... and of course, there was never any chance of Richard mentioning that.

Does Richard ever mention anything positive about Aberdeen's weather?!

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Does Richard ever mention anything positive about Aberdeen's weather?!

To be fair, he did give quite a positive account of his weather during yesterday morning in yesterday's CC thread.

However, these are always very rare and very few and far between and so, there is probably as much chance of Richard posting something positive on this forum as a result, as there is of me actually experiencing some "interesting" weather here in Edinburgh these days.

 

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I just wish that it would cool down here in Edinburgh as it has become uncomfortably hot here yet again during today.

Indeed, the temperature at Edinburgh Airport was up at 26°C at 4pm this afternoon which actually makes today the hottest day of this year so far across all three of my local stations here in Edinburgh.

There are some scattered convective clouds around, but these aren't amounting to anything at all as the Sun (albeit very hazy sunshine) continues to relentlessly beat down on this part of the world, making our conditions extremely uncomfortable at the start of a week when it is supposed to be cooling down.

In addition to that, we were supposed to see a risk of showers or thunderstorms during today, but someone at the Met Office has clearly forgotten that "interesting" weather is something which just doesn't generally happen in this part of the world and the end result of this is that as per usual, absolutely nothing has changed in terms of our weather as we just don't get "changeable" weather here any more like what we used to.

Last year, we only had the one thunderstorm event during that entire summer and since we have already had a thunderstorm event at the beginning of this month, it wouldn't surprise me if that was all that we got for this year. That particular event did produce a little bit of flooding, but that was nothing compared to what other places in the rest of the UK and over on the continent has seen.

Since our downpours at the start of this month, there has now been two flooding events in London whereas it has barely rained at all here since then. Even though there are just 5 days left of this month after today, our "flooding" event at the beginning of this month still as I write, hasn't been enough for this month to be any wetter than average at Edinburgh Gogarbank as a result, so that should tell you just how boring and uninteresting our weather here in Edinburgh actually is.

 

A few days ago we were supposed to be well into the cooler/wetter regime up here yet I reached 23.7C. I don't recall exactly what was was predicted for today at that time but certianly nowhere near that. Saturday's rain/showers that were originally forecast for here gradually got progged south and it ended up a pleasant day. Even in the south the rain didn't generally materlialise as was forecast only 24hrs beforehand. Yesterday in London it more than made up for that though. To get 2 significant flooding events in the capital within 3 weeks of each other must be unusual, though ii'm not sure if it was the exact same areas of London that were affected. From what i cangather the 1st event was more in the W/SW of the city and the 2nd in the east but I'd need someone more familiar with London to confirm that.

Generally speaking it's been a very poor few days for the models/forecasting. Hope they get it wrong again with the Greenland High forming and the resultant cool & wet weather for later this week but I doubt it!

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A few days ago we were supposed to be well into the cooler/wetter regime up here yet I reached 23.7C. I don't recall exactly what was was predicted for today at that time but certianly nowhere near that. Saturday's rain/showers that were originally forecast for here gradually got progged south and it ended up a pleasant day. Even in the south the rain didn't generally materlialise as was forecast only 24hrs beforehand. Yesterday in London it more than made up for that though. To get 2 significant flooding events in the capital within 3 weeks of each other must be unusual, though ii'm not sure if it was the exact same areas of London that were affected. From what i cangather the 1st event was more in the W/SW of the city and the 2nd in the east but I'd need someone more familiar with London to confirm that.

Generally speaking it's been a very poor few days for the models/forecasting. Hope they get it wrong again with the Greenland High forming and the resultant cool & wet weather for later this week but I doubt it!

I would be more than happy not to see that Greenland High just now, as long as it comes back in time to deliver some really cold weather to these parts during the winter (preferably with a lot of snow).

In most years though, I doesn't usually end up that way.

 

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Manchester Summer Indices  ranked in order with the best at the top 

1976 301

1995 298

1983 278

1955 277

1911 274

2018 272

1984 271

1959 269

1975 268

1949 267

1989 262

1947 255

2021 254 (up to 25th July)

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Having spent the summer of 1976 weekend commuting between job in Manchester and family in Kent, I suspect that a similar index for the SE would give 1976 an even more spectacular lead at the top of the table. And 2021 for the SE would be even further down amongst the also-rans.

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Manchester Summer Indices  ranked in order with the best at the top 

1976 301

1995 298

1983 278

1955 277

1911 274

2018 272

1984 271

1959 269

1975 268

1949 267

1989 262

1947 255

2021 254 (up to 25th July)

 

 

That's bizarre. It doesn't feel anything like a 'top 15 summer'

 

(but then, I guess at this stage the summers of 2006, 2013, and perhaps even 2014 all were scoring higher, but followed by 'not great' Augusts)

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I spent first half of my 60 odd years in Manchester and the second half in the South West Midlands. I have many family and friends in the Manchester area and have always been aware of the weather they are having.

 

Most years the SW Midlands has better summers than the North West, my sister-in-laws like to visit us in summer because they think we have better weather. There will have been times when the North West may have had slighty better summers, but this is the first summer when they are clearly having a much better summer in the North West than the SW Midlands.

