It really isn't. Parts of it (such as Sheppey) have only had small amounts of rain over the past three weeks, the sort of thing where you may have a heavy downpour for 5 minutes, then it stops and dries out.

It was the same at the wolf centre near Reading last week, four miles of walking along fields and through wooded areas and it was just fine - no visible puddles, for example.

What's worth mentioning is that some areas (localised) have had absolutely tons. Your 35mm, for example, over two days, is more than I've had here in three weeks... and I'm not many miles away from your field!

You are obviously very lucky. Here in SE London, a mile from the Thames so by no means up in the hills, it has rained every day since last Sunday and the street I live on looks like November, with fallen detritus turning to damp compost on the pavement and big puddles that haven’t evaporated in many days. 

Clearly Sheppey is the place to be.

 

I was over in Dublin during the early part of the autumn back in 2010.

I know that because Dublin is on Ireland's east coast, it is one of the driest places in Ireland on average with rainfall totals which are not dissimilar to what we get here in Edinburgh, so it has probably been rather unusual for it to actually have been drier where you are during this summer.

I'm sure that it is also very unusual for it to be hotter in the Republic of Ireland than what it is here in the UK as was the case not long ago I do know that Northern Ireland recently had its hottest day on record. I don't know how hot the Republic of Ireland was at at that time. On average, I would normally expect the Republic of Ireland to be hotter than Northern Ireland for the very same reasons that I would normally expect England to be hotter than Scotland on average (.e. as a result of the Republic of Ireland being further south) but as we all know full well here in the UK, our weather doesn't always necessarily work in that way.

I would certainly agree that Ireland has probably been one of the best places to be during this summer if it is decent weather that you are after but then, that 30+°C heat which occurred fairly recently over there, at least in Northern Ireland would probably have been a bit too hot for my liking.

 

It was a curious heatwave to be sure. 10 days running of intense temperatures, yet no records broken here in the Republic as far as I know, yet the NI record was broken 2 or 3 times, with the last one in Castlederg being just a hop, jump and skip away from 'the border'. 

I am not sure that we were, in real terms, hotter than the UK (or more precisely, GB) as I believe higher temps were recorded over there during that spell which wouldn't be unusual, but in terms of longevity of the heatwave, I do think we bore the brunt. 

 

Rainfall totals  are a bit misleading when assessing the feel of the weather. For instance I recorded more rain last month than in July 2020, but there was double the sunshine and max temps over 3c higher. The Manchester summer index provides a useful comparative tool as it uses rain days.

Sorry for discussing the weather in the cricket thread, but the only other test abandoned without a ball bowled in this country was in 1890; also at Old Trafford.

I would agree, especially when creating a 'summer index'. I have always though that rainfall duration was more important than absolute amounts for such a calculation. You could have 5mm falling in light showers/drizzle all day in cloudy conditions or 5mm in a relatively brief heavy shower in the evening after a warm & sunny day. Same absolute rainfall amont, very different feel to the day. Unfortunately I have never seen rainfall duration quoted, I guess few (if any) stations actually report this.

 

I would agree, especially when creating a 'summer index'. I have always though that rainfall duration was more important than absolute amounts for such a calculation. You could have 5mm falling in light showers/drizzle all day in cloudy conditions or 5mm in a relatively brief heavy shower in the evening after a warm & sunny day. Same absolute rainfall amont, very different feel to the day. Unfortunately I have never seen rainfall duration quoted, I guess few (if any) stations actually report this.

I think it depends. If you're comparing a month of 20 rain days each of which averages 2mm then that is clearly worse than a month where 65mm falls over 3 days. However, in a relatively settled month there's a ig difference between say 6 rain days delivering 5mm a day, and 4 rain days each giving 20mm. The former probably gives you parched landscapes and wilting borders, the latter verdant landscapes and muddy puddles.  

 

 

What the hell have I done to deserve this?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn9E5i7l-Eg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn9E5i7l-Eg

Great tune! 

So here it is: a truly remarkable chart showing geopotential height anomalies during July across Europe. That shallow low hanging around the near continent is really clear to see.

France had a mare. Southern England just caught the edge of it.

And here are temperature anomalies.

Manchester Summer Indices

Summers in order with the best at the top and the worst at the bottom

1976 301

1995 298

1983 278

1955 277

1911 274

2018 272

1984 271

1959 269

1975 268

1949 267

1989 262

1947 255

1933 251

1901 249

1921 249

2003 247

2013 247

1925 246

2006 246

2021 246 (up to 1st Aug)

1996 245

1935 243

1994 240

If the rest of the August has zero sunshine, rain days everyday and a mean max of 15C, the index will be about 187.

Chilly start this morning down to 5.7C

We are currently potentially in the longest consecutive run of 16C + summer CETs in the entire record. From 2016-20 there were 5 such summers, beating both 2003-6 and 1778-81 (both 4). It looks possible that the run could stretch to 6 if only we could get the uncertain warm run.

Spare a thought for us here in south central France (Massif Central). The weather is shite and we have only managed around 10 -15 properly warm and sunny days since the end of April. 14 degrees today and overcast and gloomy.

