Manchester Summer Indices 

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
2011 179
1985 180
1958 184
1972 185
1916 188
1986 189
1965 189
2016 189
1910 190
1936 190
1988 191
2010 191
1966 192
1998 192
2017 192
1953 193
1963 194
1993 194
2009 194
1902 195
2019 195 (up to 12th August)
1915 196
1981 196
1928 197
1962 197
1964 197
2004 197
1952 198
2000 198
1930 199
1974 199
1979 199 

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After my moan yesterday morning about the showers, and it was pretty dreadful, conditions improved markedly into the afternoon. By mid/late afternoon it was really quite sunny.

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About 10 mins after I posted that, it started raining.

Another day chalked up for the 'it rained' column.

 

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No rain here yet though, and the Sun even briefly came out a short while ago when I was returning home from doing some shopping.

It was forecast to rain here today by around 12 noon and we're coming up to that time now. Furthermore, all of the model output as shown here at TWO was showing this area as being covered by rain by around this time.

Yet the rain radar maps are showing nothing in this vicinity in terms of any rainfall which might last for any length of time (only a nearby decaying shower is showing up nearby and nothing more than that).

This shows that the models and indeed, the forecasts have got it completely wrong for this time of the day in this part of the world. Whoever made up these forecasts and this model output should be taken account for that, and all of them in my books should be sacked immediately from that job and replaced by someone who can do that job properly.

 

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The post I quoted was about Monday. Don't get me started on Tuesday & Wednesday - both days riven with showers.

 

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Why is August honestly such a sh*tter of a month nowadays? Sick to death of dodging rain and showers and getting soaked everywhere I go. I'm not even bothered about the temperatures, I just want a dry, mostly sunny day.

Thank God I'm off to Toronto and then to New York this weekend. Hopefully I'll actually see a bit of "summer".

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I am starting to think we have had the wettest mid July-mid August period ever recorded for the region.

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Yet another grim , grey and drizzle filled evening from this horrible drizzlefest summer. Had to cut a bike ride short as it started drizzling and only just made it back in time last night before it started lashing.

The rain totals haven't been excessive here but it's raining or drizzling practically every day with very little sun and the unrelenting awful weekends mean you can't plan any days out.  Appalling summer weather that is depressing in the extreme 

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It’s been a mostly grey and drizzly day here too!  Not nice but I really can’t complain as we’ve seen very little rain since June.  

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Yes, August in today’s climate is an autumn month. I’m going to do some analysis of the stats to see what’s going on here. I know it’s one of only 2 months along with December with no significant warming trend (at least it was last time I looked). Yet July is getting to be almost predictably dry and warm in the SE.

Significantly warmer and sunnier Augusts than average since 2003 here in the SE: zero

Average-slightly warm and average sunshine 2005, 2009 at a push, 2013, 2016 if were being charitable. Dull most other years, and whilst never cold, rarely very warm and often very wet.

Then Septembers warm, dry and sunny year after year, with only a few exceptions.

I get the sense the same is true of much of Western Europe. Just chance, or some kind of long term pattern shift?

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Since 17th July and up to 13th August, a provisional rainfall total of around a staggering 174mm. I reckon it is has been the wettest mid July-mid August since at least 1931 for the NW England and N Wales region

Manchester Summer Indices 

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
2011 179
1985 180
1958 184
1972 185
1916 188
1986 189
1965 189
2016 189
1910 190
1936 190
1988 191
2010 191
1966 192
1998 192
2017 192
1953 193
1963 194
1993 194
2009 194
2019 194 (up to 14th August)
1902 195
1915 196
1981 196
1928 197
1962 197
1964 197
2004 197
1952 198
2000 198
1930 199
1974 199
1979 199 

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If I've counted correctly from Kevin's indices above, 9 of the last 13 years are in the top 40 worst summers 

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Simple Summer Index 2001-2018 by Whether Idle
Year	Manston	Bradford	Glasgow	London	Lerwick	Eastbourne	Yeovilton	Armagh	Stornoway
2001	66.4	50.8	45.2	65.5	33.2	68.8	61.3	45.3	40.2
2002	64.4	47.0	43.5	58.3	39.6	62.7	57.0	42.3	37.0
2003	74.1	52.8	51.6	69.9	43.8	72.6	62.1	50.4	39.1
2004	60.3	46.1	44.9	62.0	42.3	64.7	56.2	47.4	38.7
2005	65.4	51.7	51.7	61.4	34.2	70.7	63.0	45.7	34.8
2006	70.1	57.0	57.4	65.8	40.0	70.9	67.6	52.8	42.9
2007	59.1	46.9	45.8	51.7	35.4	61.8	51.6	41.4	39.7
2008	65.8	43.1	42.5	54.2	38.2	60.0	49.0	40.6	39.1
2009	68.5	49.4	46.9	56.2	44.7	67.5	51.1	47.0	40.6
2010	62.6	49.6	48.5	59.3	35.4	66.2	60.4	48.0	36.1
2011	59.7	54.0	48.7	53.3	36.3	63.8	49.0	44.4	37.8
2012	55.1	41.1	42.1	49.7	36.7	58.7	44.0	38.4	39.1
2013	62.3	58.4	57.3	65.9	37.8	68.4	63.8	55.6	42.7
2014	62.1	53.7	55.2	62.4	37.2	62.8	60.8	48.0	42.7
2015	56.0	50.6	45.0	56.9	30.9	60.4	57.0	44.0	30.7
2016	63.8	48.9	43.0	57.9	38.4	61.7	57.1	42.2	34.8
2017	65.4	47.5	37.2	59.5	36.0	67.2	54.6	41.5	40.1
2018	74.7	62.8	55.7	72.8	39.9	73.8	66.6	53.3	39.4
mean	64.2	50.6	47.9	60.1	37.8	65.7	57.3	46.0	38.6	All stations	52.0
median	64.1	50.1	46.3	59.4	37.5	65.4	57.1	45.5	39.1	51.6

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I'm getting the impression from reading other posts that it hasn't been a great summer over most of the UK, save for a few areas that have been a bit more fortunate.