It is remarkable the contrast in fortunes between the SE and NW (and NE) this summer. Who knows what August will bring, but certainly for the first 2 months of summer I think we could be not far off record rainfall - and record low sunshine totals - for the SE and Central S regions. Its not been cold, notwithstanding several days with teen maxes because the night minima have been high, but it has certainly not been settled.

My vineyard site recorded 20mm yesterday in the space of 3 short spells of under an hour each. I am looking at a total of about 80mm (subject to the next 4 days' rainfall it could be higher) for the month of July, following 114mm in June and 144mm in May. The ground is soaked, and never really dried out once since April. Deep puddles all along the valley roads and a number of huge mires of mud at the bottom of farm tracks. I attempted to mow some grass in the field yesterday and the lawnmower cut out about 20 times bacause it got clagged up with sopping-wet slimy grass.

Yet I have heard people not that far North or West saying things like "the Garden could really do with some rain". It's another planet.

EDIT: I should add I've spoken to a number of people in Switzerland, Netherlands and France (not to mention Germany of course) and the experience is very similar. Rain, mud, cloud.  

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It is remarkable the contrast in fortunes between the SE and NW (and NE) this summer. Who knows what August will bring, but certainly for the first 2 months of summer I think we could be not far off record rainfall - and record low sunshine totals - for the SE and Central S regions. Its not been cold, notwithstanding several days with teen maxes because the night minima have been high, but it has certainly not been settled.

My vineyard site recorded 20mm yesterday in the space of 3 short spells of under an hour each. I am looking at a total of about 80mm (subject to the next 4 days' rainfall it could be higher) for the month of July, following 114mm in June and 144mm in May. The ground is soaked, and never really dried out once since April. Deep puddles all along the valley roads and a number of huge mires of mud at the bottom of farm tracks.

Yet I have heard people not that far North or West saying things like "the Garden could really do with some rain". It's another planet.

It is an interesting contrast in fortunes.  Today maybe York is the warm spot again at getting on for 25c, highlighting this. 

May was awful everywhere, but June was very warm and dry in the north.  July has been very warm but wet, although all that has fallen on a small number of days, so generally a decent month. 

Overall this year has been wet here with 585mm of rain falling so far, 166mm in May, 29mm in June and 81mm in July.  So there are no significant water concerns, but things are relatively dry at the surface and the gardens have dried out at times, particularly June and now.  It is 15 days without rain here, that might end in the next couple of hours , hopefully spectacularly. 

 

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Warnings out for thunderstorms for everyone else but what do we have here? The same sickening vile mind-numbing murky GARBAGE we had last week 

A perpetual feed of **** off the North Sea with no let-up whatsoever. Easterlies with everything. Anticyclonic easterlies and cyclonic easterlies delivering the exact same putrid soul destroying rot 

Reminding me a lot in summer 2007 but I got a reminder yesterday that even it produced something of interest

26th July 2007:

Absolutely nothing like that this month. Just wrist-slittingly awful featureless grey muck day after day after day 

Every working day since last Tuesday has begun with the same dank featureless gloom. Today was the worst of the lot - so dull and dark it could be November already 

Spectacularly awful and revolting forecast for tomorrow which will further cement this as one of the poorest summer months I have experienced. The brilliant spell from the 14th to 17th has really masked how dismal it has been.

Rest of the month almost as bad as 2012 and we could still see more sunless days and more days with fewer than 3 hours sun than that catastrophic disaster produced which is just incredulous 

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Warnings out for thunderstorms for everyone else but what do we have here? The same sickening vile mind-numbing murky GARBAGE we had last week 

A perpetual feed of **** off the North Sea with no let-up whatsoever. Easterlies with everything. Anticyclonic easterlies and cyclonic easterlies delivering the exact same putrid soul destroying rot 

Reminding me a lot in summer 2007 but I got a reminder yesterday that even it produced something of interest

26th July 2007:

Absolutely nothing like that this month. Just wrist-slittingly awful featureless grey muck day after day after day 

Every working day since last Tuesday has begun with the same dank featureless gloom. Today was the worst of the lot - so dull and dark it could be November already 

Spectacularly awful and revolting forecast for tomorrow which will further cement this as one of the poorest summer months I have experienced. The brilliant spell from the 14th to 17th has really masked how dismal it has been.

Rest of the month almost as bad as 2012 and we could still see more sunless days and more days with fewer than 3 hours sun than that catastrophic disaster produced which is just incredulous 

I feel your pain Richard. The Witney wash-out summer has returned with a vengeance and I can't see any end to this horrific godforsaken summer any time soon. Torrents of rain for most of the day, ridiculously cool for July, just horrendous. This country absolutely stinks with its climate and it has been a horrific summer here apart from last week. Easily the wettest and coldest summer since 2012, and with August looking certain to be a complete washout too, this will probably end up being the worst in my lifetime.

