Been the best first half of summer that I can remember and it started at the beginning of May.

However, I do love thunderstorms and from this point of view it has been a disaster this year so far, worse than I have ever known. I have posted an article on the decline of thunder around this area as you are probably aware but we are into mid July and still nothing.

Yesterday was an example, we had heavy rain, it went really dark about 7.30pm and nothing regards to thunder and lightning. 

Last decent summer thunderstorm was 1st July 2015.

Thunder wise, it has been even worse than last year and that was bad. I can't see any thunder prospects for the rest of this summer. So unless we get some autumnal thunder, 2018 is going to be up there with 2010.

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Been personally extremely lucky thunderstorm wise this year. Was treated to a cracker on my second night in Switzerland in April, I arrived back in London on the evening of 26th May hours before it kicked off, had ringside seats for the amazing storm over Hertfordshire on the 27th. Arrived in Aberdeen hours before the breakdown on the 27th July which led to about 7 hours of storms.

Last decent summer thunderstorm was 1st July 2015.

Thunder wise, it has been even worse than last year and that was bad. I can't see any thunder prospects for the rest of this summer. So unless we get some autumnal thunder, 2018 is going to be up there with 2010.

I sympathise. Although there have been quite a number of thunderstorms across the southeast, they've been very local and have given Chichester a miss. There was one exception, but to add insult to injury, that was the evening we were on our way back from London and by the time we got home, the storm had moved over to Portsmouth.

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Last decent summer thunderstorm was 1st July 2015.

Thunder wise, it has been even worse than last year and that was bad. I can't see any thunder prospects for the rest of this summer. So unless we get some autumnal thunder, 2018 is going to be up there with 2010.

Last time I saw was June 2016 when I was living in Langley and was right over head our flat and how loud every time the thunder made.  It also knock off the internet service for a while.  Otherwise I haven't see any decent one since then.  Normally in Epsom area it averaged around 10 times per year and that usually come either May or June then 2-3 times in each July and August and once more in September.  Not often September and May get it but always around 10 per summer.  August is the month that i haven't seen any decent thunderstorms for many many years now due to coolness, always unsettled and bland.

This has to be the worst run of Sundays I can ever remember. Not just in summer but at any time of year. Actually don't know why I said that because this vile season is the only one where you get an endless run of dire dull, sunless weekend days. Any other time if year it's a mix of sunny/wet/cloudy/dry.

Yesterday was the only sunny weekend day in the entire second half of this summer and it was like a fine day in October. Max of only 15.4C and couldn't stay completely dry but that's still as good as it's got this month 

Today is a complete write-off like three out of the previous four Sundays. It's a putrid slice of November hell. Windy, cold and sunless. Just 11.2C. Had 0.6mm of drizzly rain and it looks set to get even worse later on

This has to be a contender for most abysmal summer day ever in the UK. I see nowhere on the latest satellite image that isn't under cloud cover which is just unreal for summer. On previous occasions when there's been something like this Shetland has been in clearer skies. God only knows what the highest sunshine total is going to be today.

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This has to be the worst run of Sundays I can ever remember. Not just in summer but at any time of year. Actually don't know why I said that because this vile season is the only one where you get an endless run of dire dull, sunless weekend days. Any other time if year it's a mix of sunny/wet/cloudy/dry.

Yesterday was the only sunny weekend day in the entire second half of this summer and it was like a fine day in October. Max of only 15.4C and couldn't stay completely dry but that's still as good as it's got this month 

Today is a complete write-off like three out of the previous four Sundays. It's a putrid slice of November hell. Windy, cold and sunless. Just 11.2C. Had 0.6mm of drizzly rain and it looks set to get even worse later on

This has to be a contender for most abysmal summer day ever in the UK. I see nowhere on the latest satellite image that isn't under cloud cover which is just unreal for summer. On previous occasions when there's been something like this Shetland has been in clearer skies. God only knows what the highest sunshine total is going to be today.

Northern Ireland should get a few hours later on this afternoon.

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This has to be the worst run of Sundays I can ever remember. Not just in summer but at any time of year. Actually don't know why I said that because this vile season is the only one where you get an endless run of dire dull, sunless weekend days. Any other time if year it's a mix of sunny/wet/cloudy/dry.

