Moomins father was wrong, with respect.  I remember 1976 very well.  It would be difficult to slide a cigarette paper between the two from a laymans point of view.  Mind you, It depends where you are in the country. 

The impacts of the 1976 summer were amplified by the country already being in a period of below-average rainfall (1975 had been dry as well, as had the winter/spring of '76)

1995 often gets missed out when talking about the best summers. I was only 4 and a half in the 76 summer, so can't really compare, but 95 was the best one I do remember. Only 2018 runs it close. The others mentioned (03 and 06) weren't consistently good - 03 had a two or three spells of 1-3 weeks interspersed with pretty ordinary gunk; once the 06 heatwave broke, late July and all of August were poor.

Both 2013 and 2014 summer had great spells in June/July.

 

 

The impacts of the 1976 summer were amplified by the country already being in a period of below-average rainfall (1975 had been dry as well, as had the winter/spring of '76)

1995 often gets missed out when talking about the best summers. I was only 4 and a half in the 76 summer, so can't really compare, but 95 was the best one I do remember. Only 2018 runs it close. The others mentioned (03 and 06) weren't consistently good - 03 had a two or three spells of 1-3 weeks interspersed with pretty ordinary gunk; once the 06 heatwave broke, late July and all of August were poor.

Both 2013 and 2014 summer had great spells in June/July.

1995 was the best summer, full stop. I was 18 years old. It was hot and dry. The music was good. Everything was good. Summer should try to be more 1995.

(Except September, that was crap).

 

1995 was the best summer, full stop. I was 18 years old. It was hot and dry. The music was good. Everything was good. Summer should try to be more 1995.

(Except September, that was crap).

1995 I was 23 - and that hot spell propelled me into fulltrade union activism 

For anyone familiar with the Civil Service, I was already on the Whitley Committe for the office, and my annoyance about the inaction of the main union rep in trying to get management to address us having to work in temps over 90f (no air-con, huge panes of single-galzed windows) led to him resigning and me being elected [unopposed ] as union rep.

And AFAIC, September can be a chilly washout if we've just had a glorious July/August.

 

1995 was the best summer, full stop. I was 18 years old. It was hot and dry. The music was good. Everything was good. Summer should try to be more 1995.

(Except September, that was crap).

 Shite more like

 

 

 

1995 I was 23 - and that hot spell propelled me into fulltrade union activism 

For anyone familiar with the Civil Service, I was already on the Whitley Committe for the office, and my annoyance about the inaction of the main union rep in trying to get management to address us having to work in temps over 90f (no air-con, huge panes of single-galzed windows) led to him resigning and me being elected [unopposed ] as union rep.

 

And AFAIC, September can be a chilly washout if we've just had a glorious July/August.

 You should have worn a hat,.. no you really should.

The GFS 6z is a real crapfest 

This continues the general theme of GFS and ECM, which have both been decreasing the influence on the UK of the AH (which had repositioned northwards)

Instead, the general theme has become low pressure just to the north or over the UK. Winds from W'ly to NNw'ly ()

Worst the output has been for several days.

 

 

The impacts of the 1976 summer were amplified by the country already being in a period of below-average rainfall (1975 had been dry as well, as had the winter/spring of '76)

1995 often gets missed out when talking about the best summers. I was only 4 and a half in the 76 summer, so can't really compare, but 95 was the best one I do remember. Only 2018 runs it close. The others mentioned (03 and 06) weren't consistently good - 03 had a two or three spells of 1-3 weeks interspersed with pretty ordinary gunk; once the 06 heatwave broke, late July and all of August were poor.

Both 2013 and 2014 summer had great spells in June/July.

That is exactly what is happening just now.

Last summer was a lot drier than average and also warmer and sunnier than what this summer has been overall so far in this part of the world. However, that was preceded by the exceptionally wet winter of 2020-21 which also brought us quite a bit of snow as that was also a relatively cold winter.

As a result, our overall water supplies were decent enough see us through that dry summer last year without us having to worry about any water shortages or restrictions as was the case back in 1975. That is why I didn't even discuss that issue here last year because there was no need to as a result.

Since then though, we then had a much drier than average autumn (with last October being its only wetter than average month) and that February of this year was very wet here, that wasn't enough to prevent last winter as a whole from also being drier than average with that in turn, then being followed yet another exceptionally dry spring.

Such an almost constant dry pattern of weather can't be sustained forever without at the least, the risk of water shortages and/or hosepipe bans and it was shown back in the mid-70s with those resultant hosepipe bans in 1976 that you only really need to be in the second year of such a growing rainfall deficit for the risks of those things happening to come into play.

That is sadly where we are just now, and that is why I remain convinced that unlike there is a significant increase in our rainfall amounts very soon, water shortages and/or restrictions are coming here, and will come very soon to these parts which is why SEPA are already advising us to be very careful about the amount of water which we are using.

