"Will Hand" wrote in message
...

"Col" wrote in message
...

"Will Hand" wrote in message
...
... is Tuesday!

But make the most of it as yet more heavy rain is due to spread in from
the west
on Wednesday.

I had to laugh at the media at lunchtime, they made a thing about
comparing this
week with that exceptional summer weather last year (as if that was
normal).
They also kept on saying why have got all this rain - its summer?
Hello -
ding.
You wouldn't get such torrential convective type origin downpours in
winter,
doh!


But week after week of incessant rain, with little or no respite from it,
isn't 'normal' for summer either.
It's way before my time but I've heard it said in this ng that the
summers
of the 50s/60s were like this. Well I'm not sure I believe that. The
torrential
downpours, the terrible flooding, the woeful lack of sunshine.
Surely summer 2007 (so far) would compare poorly even with those more
'traditional' British summers?
--



The 60s *were* like this Col believe me (at least in Manchester). Every
year we
had terrific storms, 1 July 1968 for example, it was like night nearly all
day
and the rain was torrential with incessant thunder and lighting for 6
hours.
Flooding was widespread and we were let home from school early as the
buses had
given up. In the 60s if the temperature reached 80F it was headline news
splashed all over the papers. We have been spoilt in the 80s, 90s and 00s.
Three
fine days and a thunderstorm is a cliche but it was true in the 60s, and
in the
50s as far as I know, except 1959 which was a 1990s type summer.

Will (Haytor, Devon, 1017 feet asl)
--



Looking at the England+Wales rainfall rrecords shows no May-July rainfall in
the 60'swith each month recording over 100mm so to my eyes it looks like
this summer is worse.

Relying on memory for past events is notoriously unreliable.