Yesterday was the only sunny weekend day in the entire second half of this summer and it was like a fine day in October. Max of only 15.4C and couldn't stay completely dry but that's still as good as it's got this month 

Today is a complete write-off like three out of the previous four Sundays. It's a putrid slice of November hell. Windy, cold and sunless. Just 11.2C. Had 0.6mm of drizzly rain and it looks set to get even worse later on

This has to be a contender for most abysmal summer day ever in the UK. I see nowhere on the latest satellite image that isn't under cloud cover which is just unreal for summer. On previous occasions when there's been something like this Shetland has been in clearer skies. God only knows what the highest sunshine total is going to be today.

I don't know what the weather was like for the UK as a whole, but on 3 June 2012 we had a max of 9C with heavy rain all day. You can't get worse than that in summer. Can't imagine it was much better elsewhere either.

Today will be dreadful but let's remember that this is the UK and horrendous summer days have not been in short supply throughout history.

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Looking at the satellites and models my bet would be for far Western Cornwall or possibly Pembrokeshire to get the most sunshine today. 2.5 hours I reckon.

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I don't know what the weather was like for the UK as a whole, but on 3 June 2012 we had a max of 9C with heavy rain all day. You can't get worse than that in summer. Can't imagine it was much better elsewhere either.

Today will be dreadful but let's remember that this is the UK and horrendous summer days have not been in short supply throughout history.

That is true but it's got to be unusual for every part of the country to be obliterated by cloud. Often on the worst days the sunniest parts tend to be places that normally get the worst weather such as Shetland or somewhere in the west of Scotland.

There was some sunny spells here on 3rd June 2012 but it was very cool. I recorded 6.9 hours of sun but a max of only 11.9C.

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Absolutely nasty afternoon! It's currently 10.6C under moderate rain at midday in late August! Can you get any worse than this for this time of year? It's almost a flashback to the deepest depths of summer 2012.

No doubt those on Netweather will be telling us what a wonderful afternoon it is though and how days like this are good for us all in summer.

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Absolutely nasty afternoon! It's currently 10.6C under moderate rain at midday in late August! Can you get any worse than this for this time of year? It's almost a flashback to the deepest depths of summer 2012.

No doubt those on Netweather will be telling us what a wonderful afternoon it is though and how days like this are good for us all in summer.

Having those temperatures today doesn't mean anything for winter in this country as those temps can reach similar levels by then. Just wasting time of what we got remaining summer season left.  

This has to be the worst run of Sundays I can ever remember. Not just in summer but at any time of year. Actually don't know why I said that because this vile season is the only one where you get an endless run of dire dull, sunless weekend days. Any other time if year it's a mix of sunny/wet/cloudy/dry.

Yesterday was the only sunny weekend day in the entire second half of this summer and it was like a fine day in October. Max of only 15.4C and couldn't stay completely dry but that's still as good as it's got this month 

Today is a complete write-off like three out of the previous four Sundays. It's a putrid slice of November hell. Windy, cold and sunless. Just 11.2C. Had 0.6mm of drizzly rain and it looks set to get even worse later on

This has to be a contender for most abysmal summer day ever in the UK. I see nowhere on the latest satellite image that isn't under cloud cover which is just unreal for summer. On previous occasions when there's been something like this Shetland has been in clearer skies. God only knows what the highest sunshine total is going to be today.

 

as I’ve said before if I’m attending an outdoor event I’d rather cloudy and 22c than sunny and 15c. The former is pleasantly warm enough for shorts and tshirt the other isn’t, and that’s how I personally measure a summer, mainly because I go to loads of outdoors events in the summer months all over the uk. Summer 2018 may not have delivered you many 14hr sunny days at the weekend but there been plenty of dry and warm ones. 

Local village GALA and car boot sale a total washout 1pm - 2pm - hardly any visitors and tents and gazebos having a good thrashing.
A day for wellies and waterproofs.
Roger

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Don't mind the rain as that'll be good for the lawn and am appreciating the freshness, but am already bored of this strong in-your-face southerly gale howling straight in from the Channel.

