On Jul 6, 5:15*pm, Graham Easterling
wrote:
Although the fine spell's broken down, the rainfall's still
convectional rather than frontal, so it's been virtually dry during
daylight hours, after 1.8mm overnight. In fact the coast has done
really well for sunshine throughout the recent spell.

Reasonable amount of sunshine, and with the wind offshore feeling very
warm in sheltered spots around the harbour. Maximum 20.2C at my site.
Absolutely perfect windsurfing conditions.

2008 was very strange here, as similar synoptic conditions seemed to
give temperatures around 2C lower than in other recent years. Just how
unusual it was, can be seen by the number of days when the temperature
=20C during Summer / early Autumn (May-Sept inclusive)

2000 * 45
2001 * 67
2002 * 52
2003 * 83
2004 * 66
2005 * 80
2006 * 86
2007 * 61 *(considered a 'poor' summer)
2008 * 17!! *- easily a record low, no day reached 23C. In August the
hottest day reached just 21.6C. Even many of the better days struggled
to get near 20C.

I remember that even well along the coast in Southampton. During
August the winds were mostly SW rather than NW, which even in
changeable conditions typically gives temperatures in the 20-25 range
at that time of year, yet temperatures persistently struggled to even
reach 20 until the last 10 days or so. ISTR low sea surface
temperatures meant that areas exposed to onshore wind had unusually
low temperatures last summer - the inland southeast had respectable
temperatures in the low 20s meaning it was not a particularly bad
summer there.

Nick