I cannot agree Nick and I quote from my previous posting in response to a
Tudor
Hughes excellent post. This July has been a good month in the South. I have
had several engagements putting up a weather display at various weekend
summer shows out in the open and they have all been blessed by fine, dry
weather though sunburn was a problem. Luckily though I was not involved in
anything last Saturday. Since 1976 this July in my area is amongst the top 5
warmest.. Rainfall is only just above par and there have been 16 entirely
dry days and 20 days have exceeded 21C with the lowest 17.9C. Now let me
repeat 1954 July, a poor month. One day above 21C peaking at 21.7C with 15
completely cloudy days and 94mm of rain. Mean temperature was only 14.3C in
my area compared to 18.4C so far this month. Even today with drizzle falling
it is still quite warm currently 18C -16 days were cooler than this in 1954
and there were several days below 15C.
Having written weather articles for newspapers now for over a quarter of a
century I am well aware of it being impossible to please everyone. I once
forecast a fine Weekend and when it turned out correct I received a letter
to say and I quote" I prefer it cool ,wet and cloudy in the summer". He
wrote two sides of A4 with reasons why and top of his list was less barbecue
smoke wafting over his garden when it rains. You cannot please everyone.

Ian Currie-Coulsdon and Chipstead Valley-Surrey
www.frostedearth.com


"N R Whitelegg" wrote in message
...
I know there were 7 consecutive very sunny days, but overall I would rate
this a disappointing July in central southern England.

Those 7 sunny days were the only truly sunny days of the month (assuming
no more), there have been a large number of cloudy days and what looks
like
a persistent wet spell for the last 9 days of the month.

I'd say it was little better than 2002 down here in the south (July 2002
had
a similar number of warm sunny days, about 5 mid month and another 2 at
the end; and a similar wet spell for the first 10 days of the month) and
beaten for warm, sunny days by 2001, 1999, 1997, 1995, 1994 in the last 10
years; 1996 was also narrowly better. However, it was significantly better
than the abysmal July 1998 which just had one all month! Like many recent
months of July though, it has been an unexciting month for storms - these
days November seems a more thundery month than July!

Here's hoping for a warm sunny August broken by a few big storms...

Nick

I think there must have been lots of fairly localised variations (if not
perceptions) in the S, SE and East Anglia this July. For example we only had
moderate rain Saturday night (10mm), no showers on Sunday and no rain
yesterday (Monday). It has been mainly sunny, very dry and either hot or at
least above 21C virtually every day(my personal view of a minimum(max) temp
for a decent summer day). I suspect Keith's stats for Southend will largely
reflect this.

Dave. S.Essex

Slightly disappointing here in West Kent, although we did have one nice
spell where the temperatures soared, and it was sunny. Quite a cloudy month
here though, with very warm nights... go figure.
This hot spell, and the *very high* night temperatures will produce stats
that may give a distorted picture.
If the definition of a good summer is higher than average temperatures, then
fair enough, a great July!
Bottom line where I am... Generally cloudy here with not much sun, and not
many very warm and sunny spells, but warmer than average... not my idea of a
good summer.
I don't think the averages\figures can tell the whole story.
Best regards, Danny. West Kent.

In the referenced article, "Ian Currie" writes:
I cannot agree Nick and I quote from my previous posting in response to a
Tudor
Hughes excellent post. This July has been a good month in the South. I have
had several engagements putting up a weather display at various weekend
summer shows out in the open and they have all been blessed by fine, dry
weather though sunburn was a problem. Luckily though I was not involved in
anything last Saturday. Since 1976 this July in my area is amongst the top 5
warmest.. Rainfall is only just above par and there have been 16 entirely
dry days and 20 days have exceeded 21C with the lowest 17.9C. Now let me
repeat 1954 July, a poor month. One day above 21C peaking at 21.7C with 15
completely cloudy days and 94mm of rain. Mean temperature was only 14.3C in
my area compared to 18.4C so far this month. Even today with drizzle falling
it is still quite warm currently 18C -16 days were cooler than this in 1954
and there were several days below 15C.

The main thing about this month though has been the apparent lack of
sunshine compared to many in the decade beginning 1989. It's certainly seemed
that way: can anyone back this up? Dry but cloudy summers seems to have been
the trend of the past 5 years or so, in marked contrast to the 1989-97 period.

Nick

I believe most Scientists predict UK summers to be warmer but 'cloudier' ...
those in the Global warming boat anyway.

"danny" wrote in message
...
Slightly disappointing here in West Kent, although we did have one nice
spell where the temperatures soared, and it was sunny. Quite a cloudy
month
here though, with very warm nights... go figure.
This hot spell, and the *very high* night temperatures will produce stats
that may give a distorted picture.
If the definition of a good summer is higher than average temperatures,
then
fair enough, a great July!
Bottom line where I am... Generally cloudy here with not much sun, and not
many very warm and sunny spells, but warmer than average... not my idea of
a
good summer.
I don't think the averages\figures can tell the whole story.
Best regards, Danny. West Kent.




So Danny what exactly were you expecting from this summer. What are the
sunshine/temperature figures that would have provided you with a good July?
It seems from your posts here and those you sent for June that you were
probably expecting weather more suited to a good summer in the Med rather
than a good summer in the UK!! :-)

Victor

The main thing about this month though has been the apparent lack of
sunshine compared to many in the decade beginning 1989. It's certainly
seemed
that way: can anyone back this up.

...... well my permanently red nose has been a bit of a giveaway! But
seriously, Keith records sunshine figures for Southend and he is quite near
to me so if comes up with average or higher sunshine figures then given the
above average temps I think we can say pretty good for here.

Dave, S.Essex. (incidentally, probably the worst July day here with cloud
all day, max of 20.9C and three hours of mainly light rain this evening.)