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as I’ve said before if I’m attending an outdoor event I’d rather cloudy and 22c than sunny and 15c. The former is pleasantly warm enough for shorts and tshirt the other isn’t, and that’s how I personally measure a summer, mainly because I go to loads of outdoors events in the summer months all over the uk. Summer 2018 may not have delivered you many 14hr sunny days at the weekend but there been plenty of dry and warm ones. 

That may be your preference but it certainly isn't mine. Had a great day yesterday. Spent most of it outdoors. Enjoyed a walk along St Andrews beach then caught some sun down at the harbour in Elie. Max was only 15.4C here but may have been a couple of degrees warmer down there. Miles better than last Saturday which had a maximum of 20.7C but was cloudy most of the day. Sat out for a brief period in the garden but as soon as the sun went it felt too cool and the grey skies were useless for photography.

It wasn't warm enough for shorts but then neither is 22C with overcast skies as far as I'm concerned.

In any case there has not been plenty of dry and warm weekends. It's rained every weekend in the second half. Here's a summary with the days I considered acceptable asterisked.

21st July: Overcast and cool with some drizzle. Max: 16.4C. Sun: 0.0hrs, Rain: 0.4mm

*22nd July: Hot and sunny morning but mainly overcast in the afternoon. Max: 27.6C, Sun: 6.3hrs, Rain:0mm

28th July: Wet and cool washout during the day. Sunny evening. Max: 17.7C, Sun: 5.2hrs, Rain: 10.4mm

29th July: Early morning sun then cool, wet washout. Max: 14.9C, Sun: 3.8hrs, Rain: 8.2mm

4th August: Warm but very little sun. Max: 21.8C, Sun:0.4hrs, Rain:0mm

*5th August: Warm with hazy sun, clouding over later with rain by late evening. Max: 20.8C, Sun: 6.0hrs, Rain: 0.2mm

11th August: Cool and mostly cloudy with some sunny spells. Max: 16.8C, Sun: 4.3hrs, Rain: 0mm

12th August: Cool, drizzly washout. Max: 15.2C, Sun: 0.9hrs, Rain: 1.2mm

18th August: Cloudy, warm when the sun appeared. Max: 20.7C, Sun: 1.7hrs, Rain:0mm

19th August: Cool, wet, washout. Max: 15.8C, Sun: 0.0hrs, Rain: 4.0mm

*25th August: Sunny but cool. A couple of light showers. Max: 15.4C, Sun: 12.1hrs, Rain: 0.4mm

26th August: Another Sunday washout. Max: 13.4C, Sun: 0.1hrs, Rain: 1.2mm (so far)

I'm struggling to see much warm weather amongst that. Below average temperatures on 8 of the 12 days and cloudy and wet too. A dismal run of extremely depressing weekends that could have come straight out summer 2007 or 2012. Disgusting 

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A sunny 15C day is certainly not good at all in summer and I will definitely take a cloudy 22C over that. Overcast skies and low 20s is good enough for shorts and t-shirts for me but sunny & 15C is just too cool, any kind of breeze negates the strength of the sun and makes it feel unpleasantly cool. Sunny 15C days are appreciated in the cooler months though.

But hey, we are all different.

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That 0.1 hours (which is 6 minutes) of sunshine which Richard has reported for Aberdeen is more than what we have had here in Edinburgh today with nothing at all in the way of sunshine, being recorded for today so far at Edinburgh Gogarbank as at 4pm this afternoon.

As at 4pm this afternoon, 4.2 mm of rain has fallen during today so far at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 3.2 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh. That doesn't even come close to being enough to keep this month in with a chance of being wetter than average at Edinburgh Gogarbank but this has been enough to ensure that it wetter today here in Edinburgh than what it was in Richard's neck of the woods where he has recorded 1.2 mm of rain up in Aberdeen.

Finally, today's maximum temperatures here in Edinburgh were 12.4°C at Edinburgh Gogarbank, 12°C at Edinburgh Airport and 12.7°C at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh. That makes today, the coldest day of this summer so far at all three of my local stations where it was also colder than the 13.4°C which Richard has reported in Aberdeen.

All in in, you have to say that I have actually had a worse end of the stick here in Edinburgh today, than what Richard has had in Aberdeen.

