It's almost 12 am and is currently 24.3 c & 73% h outside (33.5 c in my famed west facing hobby room with a fan on full blast).

That's enough now, I'm waving the white flag on this Summer. 

 

Yes! it's still 20c here in Exeter at 0100am

I am getting fed up of +30c or above by day and temperatures not falling below 20c by night!

It's so uncomfortable. I don't like sleeping with the fan on but have no choice if I open window - there is no cool air to come in anyway as it's so still and oppressive!  

I wonder if somewhere in the UK will break the record for the warmest nighttime minimum!?

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From someone who works on the nature reserve on the marshes down the road from me - I agree with everything he says!

It's scorching hot, (the now daily 30 degrees plus), it's been bloody hot for weeks and shows little chance of not being bloody hot for the foreseeable future. It's not only hot, it's very humid with it and every bit of effort makes you break into a sweat and lastly, rain, proper soaking rain, just seems like something that other countries get.
As I look out of my bungalow window this afternoon, I'm looking at a distant heat haze that looks like a mist hanging over a grazing marsh that contains horses. Those poor animals are grazing their way across fields that are bright yellow, almost white, with no grass at all, just dry grass stalks.
In my garden, the regular dropping of apples from water starved apple bushes, is giving the Blackbirds something to feed from, there's very little else on offer. Their dreams of fat worms must be pretty much like ours of rain and plenty of it. And what of hedgehogs - no fat slugs, snails or worms in this dusty heat, things must be so hard for them.
The Swale National Nature reserve, on which I carry out my Volunteer Wardening, is just the same. It's official description is that of "an example of North Kent grazing marshes" - one that brings to mind  murky, boggy places, full of mists and wildfowl and Darwinian characters. At the moment it resembles a photo from some sun-baked African plain, with near dry and stinking ditches and cattle so desperate for sustenance that they are now plundering the tall reed beds of phragmites and with very little water that is drinkable.

(My lawn is still green - just, but the neighbour's pear tree that overhangs my garden is suffering somewhat and the hazel tree is shedding leaves due to lack of water...)

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From someone who works on the nature reserve on the marshes down the road from me - I agree with everything he says!

It's scorching hot, (the now daily 30 degrees plus), it's been bloody hot for weeks and shows little chance of not being bloody hot for the foreseeable future. It's not only hot, it's very humid with it and every bit of effort makes you break into a sweat and lastly, rain, proper soaking rain, just seems like something that other countries get.
As I look out of my bungalow window this afternoon, I'm looking at a distant heat haze that looks like a mist hanging over a grazing marsh that contains horses. Those poor animals are grazing their way across fields that are bright yellow, almost white, with no grass at all, just dry grass stalks.
In my garden, the regular dropping of apples from water starved apple bushes, is giving the Blackbirds something to feed from, there's very little else on offer. Their dreams of fat worms must be pretty much like ours of rain and plenty of it. And what of hedgehogs - no fat slugs, snails or worms in this dusty heat, things must be so hard for them.
The Swale National Nature reserve, on which I carry out my Volunteer Wardening, is just the same. It's official description is that of "an example of North Kent grazing marshes" - one that brings to mind  murky, boggy places, full of mists and wildfowl and Darwinian characters. At the moment it resembles a photo from some sun-baked African plain, with near dry and stinking ditches and cattle so desperate for sustenance that they are now plundering the tall reed beds of phragmites and with very little water that is drinkable.

(My lawn is still green - just, but the neighbour's pear tree that overhangs my garden is suffering somewhat and the hazel tree is shedding leaves due to lack of water...)

 Not much better here ,. Heat Humidity, Dust , flies . Like suicide month in Bulawayo

(My lawn is still green - just, but the neighbour's pear tree that overhangs my garden is suffering somewhat and the hazel tree is shedding leaves due to lack of water...)

Green? Mine hasn't been green since May, with the exception of a week or so in June. In fact with the amount of use the garden has been getting this year even the yellow grass is disappearing and it's now turning into a sort of bare hard-packed sandy desert area. 

But I love these sort of conditions. Maybe I should have been born in East Africa...

