

2010 - Quite a memorable year, as I think it is for many weather enthusiasts. The bitterly cold first half of January was my main stand out. The heaviest snowfall I've witnessed overnight 4th-5th and then -14C on the morning of the 7th under deep snow. Beyond that I don't remember much of the year, apart from the sunny and dry October and the ridiculously cold December of course. I remember very little of the spring, and the summer was indifferent. It was a very poor year for thunderstorms, though I remember a decent on on 23 September.

2011 - Not much stands out, apart from that amazing April and the autumn heat wave. The summer was a total borefest.

2012 - An interesting year, but for the most part it was interesting in the negative direction. The cold spell in February was decent, and the heavy snow on the 4th stands out. I also throughly enjoyed that summer-like March, which was a stunning month. April and June however were utterly miserable. In fact, early April-mid-July (bar the warmth at the end of May) was absolutely horrid.

2013 - A couple memorable cold and snowy spells in January, however March was probably one of the only months I've ever well and truly hated. The less said the better. Beyond that, I found the rest of spring to be rather indifferent, but the year finally perked up in July, which was lovely. There were some decent thunderstorms that summer too. Autumn was bland and the stormy December stands out.

2014 - Not much really. The very stormy January and February stands out, but that's really it. What I did enjoy was the abundance of useable days in spring and summer, which was only let down by a rubbish August (surprise, surprise). December was interesting and varied.

2015 - A lovely April, almost as good as Aprils 2007 and 2011, if I'm honest. The hot spell at the start of July and the thunderstorm that followed it was also incredible. Finally, that absurd November and December which I very much enjoyed.

2016 - A varied spring, which pretty much everything at some point. Summer was decent and the autumn was fantastic: very seasonal and traditional.

2017 - Quite a boring year. The mild March was interesting, as was the hot spell in June and of course, Ophelia in October.

2018 (so far) - A very interesting year. The cold and snowy spell at the end of February-early March. The warm spell in April and the lovely May-July period we've had this year. It's a shame the summer dropped off in August and September, but I suppose I can't moan there. Also, another rubbish year for thunderstorms.

I remember the one on 3rd Jan 2012 - it matches your description quite well and I caught the end of it on video so it could be it if you're not sure of the year.

Didn't do my camera a lot of good either

It came through here about 12:00 (Richmond, Surrey)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA-uVgbiDEc

We had a couple of gales but it wasn't that wet here. 

Thanks Martin. I'm pretty sure it was the first day back at work after the Christmas break so yes January 3rd sounds about right.

I think years become memorable by either containing a very notable weather event/period, or being overall good (or bad!). Only considering years this century, I'd say the most memorable were:

2003 - that summer spell was amazing, with 100f reached for the first time (officially). I was on a beach in Anglesey when it recorded Wales's warmest ever temp.

2010 - superb winter spell that kicked off early Jan with a return of cold and snow (deepest snow here for years and only began to ease at the end of Jan into Feb from here northwards. Then a record-breaking spell starting late Nov that ran almost to the end of Dec

2013 - the winter where it just kept snowing. Nothing long-lasting, which was disappointing, but 3 snowfalls that topped 10cm (including one in late March), another that hit 5cm, and a couple more shallower falls. Then a fantastic spell of summer weather in the June/July. Was swimming in the sea off the coast of Wales at 8pm one evening with temps still into the 80's. Topped off by the worst sea flooding in this region in years (parts of Liverpool & the Wirral swamped)

2018 - annoyingly missed out on most of the snow, but the summer just went on an on from early May. I don't think I'll look back as fondly as others, as the great summer AGAIN began to dissipate as the kids broke up from school, but memorable nonetheless.

I can recall good spells of weather in 2000 (post-Xmas deep snowfall); 2006 (great early summer); 2007 & 2008 (horrendous wet summers); 2009 (nice festive wintry spell); 2014 (a less hot or long repeat of the 2013 summer, following serious storms )

So by definition, the least memorable weather years for me this century would be:

2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017

Overall, I think my most memorable year would be 2013 - a bit of everything

1988 rates as the cruddiest year for me. Mid May had a very warm but short lived good spell but everything else was junk.

1984's late April spell saved it from ignominy.

1993 was rubbish apart from the mid November record low locally of below -5C with freezing fog and snow grains.

Only things that stand out as interesting in 2002 were the remnants of the snow/cold from 2001 in the first week of January, some convective downpours in June and an interesting October that had a lot of variety despite being the wettest on record. It did also snow on my birthday at the end of January, something which has not happened for a number of years now. The rest of 2002 was extremely boring especially the last half of November and December which was ridiculously awful. Six weeks of the same mind-numbing filth that we have now.

Just a typical 21st century year though. Most years in the last 20 have been excruciatingly bland, unvaried and uninteresting, lacking the extremes and changeability that we used to get. Prior to that most years either were decent for snow or had good summers. It was unusual for there to be a poor summer and little snow as has been typical in this century.