Meanwhile back on topic, I see nothing in the model output which will convince me for now at least, that such a change in our weather pattern is going to arrive here any time soon. I have seen some output which suggests that the general outlook in the longer term is more unsettled, but that is all in the unreliable time frame.

That is a place where we have been to on countless occasions in recent times, only for that unsettled weather to either not happen, or fir it to end up being so brief that it ends up not even the least bit significant. That is why I am never going to buy into any such predictions from the model output until I see some actual evidence that our rainfall totals are actually recovering back to what we should be expecting here in the longer term at the very least.

 

1995 was the best summer, full stop. I was 18 years old. It was hot and dry. The music was good. Everything was good. Summer should try to be more 1995.

Agree with all the above. I was also 18 and it was a cracking summer.

Was 1991 a good summer, statistically speaking? (where's Kev Bradshaw these days??)

Have a lot of 'adventure' memories where the weather was good. It was what I look back on as the 'rave summer'.

Some good memories of 1990, too, with spells of warm, sunny weather.

I was 18 in 1976 and has to be the best summer of the 20th century . I had the whole summer off before starting work  lived in the south west midlands ar the time which was a regular hotspot that time  . 2 weeks or so of 32  plus somewhere in UK  every day  the peak coinciding with Wimbledon.   1995 runs it close as does 2018 . 1975 was also a very hot summer and often overshadowed by 76 . The rest of the 70s Summers before and after were awful !

Was 1991 a good summer, statistically speaking? (where's Kev Bradshaw these days??)

Have a lot of 'adventure' memories where the weather was good. It was what I look back on as the 'rave summer'.

Some good memories of 1990, too, with spells of warm, sunny weather.

Good question. I don't think he's posted on here for a while but I do know that he's still uploading his daily time-lapse videos on YouTube.

Just lately, he's been doing some overnight time-lapses which look really spectacular because tonight will be the shortest night and of course, the nights at this time of the year are so short that twilight lasts all night just now.

 

Agree with all the above. I was also 18 and it was a cracking summer.

I could put up with a 1995 summer, as long as we had the easterly and exceptional cold the following winter!

Moomins father was wrong, with respect.  I remember 1976 very well.  It would be difficult to slide a cigarette paper between the two from a laymans point of view.  Mind you, It depends where you are in the country. 

Very much so. My 1976 summer was schizophrenic, weatherwise. We'd moved house from Manchester to Kent at Whitsun, to fit in with the house sales chain, but I had to finish the term teaching in Manchester, and commuted south at weekends to keep up with the family.

There was a distinct contrast, and that's an understatement. Manchester had average or just above temps, reasonable amounts of sunshine and occasional rain, and the grass stayed green. Weekends in Kent were boiling hot, too much sunshine (yes, that's possible)  no rain bar one brief thunderstorm, and everywhere was baked brown.

I have 1989 i Kent down as a hot dry summer, and also remember the contrast in 1990 between a green norway as weleft by air and a brown Heathrow as we descended to London. 1995? Not so much - perhaps we were pleased to have some warm weather by contrast with Iceland where we had been end of May, and found the roads still blocked by snow

Weekend washout is now looking highly likely, particularly Saturday, with some torrential rain modelled. After that, generally very unsettled and cool.

Agreed, just seen the GFS 12z and I don't see how anyone could argue that it looks hot and settled. And I know it's just one run and all that but you have to be careful on here as a lot of people take offense if you suggest the weather will be anything other than warm/hot in the Summer!

Weekend washout is now looking highly likely, particularly Saturday, with some torrential rain modelled. After that, generally very unsettled and cool.

And before then in the more reliable period? 

Yes, what a frustrating week of weather to come really - glorious with lots of pleasantly warm sunshine until Friday, then a total washout looking likely for Saturday and Sunday. I'm sure the weather gods like to have a laugh sometimes. Let's hope the models backtrack on that one to more of a sunshine and showers situation instead.

Beyond that though, it's anyone's guess. The GFS looks a lot more unsettled than of late, though it looks like it will be more of the typical NW-SE split-type weather. Also the heat on the continent is never too far away and it wouldn't really take much to drag some of it our way again, so another push of hot weather can't be ruled out yet.

 

And before then in the more reliable period? 

All downhill from Friday onwards. Friday is semi reliable at least, and given all models are showing more or less the same, and have been doing for several runs, its pretty nailed on.

Look to July and hopefully an improvement, but last week of June (Wimbledon starts of course) look decidedly cool and unsettled.

 

Agreed, just seen the GFS 12z and I don't see how anyone could argue that it looks hot and settled. And I know it's just one run and all that but you have to be careful on here as a lot of people take offense if you suggest the weather will be anything other than warm/hot in the Summer!

Think we need to accept the inevitable.

UK Met 12z looks dry in much of central and eastern England on Saturday.

https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twodata/ukmetuk.aspx?run=12&charthour=123&chartname=precip_type&chartregion=uk-region&charttag=Precip%20type