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Green? Mine hasn't been green since May, with the exception of a week or so in June. In fact with the amount of use the garden has been getting this year even the yellow grass is disappearing and it's now turning into a sort of bare hard-packed sandy desert area. 

But I love these sort of conditions. Maybe I should have been born in East Africa...

 

Different world up here.

We had the fringes of lawns/grassed areas yellowing in June, but then late June & July were washouts and everything is lush & green. There's a path I often go down when walking the dog. It's got trees & shrubs & brambles down each side and normally there's enough room for two people to walk side by side - and that was the case until early July. Since then, it's like it's been subjected to some terraforming experiment, with all the flora growing rampantly and becoming super-sized. It's a squeeze to fit one person down now.

We're probably not much more than 200 miles away from you, so the contrast of conditions in such a short distance is amazing.

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Different world up here.

We had the fringes of lawns/grassed areas yellowing in June, but then late June & July were washouts and everything is lush & green. There's a path I often go down when walking the dog. It's got trees & shrubs & brambles down each side and normally there's enough room for two people to walk side by side - and that was the case until early July. Since then, it's like it's been subjected to some terraforming experiment, with all the flora growing rampantly and becoming super-sized. It's a squeeze to fit one person down now.

We're probably not much more than 200 miles away from you, so the contrast of conditions in such a short distance is amazing.

 It's a squeeze to fit one person down now.

 Not the Lockdown Lovehandles then?

 Seriously though there has been an unusually marked difference in conditions a little further north with southern coastal areas from Devon to Kent being exceptionally dry and recently very much hotter.

  Seriously though there has been an unusually marked difference in conditions a little further north with southern coastal areas from Devon to Kent being exceptionally dry and recently very much hotter.

Too true - lawns etc totally baked here. In my youth the S Coast got thunderstorms and Scotland got drizzle - now it's Scotland with storm rainfall and the south in total drought

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Too true - lawns etc totally baked here. In my youth the S Coast got thunderstorms and Scotland got drizzle - now it's Scotland with storm rainfall and the south in total drought

Have to agree on this. The storms further north have been notable it seems from reading TWO and other media.

Thunder and lightning on this particular  part of the South Coast this summer and the last non existent so far. My summer rating for usable weather so far is up from 8/10 to 9/10 though that can change before the end of the month. I've never seen anything quite like the crowds late yesterday evening and heaving campsites on the coast on this part of Dorset. Incredible sight.

Today's forecast for the next day or so seems confident we'll see some electrical storms but only going up to 67% probability.

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Have to agree on this. The storms further north have been notable it seems from reading TWO and other media.

Thunder and lightning on this particular  part of the South Coast this summer and the last non existent so far. My summer rating for usable weather so far is up from 8/10 to 9/10 though that can change before the end of the month. I've never seen anything quite like the crowds late yesterday evening and heaving campsites on the coast on this part of Dorset. Incredible sight.

Today's forecast for the next day or so seems confident we'll see some electrical storms but only going up to 67% probability.

 Yes but the rubbish left behind is disgusting. Who are these people? yeah there will always be a bit of litter but what is going on now is different behaviour . They keep clearing up, but i would leave it a few weeks so the beaches get so disgusting the buggers will not come.

 

Too true - lawns etc totally baked here. In my youth the S Coast got thunderstorms and Scotland got drizzle - now it's Scotland with storm rainfall and the south in total drought

 Yet we have had the lions share of the heat and humidity. As you say storms coming over the channel after a hot muggy spell were the norm for southern coasts and also the spells of heavy thundery type rain which would occur. Something has altered .

 

 Yes but the rubbish left behind is disgusting. Who are these people? yeah there will always be a bit of litter but what is going on now is different behaviour . They keep clearing up, but i would leave it a few weeks so the beaches get so disgusting the buggers will not come.

The Magaluf Brigade on staycation

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 It's a squeeze to fit one person down now.

 Not the Lockdown Lovehandles then?

 Seriously though there has been an unusually marked difference in conditions a little further north with southern coastal areas from Devon to Kent being exceptionally dry and recently very much hotter.

Many parts of Surrey have also been very dry, I had 17mm in July and zero so far in August. 