Furthermore, my records show that last year on Christmas Day, the temperature reached 13.1°C at Edinburgh Gogarbank and 13.7°C at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

For both of those stations, that is actually slightly warmer than what it has been today and given that Christmas Day falls within the winter with today being at the end of what is supposed to be our "summer", that just shows how ridiculously cold, today has been for this time of the year.

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That may be your preference but it certainly isn't mine. Had a great day yesterday. Spent most of it outdoors. Enjoyed a walk along St Andrews beach then caught some sun down at the harbour in Elie. Max was only 15.4C here but may have been a couple of degrees warmer down there. Miles better than last Saturday which had a maximum of 20.7C but was cloudy most of the day. Sat out for a brief period in the garden but as soon as the sun went it felt too cool and the grey skies were useless for photography.

It wasn't warm enough for shorts but then neither is 22C with overcast skies as far as I'm concerned.

In any case there has not been plenty of dry and warm weekends. It's rained every weekend in the second half. Here's a summary with the days I considered acceptable asterisked.

21st July: Overcast and cool with some drizzle. Max: 16.4C. Sun: 0.0hrs, Rain: 0.4mm

*22nd July: Hot and sunny morning but mainly overcast in the afternoon. Max: 27.6C, Sun: 6.3hrs, Rain:0mm

28th July: Wet and cool washout during the day. Sunny evening. Max: 17.7C, Sun: 5.2hrs, Rain: 10.4mm

29th July: Early morning sun then cool, wet washout. Max: 14.9C, Sun: 3.8hrs, Rain: 8.2mm

4th August: Warm but very little sun. Max: 21.8C, Sun:0.4hrs, Rain:0mm

*5th August: Warm with hazy sun, clouding over later with rain by late evening. Max: 20.8C, Sun: 6.0hrs, Rain: 0.2mm

11th August: Cool and mostly cloudy with some sunny spells. Max: 16.8C, Sun: 4.3hrs, Rain: 0mm

12th August: Cool, drizzly washout. Max: 15.2C, Sun: 0.9hrs, Rain: 1.2mm

18th August: Cloudy, warm when the sun appeared. Max: 20.7C, Sun: 1.7hrs, Rain:0mm

19th August: Cool, wet, washout. Max: 15.8C, Sun: 0.0hrs, Rain: 4.0mm

*25th August: Sunny but cool. A couple of light showers. Max: 15.4C, Sun: 12.1hrs, Rain: 0.4mm

26th August: Another Sunday washout. Max: 13.4C, Sun: 0.1hrs, Rain: 1.2mm (so far)

I'm struggling to see much warm weather amongst that. Below average temperatures on 8 of the 12 days and cloudy and wet too. A dismal run of extremely depressing weekends that could have come straight out summer 2007 or 2012. Disgusting 

 

If you want to claim days with 0.4 and 0.2mm of rain are somehow washout rain days then so be it. It's not worth the arguing. 22nd July was the warmest day of the summer and probably the warmest day in Aberdeen for several years, yet you wrote it off as a travesty at the time.

I suggest you move somewhere with better weather, the SE and London won't make you any happier as there are many many grey days down here even with Temps in the 20s and many towns on the sunny south coast pay for it to with significantly more rainfall than Aberdeen gets. Plus it gets dark a lot earlier down here even in high summer. You've already written off France... 

So, somewhere with at least, say, 9 hours of sunshine on an average summer day, rainfall below 50mm in summer months and maxes in the mid 20s at least? But long light evenings and late sunsets.

Only places I can think of that manage this are Vendee and Charente in France, Rias Baixas in Galicia (due to their cheating on the time zone) or the dry continental interiors of Western Canada and Russia.

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A sunny 15C day is certainly not good at all in summer and I will definitely take a cloudy 22C over that. Overcast skies and low 20s is good enough for shorts and t-shirts for me but sunny & 15C is just too cool, any kind of breeze negates the strength of the sun and makes it feel unpleasantly cool. Sunny 15C days are appreciated in the cooler months though.

But hey, we are all different.

Shorts wearing isn't a good indicator for me because other than at work and other occasions where they are clearly inappropriate I wear them all the time other than the coldest winter weather. Rather in the summer it's whether I wear a T-shirt with my shorts or need a light jacket as well. I seemed to have gone for about 2 months barely needing the jacket at all but recently it's been required quite a lot.

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