2014 was the worst due to an extreme amount of wind from the SE quarter giving unbelievably boring and unpleasant weather in almost every month. Only July and December weren’t totally dire. It was never interesting bad weather – just murk, low diurnal ranges, frequent but rarely heavy or convective rain and a lack of both warmth and cold i.e. the very things the 21st Century has become renowned for. Snow is the most interesting weather we get here and 2014 was the only year to have none lying at all.

2011 comes a close second and the years 2015-17 largely blended into one monotonous period. In the years to come, it will be hard to pick anything out when looking back on those years. 2012 was more interesting for the exceptional March followed by the abrupt change in April with heavy snow then the late May heatwave and the Autumn was excellent with lots of crisp weather, good colour and the storm that left coastal parts of the city under a deep covering of foam. Summer of course was horrific and devoid of anything remotely interesting or pleasant. 

2018 has been another less than scintillating year although the drought and sunshine of mid-April to mid-July is something that will be remembered for years to come. The rest as bland as it gets. A write-off near snowless winter, hideous grey and cold start to spring and an early prolonged autumn that has been repulsive and second only to 2014 for a complete lack of crisp, seasonable weather and tree colour.

For me, the summer of 2006 was similar in nature to this summer. Began with a pretty good June and then a July that turned out to be the warmest CET month on record beating the same month in 1983. However, like this year, the summer of 2006 petered out somewhat in August. 1989 was even more like this year, as just like 2018 the summer of that year was preceded by a warm and dry May, although again August was not so good.

As for 2002, the thing that sticks out in my mind most as far as the weather was concerned that year was the very poor June and July we experienced here. Those two months were so poor that they could have been from any summer from 2007 through to and including 2017 with the exceptions of 2013 and 2014 which were the only two years which produced decent summers during that period there. The weather at the end of July 2002 turned even worse for a few days as on the 30th, we had a thunderstorm here which delivered over a month's worth of rain here in one afternoon. The ground was already pretty saturated from all the rain earlier in the summer, and so when the storms came at the end of that July, there was inevitably some flooding in places; I seem to recall some parts of Glasgow being so affected.

From what I recall, quite a few places around the UK experienced thundery weather at the end of July 2002. I can clearly recall watching the Commonweath Games in Manchester on TV at that time, and on this occasion they were showing a road race. I can remember one of the BBC presenters saying there had just been a storm over Manchester not long before the race began.

Fortunately, August 2002 was somewhat better here, and the much improved summer of 2003 went some way towards atoning for 2002's poor weather.

End of 2013 and first half (well, up to July) of 2014 stands out for me more than any other in recent memory as observed around 20 thunder days during that period with some real ass kickers, even during the winter. Winter 2013/2014 overall wasn't that stormy here, though having said that, still a higher than normal amount of typical windy days. 

In terms of forgetabilty, I can remember very little to nothing of 2011. Not much seemed to happen that year here locally at least and apart from the wet summer of 2012, I remember very little of that year as well. 

2011 was largely dull except for the exceptionally dry April (no days with rain >1mm here and less than 1mm in total).

Winter of 2013-14 is forgotten due to the near total lack of snow. It was the first winter I ever recall here having no settling snow whatsoever, made more painful since the preceding winter was very snowy (and I recall Jan 2015 having a decent snowy period around mid month). 2012-2013 was the snowiest winter I have personally recorded, probably snowier than any winter since 1981. It would have been like getting Dec 2015 straight after December 2010, a massive contrast.

2006, 2013, 2014 & 2018 - all summers where the best weather happened in June/July before fading into a poor August.

I've also remembered that the 2006 winter had two late snowfalls on consecutive weekends in early March, the first appreciable falls (10cm+)  since Dec 2000. We frustratingly missed most of the second (ended with around 5cm), but Cumbria and Western Scotland got buried under +30cm widely (A mate in Dunblane had 50cm). This after North Wales had had loads of convective snow from a N'ly the preceding fortnight (Bren posted some amazing pics from near his mum & dad's)

2006 was a very decent year

If I'm allowed to include December 1962 then my most memorable year for weather has to be 1963, even though from March onwards nothing particularly notable happened. My most memorable summer is still 1976, for all of 2018's efforts. Of course 2018 did also have the Beast from the East, so ranks quite highly overall. I wish I'd been around in 1947 (except for the snag that it would mean that I'd have to be nearly 80 years old to remember it); not only that remarkable cold spell from late January that lasted until well into March, but also an exceptionally good summer. 

Hi Saint

Yeah, I too remember the snowfalls of March 2006. We had a particularly heavy fall in my location during the second weekend of that month which must rank as the heaviest fall I had seen in what is meteorogically speaking springtime, that is prior to the events of the end of Feb/start of March this year. I seem to recall that the March '06 snowfalls were preceded about 3 week long cold spell; it was in a lot of ways similar to the late Feb/early March 2005 cold spell although that one didn't produce any notably heavy snow where I live. From what I remember the weather in March '06 stayed predominantly cold until the final week of the month.

In 2002, there was a good deal of warm, sunny weather in June, August (although quite thundery too) and September here in Lowestoft, but with cool, wet spell sandwiched in between for much of July.