 

Too true - lawns etc totally baked here. In my youth the S Coast got thunderstorms and Scotland got drizzle - now it's Scotland with storm rainfall and the south in total drought

My lawn barely even has any straw-like grass left on it now. It’s mostly dust. The five minute sprinkle of light rain today had vanished in minutes. 

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I’m due to go on holiday for a week and a half to my home in France next week. Ideal, because they hold on to some useable weather with high 20s and sunshine, while post-heatwave Britain drowns in days on end of dartboard low rain and crapness.

But no...French rona rates are up so the government are about to take France off the safe list and impose quarantine. Which means my children couldn’t go back to school in September, which means we don’t go on holiday.

Little staycation in Britain as a consolation? Not with the current forecast.

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It has been a really odd summer, it reminds me in some ways of summer 2004 

 

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
2020 187 (up to 11th Aug)
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

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I’m due to go on holiday for a week and a half to my home in France next week. Ideal, because they hold on to some useable weather with high 20s and sunshine, while post-heatwave Britain drowns in days on end of dartboard low rain and crapness.

But no...French rona rates are up so the government are about to take France off the safe list and impose quarantine. Which means my children couldn’t go back to school in September, which means we don’t go on holiday.

Little staycation in Britain as a consolation? Not with the current forecast.

I’d be tempted to go anyway. Another couple of weeks off school doesn’t mean much in the scheme of things!

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My experience is that of several other along the south and south coast.

In the spring I thought this would be a repeat of '76. June rather scuppered that... but every other month since lockdown has been like '76.

We've had bits and pieces of rain (so, I read, its technically neither a drought or a dry spell) and the grass is still greenish but in my book its a drought and the definitions not up to the task. Groundwater level is low and some trees like hazel, poplar and birch are shedding leaves.

Will it rain? Possibly. Will we get a serious storm? I doubt it. Will we see meaningful rain, hydrologically and vegetationally significant rain (another definition modern meteorology misses out on or can't figure out/don't get) no, I don't think it will until autumn, at the earliest.

Summer rating? Weather 7/10.

Storms rating? 2/10

'If you like summer rain' rating? 2/10

'It's been too bleedin' hot recently' rating? 10/10

'Everyone else gets better storms' rating? The usual 10/10

Summer farming rating (thanks June)? 5/10

 

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It has been a really odd summer, it reminds me in some ways of summer 2004 

 

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
2020 187 (up to 11th Aug)
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

 

Agree it's been odd, characterised by spells of set weather (both good and bad), and my perception is distorted by the Covid working-from-home-since-late-March think and the largely great spell of warm & dry (punctuated with only brief showery interludes) weather from roughly April to late June. Not all heatwave stuff, but I've many memories of BBQ lunches with the kids and days out to the coast in the sunshine. I also remember the night Liverpool won the League title, it being a warm and sultry evening and swigging celebratory beer in the hot tub till about 11pm. But the end of June and all of July was utter gash. I'll admit to being out of the country for a third of it on two trips (including for that last Friday), but what I was here for saw frequent days with at least some rain, a paucity of sunshine, distinctly average or below average temps, and damaging winds. I've enjoyed August, though - warm (hot the last couple of days) and mainly sunny, with some pyro displays on a night.

Taking the whole April-now period, I'd probably give an 8. For the June/July/Aug period so far, I'd give a 6 (which, if the models are right and the rest of Aug is a damp & frequently windy, will likely drop)

 

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Putrid revolting grey overcast garbage with spots of drizzle, light levels comparable to November. 94% humidity, very nasty.

Cant believe the huge contrast of 35c and clear blue skies yesterday to something as rotten as this

Putrid revolting grey overcast garbage with spots of drizzle, light levels comparable to November. 94% humidity, very nasty.

Cant believe the huge contrast of 35c and clear blue skies yesterday to something as rotten as this

Was forecast to 27C with sunshine because to reach 27C here is required by the sun to heat up but turnout to be Autumnal weather after the cloudy heatwave?  Surely never like this in other countries or in the past here we get proper storms after sunny days to finish off.  Just now the sun came out but temps already pass the warming up at is now 5pm so it will drop for the evening instead.