Manchester Summer Indices. Summers in order with the best at the top and the worst at the bottom

1976 301

1995 298

1983 278

1955 277

1911 274

2018 272

1984 271

1959 269

1975 268

1949 267

1989 262

1947 255

1933 251

1901 249

1921 249

2021 248 (up to 3rd Aug)

2003 247

2013 247

1925 246

2006 246

1996 245

1935 243

1994 240

Back to square one with more utterly revolting crap off the North Sea while the rest of the country gets convective activity with some sunny spells 

Miserable, depressing wet murky GARBAGE. Yet another day imprisoned in the house and unable to leave. So dark this morning it felt like winter already 

This is a description of the climate from the 1950s :

"It is wrong to say that Aberdeenshire has an "east-windy" climate, but it is a fact that much of the county's bad weather, both in summer and winter, is associated with winds having an easterly component"

That is not something we can say now. Obviously I mean the first part as nothing has changed with regard to the second part 

Used to be that with low pressure systems the wind would start in the W/SW leaving us dry. As the low pressure crossed the wind would switch to E/SE giving a period of rain which would clear and the wind switch back to a W/SW direction.

Since 2007 the low pressures cross to the south giving wind from the east the entire time and giving rise to horrific levels of utterly depressing and horrifying gloom. Rain preceeded by, and followed by, fog and murk with appalling visibility and low diurnal ranges that wouldn't have been conceivable in summer before 

If August gets less than 140 hours sun then this will replace last year as the dullest July/August combination since 2012. Considering that July only just managed to exceed it, despite having a brilliantly sunny spell mid-month, the ongoing easterly nightmare, that won't relent, should make that very achievable.

Back to square one with more utterly revolting crap off the North Sea while the rest of the country gets convective activity with some sunny spells 

...

I wouldn't exactly say that there was too much in the way of sunny spells here in Edinburgh though.

As at 5pm this evening, a total of just 36 minutes of sunshine was recorded for the whole of today at Edinburgh Gogarbank which is absolutely atrocious for this time of the year.

That comes on top of the total of just 18 minutes of sunshine which was recorded there for the whole of yesterday,, so our total for over two whole days adds up to less than a single hour of sunshine which is already starting to make our sunny start to this month seem like a very distant memory.

In fact, it is actually quite dark here as I write despite the fact that we are still over three hours away from sunset.

Have some sympathy for me. I'm due to spend a week in western Scotland from next Saturday and it looks a washout. I'd been hoping to have a day kayaking in the sunshine, another hiring out a motorboat to explore the loch, and another exploring a couple of beaches on the West Coast with a nice swim in pristine sea.

But 7 days in a lodge playing on the Playstation whilst getting increasingly angry at wasting a couple of grand is the more likely scenario.

Given how many/most people are holidaying in the UK this year, good weather during the kids' school summer holidays would have done wonders for repeat booking next year.

As it is, there's going to be a clamour for foreign holidays again for 2022.

I certainly won't be having my main holiday in this forsaken country in the near future. The climate is absolutely shocking. Every holiday here is like trying to throw a dice to hit a 6 or it's kaput.

Have some sympathy for me. I'm due to spend a week in western Scotland from next Saturday and it looks a washout. I'd been hoping to have a day kayaking in the sunshine, another hiring out a motorboat to explore the loch, and another exploring a couple of beaches on the West Coast with a nice swim in pristine sea.

But 7 days in a lodge playing on the Playstation whilst getting increasingly angry at wasting a couple of grand is the more likely scenario.

 

Given how many/most people are holidaying in the UK this year, good weather during the kids' school summer holidays would have done wonders for repeat booking next year.

As it is, there's going to be a clamour for foreign holidays again for 2022.

I certainly won't be having my main holiday in this forsaken country in the near future. The climate is absolutely shocking. Every holiday here is like trying to throw a dice to hit a 6 or it's kaput.

 

 

 Eh?

 You can Kayak in the rain , go out on a motorboat in the rain , go to the beach and swim in the rain and sit indoors and watch the rain which you cannot do if it is dry.

 Bloody whinger

 

 Eh?

 You can Kayak in the rain , go out on a motorboat in the rain , go to the beach and swim in the rain and sit indoors and watch the rain which you cannot do if it is dry.

 Bloody whinger

What a pointless post 

I could also squeeze my plums in a vice till they pop, but I wouldn't want to. 

 

 Eh?

 You can Kayak in the rain , go out on a motorboat in the rain , go to the beach and swim in the rain and sit indoors and watch the rain which you cannot do if it is dry.

 Bloody whinger

.. plus you get the benefit of actually being able to witness some interesting weather which is something which we generally get very little of here in Edinburgh.

 

.. plus you get the benefit of actually being able to witness some interesting weather which is something which we generally get very little of here in Edinburgh.

 

One man's 'interesting' is another man's 'well that ruins my holiday entirely'

Give me two summer months of 'boring' dry, sunny and warm any day. 'Interesting' (ie, unsettled) weather can happen all it likes in spring and autumn. Of course, 'very interesting' in winter is deep snow and sub-zero for weeks on end.