Originally Posted by: richardabdn

One of the main disadvantages of Summer Indices are they fail to take into account the 'Weekend Curse'. So often we see fine weather restricted to weekdays and the weekends are awful which is useless to those of us who work regular hours. This is purely a summer phenomenon. July 2019 and August 2018 were perfect examples of that. Seemed fairly average/mediocre on paper but because of the 'Weekend Curse' felt like utter garbage.

This month has been utter garbage no matter how you look at it. Pretty much zero decent weather whatsoever. Today was another vile day - drizzled all day long for a total of 1.4mm and this is what we are seeing constantly. Day after day of November like drizzle and light rain that is not adding up to much but is just completely writing off the summer. Intense downpours and thunder would produce higher rain totals but would, at least, feel more like summer than this grim rubbish.

10 days in a row of measurable rainfall and no end in sight so could potentially even beat the ridiculous stretch of 14 consecutive rain days from 21st June to 4th July 2012 which is the longest I have recorded in summer over the past 14 years. If that were to happen it would assure this summers place as one of the most dismally unsettled of all time. Only the very sunny second half of June has saved it from being exceptionally dull as well like so many since 2007.

I think that is a perception of the weather pattern rather than a measurable phenomenon. Doubtless it is possible to get a short run of "unlucky" cycles where the weekends have worse weather but this is just a coincidence and over the long term it all averages out.

If this were real there would be a known long term 7 day cycle with quantifiable data and a cause.

The weekend curse is a valid point when it comes to human perception, which is more about the amount of usable weather we get in our free time!  It hasn’t really applied to me as I work short hours in the summer and have had time to enjoy many weekdays in the garden this year hence, it’s been a good summer for me.  Which is probably why human experience can be at odds with stats.  

On the other hand, stats don’t change once they’ve been recorded, whereas memory is unreliable.  When I were a lass, summers were sunnier and winters were snowier!  Actually, they weren’t but I remember the odd special occasion when the weather sticks in my mind and that clouds my judgement.  

The most extreme weather has been during my adult life, not my childhood.  In June 2007, the local river flooded for the first time in my life.  We had the heaviest and longest lasting snow in 2010, although I experienced the sixties winters.  Summer 2018 was one of the best, although I experienced 1976 and 1959.  July 25th 2019 broke temperature records here and this summer will go down in my memory as a very good one because there were so many usable days. 

I don't like this Moaning and gloating thread. thread. Haven't had much chance to do any mooning with all the rain of late.

Originally Posted by: ARTzeman

I don't like this Moaning and gloating thread. thread. Haven't had much chance to do any mooning with all the rain of late.

Well, it won't be long now before it will be time to start the autumn moaning thread (I see that Netweather have already started their autumn moaning thread, having done so back in July). Once that it comes to that time, that would probably just be a moaning thread as I would expect there to be too many reasons for gloating there.

Nice day, with only a few spots of rain this morning.

Even managed a BBQ tonight.

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
2019 191 (up to 19th August)
1966 192
1998 192
2017 192
1953 193
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 

Not been that bad here really over the past week - a couple of days were washouts but the rest were decent with only a few showers and sunny spells with temperatures of 19-20C which is a bit below average but could be worse. Rainfall is sitting at around 43-44mm here, which isn’t bad at all when the LTA for August here is 58mm. 

This month should finish comfortably warmer than average based on the current warm output. Not dissimilar to last August really but probably cloudier. Even warm summer months in recent years have tended to be rather cloudy.

Edited by user 20 August 2019 20:19:27(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Latest from Manston for August thus far... 18.0 mean, (+0.2) average max 22.3, 46mm of rain, sunshine disappointing at 127 hours.

So far then,  slightly warmer and drier than average but a dearth of sunshine, though the next 10 days may alter that stat in particular.

A level 2 heatwave alert is in place for East of England and South East England - London is not part of the warning where they remain on level 1

Current watch level: Level 2 - Alert and Readiness

Issued at: 09:26 on Wed 21 Aug 2019

There is a 70 % probability of heat health criteria being met between 1800 on Saturday and 0900 on Tuesday in parts of England.

High pressure will start to build over the south of England, allowing temperatures to gradually rise into the weekend, with the warmest temperatures in the south and east of England. Maximum temperatures on Saturday are likely to be near the threshold, but then a warm night is expected on Saturday night, with temperatures reaching thresholds from Saturday evening and onwards into the Bank Holiday weekend.

An update will be issued when the alert level changes in any region. Alerts are issued once a day by 0900 if required and are not subject to amendment in between standard issue times. Note that the details of the forecast weather are valid at the time of issue but may change over the period that an alert remains in force. These details will not be updated here unless the alert level also changes, the latest forecast details can be obtained at the following link: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/#?tab=map 

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/heat-health/#?tab=heatHealth