Mike Tullett wrote:
On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:18:21 +0100, Col wrote in


Not a chance of a hot summer.

This year ends in an 8. 'Nuff said...
Not thought of that one before.
Certainly 1998, 1988 & 1978 were all poor summers.
Beyond that I have no personal memories.
What was 1968 like?

IIRC it was pretty poor, especially as one headed SE. Up here in the north
west, August was particularly dry and mains water was on for only four
hours a day for most of that month. I left the house for three weeks,
expecting to find the grass a foot high on my return. But it was
desiccated:-)


At Southend-on-Sea the summer of 68 was in brief :

June ~ About average (high 25.0°C 15th & 30th) - Av max 20.7°C
July ~ Coolish (high 27.8°C, 1st) - Av max 20.9°C
August ~ Coolish & Wet (high 23.9°C) - Av max 20.2°C

(Data Bob Pritchard)
--
Keith (Southend)
http://www.southendweather.net
e-mail: kreh at southendweather dot net

Col wrote:


"Jim Smith" wrote in message
...

"ronaldbutton" wrote in message
...
Here in the parched south east of England (flood plains not
withstanding).I was wondering when I should be planting my banana trees
and date palms ?.
I think I saw a humming bird nest building yesterday,which is a sure
harbinger of yet another baking summer,so it is very important that my
tropical plants get a good start before the aquifers dry up.
Any tips would be gratefully received

RonB

Not a chance of a hot summer.

This year ends in an 8. 'Nuff said...

Not thought of that one before.
Certainly 1998, 1988 & 1978 were all poor summers.
Beyond that I have no personal memories.
What was 1968 like?

It depends where you were. In the SE it was cold, cloudy and wet; in the NW
it was hot, sunny and dry. In the SE, there was a fortnight at the end of
June which was fine and which got hotter and then broke down at the
beginning of July with green skies on the Sunday, a dust-fall overnight, a
stinking hot and humid Monday followed by thunderstorms. As to the rest of
the summer, I remember it as sunless, wet, with a non-stop cold NE wind for
the next three months. I suspect there were some brighter interludes but I
don't remember any.

Due to the persistent heat in the NW, sea temperatures to the west of
Scotland warmed to 3C above normal.

As I recall, there was a high pressure anomaly over the northern North Sea
for most of the summer. This slowly drifted north so that north Wales and
NW England, which had the dry and sunny weather in July, were slowly
brought under the influence of the dismal weather further south.

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks., UK. E-mail: newsman, not newsboy.