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It won't end up anywhere near as bad as 2012 here but definitely heading for yet another very poor summer. Typical 60s summer with a decent June followed by crap July and August as opposed to a typical post-2006 summer with all three months poor 

There are seemingly only two synoptic set-ups that exist now. One which sees an endless feed of putrid overcast coming off the North Sea and the other which sees the endless feed of putrid overcast coming down from the north 

Yet another ghastly grey day and getting cooler and windy as well. 15th day of this absolutely atrocious, hideous and depressing-beyond-belief July to see less than 3 hours sun which equals the total from July 2012. Once again we are in a spell where the sunshine rations would be a disgrace even in winter and that is becoming the default position for summer these days.

Virtually the entirety of the remainder of the country has been seeing normal W/SW winds  this week delivering at least some sunny spells mixed with cloud and showers. Just here that is suffering this relentless, ridiculously awful and depressing N'ly/E'ly grot.

Edinburgh should see comparable levels of sunshine to Aberdeen but the Swanston site had recorded almost 200 hours up to yesterday - over a third more than what I have recorded. Never known anything like it in my life.

It's just beyond a joke what we have to put up with here nowadays. Only one July in 15 years now (2009) has recorded between 170-190 hours sun despite that being a moderately above average category which should be commonplace.

Only three other Julys have had above average sunshine (2013, 2014, 2018) and all recorded over 210 hours so nothing in the 190-210 hour band either.

That means just one July in 15 years in the 170-210 hours band which 27% of July's fell into between 1880 and 2006. 

Good months missing in alarming quantities to be replaced with pure and utter garbage 

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A much different feeling to last Thursday today. Last week was 31°C and bright sunshine. This evening: 15°C and breezy with spells of drizzle. Feels a lot like a brisk early October day.

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Like a typical October day today, Wind and Rain, and temperatures to suit. Hopefully this garbage will blow through leaving something akin to summer later. 

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

2021 252 (up to 28th July)

1933 251

1901 249

1921 249

2003 247

2013 247

1925 246

2006 246

1996 245

1935 243

1994 240

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Yet another day of unspeakably bad grey rubbish the entire time bar 25 minutes of sunshine around 7am 

More days now than July 2012, and many winter months, with fewer than 3 hours sun 

2.2 hours of sun in the last four days out of a possible 60 hours   

A living hell of waking up to overcast day-after-miserable-day, feeling tired, fed up and wanting to hibernate, checking satellite and all there is an endless train of cloud that you know won't clear. Rinse and repeat ad nauseum  

Like nothing on earth that we ever used to get in summer but now this permacast hell is an annual occurrence. 2017-19 saw a reversion to nearer normal but the last two summers it's back to being as bad as 2007-12  

There are just no words to describe the current situation that aren't expletives 

Poor old Richard, the only person to get SAD in the summer!

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I'm just sick and tired now, of the constant lack of "interesting" weather in this part of the world in comparison with the rest of the UK which is now completely beyond a joke.

This morning, our permacast hell goes on we have yet another dull, depressing, soul destroying and suicide inducing start to yet another day with yet more constant grey skies and absolutely nothing happening as per usual, which is even remotely interesting in terms of our actual weather which continues to be defined only in terms of how much cloud is around (which is usually quite a lot).

The south of the UK keeps on getting nearly all of the more interesting weather as we have just seen with Storm Evert. Here in Scotland, everywhere else has been getting some showers and just a few days ago, Doctormog and Richard from Aberdeen were both reporting some very interesting rainfall totals from that in their part of the world, yet Edinburgh has virtually completely missed out on that altogether.

We have just had some overnight showers, but this has amounted to no more than a fraction of 1 mm of rain in this part of the world which to me, is a complete waste of time as rainfall totals are only of interest to me if they amount to more than 1 mm in any given day).

Not all that long ago when parts of Scotland were forecast to get a lot of rain in the coming days after that, Doctormog posted in this month's PW thread that he had expected parts of Scotland to see 20 mm of 100 mm of rain. That was in response to me saying that I wouldn't be surprised if the totals for here at that time, ended up being the final totals for this month.

Since then, there has only really been the one occasion where it has actually rained here, and even that resulted in not much more than 1 mm of rain being recorded at Edinburgh Gogarbank, so I actually came very close in the end to being correct with my prediction at that time.

Now, unless we get some measurable rainfall before 10am this morning (which is 90:00 UTC), it will not now be possible the number of official rain days at Edinburgh Gogarbank during this month to be above average as we are now into the last day of this month which means that we can only have a maximum of one more official rain day during this month after this morning.

This also means that the next 24 hours even at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh would then need to go go down as an official rain day if the number of rain days at that particular station is to be above average, otherwise the number of rain days during this month will go down as being below average even there.

The reason why this has happened is because the models just keep on overestimating the amount of rain which we are being forecast to get, and that is just adding to the fact that this part of the world, surely has to be the more boring and uninteresting part of the UK in terms of our weather as a result.

 

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Poor old Richard, the only person to get SAD in the summer!

You actually read his posts?

I walked out on his play act, ages ago. Conveniently forgets the positives.......I'll whisper in your ear but don't tell anyone:   "he had a  sunny winter 2020-21 compared to the poor folks on the west coast of Scotland"

  "Had a dry June 2021.....and sunnier than average..."   

"had a very sunny April 2021" 

But don't tell anyone.......

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