What has let this summer down for me in terms of my area has been the lack of any sustained settled spell. We haven't had a fully dry week here going all the way back to the start of June, and it has seemed that rain has never been too far away. Even the week of the record-breaking mini-heatwave in late July was not a completely settled affair, and since that spell ended the weather seems to have been worse in a lot of areas than it was previously.

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The weather this August is just a mess. I'm in the process of moving house and I got absolutely soaked every time I stepped outside to fill the van yesterday and again this morning. It's been cold, wet, blustery and miserable. 

There have been some poor days here this month but also a larger number of warm days with above average temperatures. Overall average but a bit wet.

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And it still managed to give some light showers this afternoon FFS. Despite the promise of a fine afternoon it still rained. Somehow we are still dealing with the last of the showers from the departing low pressure, mere hours before the cloud shield from the next one inexorably moves moves in. Normally you might get a half decent day from a transient ridge like this but but not this time. Some sun earlier in the afternoon but just cloud now. Pathetic.

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The way I’m reading this, it was the North West around Manchester that came off worst!  The best of summer weather is usually reserved mainly for the South East but I think East Anglia and the Midlands have done well this year.  I know I certainly have!  

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Manchester Summer Indices 

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
2011 179
1985 180
1958 184
1972 185
1916 188
1986 189
1965 189
2016 189
1910 190
1936 190
1988 191
2010 191
1966 192
1998 192
2017 192
1953 193
2019 193 (up to 15th August)
1963 194
1993 194
2009 194
1902 195
1915 196
1981 196
1928 197
1962 197
1964 197
2004 197
1952 198
2000 198
1930 199
1974 199
1979 199 

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Spot on.  I predicted as much earlier in the year that August would turn out like this in my post about how short summer would feel.  No great acheivement, as August is always like this now.  I think to get a hot August in 'todays' climate would be a freak incident.

 

Amazing that this is the second warmest month statistically, considering all the cloud and rain.

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This last week or so isn't turning out to be as bad as it had been forecast to be, at least in terms in rainfall. I know that in recent days, there has been some recent hints in the model output of possibly some warmer and drier weather towards the end of next week in particular due to high pressure starting to take more of a foothold.

Despite the current "unsettled" pattern of weather which we are in just now though, I would say that this drying up process has probably already started here as it has certainly been nowhere near as wet here over the last week as what it had been leading up to that.

The rain which was forecast for Tuesday/Wednesday virtually failed to materialise here and even though today was forecast to be the worst day of this week, it still hasn't been raining with any sort of conviction here during today with amounts being very small because of that (those amounts as at 10am this morning were 1.6 mm at Edinburgh Gogarbank and just 0.6 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh) and it's not even raining here at all as I write (in fact, the Sun has even just briefly appeared).

Sunshine totals have continued to be disappointing though just recently but even with that, we have had a couple of sunny days just recently with 9.4 hours of sunshine being recorded at Edinburgh Gogarbank on Tuesday and with 8.0 hours of sunshine being recorded there during yesterday. This means that if that better weather from next week as has been hinted by the models was to verify, that would put us in with a chance of getting way with a sunnier than average month overall and if that happens, this will then mean that two out of three of this year's summer months will have been sunnier than average overall.

Recent days haven't been all that warm here, but this month is still running a bit warmer than average. July in particular, was another warmer than average though not to the same extent as last year despite the fact that we had our hottest day on record here in Edinburgh during that month. Nevertheless, this does mean that this summer as a whole is still running warmer than average.

When you add of this together and remove from the overall picture, the fact that it has been so wet at times with some flooding, there isn't really too much to complain about as far as this summer is concerned in this part of the world especially since this has probably been our best summer for thunderstorms which I can remember in my lifetime.

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I agree with much of the sentiment expressed here, however there are a few years to consider as being  significantly warmer and sunnier than the LTA in the SE quadrant, namely: 2009, 2013, 2016   - https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-actual-and-anomaly-maps see average mean maxima and sunshine for the SE.  Depends on your definition of "significant" I suppose...

August has overtaken June (which has undergone a renaissance) as the underperformer.  But the wheel of fortune turns and its time will come again.

WI

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This summer reminds me at times in terms of rainfall of a combination of summer 2007 for intensity and 2012 for prolongedness.

Provisional rainfall figures of 182mm for 17th July-14th August is just ridiculous!

Already over 300mm of rainfall for this summer up to the 14th August and there was a 3 week period in the middle when only about 8mm fell!

 

 

 

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Pressure, rainfall and sunshine anomalies do suggest this month (Aug 2019) is is more akin to a very warm autumn month than a typical summer one.

http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/~brugge/CURR.html 

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And then, just when I think the models are aligning on a settled and pleasant end to August (I'm int' Yaaarksher Dales last week of Aug), they now begin to diverge and suggest more unsettled crap.

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