Weather in the UK this year

[Penny]

It's a bit cooler today -19C and we've had some slight drizzle and no sunshine at all.

Having said that, August here has been pretty good but May, June and July were generally awful. We had an odd nice day but we had lots of rain and cold winds and I had my heating on in June at night.

[Bev_1608]

Hiya. I live Southampton Yorkshire, but holiday'd in cornwall for 2 weeks in June. It was cold and wet. We usually have a lovely 2 weeks, but this year wish we'd gone abroad.

[SheWolf]

Well, after a poor start to summer, it's been really lovely for the past few days down south. We did have a day of heavy showers but the garden enjoyed that and my water butt got topped up. My toms are continuing to ripen and some of the roses have had a second bloom, so I'm pretty content with August's performance.

[SheWolf]

Well, September is now breaking records. Yesterday temperatures rose higher than any temperatures recorded for September since 1911. In some parts of south east England it reached nearly 100 degrees - a real Indian summer going on down south.

Which brings to mind something Dad was fond of saying, if anyone spoke of an Indian summer. He would say "That's a stupid phrase! I'll believe it's an Indian summer when a tiger comes walking past!" I've since heard that apparently the phrase is connected with Native American Indian culture/weather rather than Asian Indians, but anyway, that thought springs to mind on warm September days.

[MrsAverage]

It's definitely North American in origin so you're more likely to have a bear walk through the garden than a tiger. Tho in either case I'd be indoors double quick lol
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/we ... ian-summer

[Peter_1611]

Shewolf, yes I think the weather was odd, especially last winter, up here in Derbyshire it snowed on two days only the whole winter and it was gone by mid-day and the summer was hardly a belter either, mostly cloudy and or damp but did you see the super moon? I thought it was bright and clear at least I wont have to wait until 2034 or whatever to see it (if I last that long! lol!). I don't know if the strange weather is due to global warming but I suppose it might have something to do with it.

[SheWolf]

We seem to have had a lot more foggy days this winter than we've seen for many years - or is that just my perception? I wonder if the fashion for using log burners has anything to do with the raised fog levels? (I'm thinking of all those foggy winters when I was a small child, when many people still had real fires and smog was a problem at times.)

[Elaine]

Hi there SheWolf,
I remember just once in the late 70s or early 80's when I was driving and got seriously scared because I couldn't see the side of the road for the fog. But I wonder if any of us has experienced a real smog? My dad grew up in Manchester in the 1920's and he described to me how he literally couldn't see his hand in front of his face or his feet on the ground when there was a smog.
I grew up on the South Wales coast and I didn't see snow very often. I can remember the very first time, so I must have been about 5 and it was that snow which consists of very tiny balls a bit like that packing material and it soon melted. When I was about 20 and living in Cardiff I remember a very thick snowfall 1970 maybe? I've lived in Yorkshire for 40 years now and at first we could count on a snowfall before Christmas and quite a lot in Jan or Feb. After Mum moved here in 2007 we had a few years of heavy snow after Christmas, but of late years there has hardly been any to speak of. In fact I have a collection of heavy winter clothing which never comes out. Likewise my snow boots. Fine by me as I don't like driving in snow but the weather has definitely changed over the last 5 years or so. Soon we won't be able to tell summer from winter!!
KR
E.

[Greta]

Yes, Elaine, in the late fifties I knew that if I couldn't see my hand when I held my arm out, we'd be sent home early from school for fog. A friend who lived in another part of London also said how on the bus home no one could tell where they were - they had to ask the people getting on the bus. Fortunately I just had a 15-minute walk to school. The Clean Air Act of 1956 gradually extended the restrictions on burning coal at home. I also remember a school visit to the power plant at Romford where we learnt all about coal. In the 1950s my elder brother was ill in bed for a week with some kind of respiratory problem which we called 'smog'!

[jenny lucas]

There was an article in the papers the other day about all the wood burners causing air pollution, so very likely.

This January has been the worst I can remember for a long time. Absolutely vicious and unrelentingly cold and ghastly. I've limped from day to day, praying for February.

This morning I awoke to 'almost spring'! The JOY is absolute! I and SO relieved the high freezing pressure has been shifted, and FINALLIY we are getting PROPER British weather - ie, wet and milder in from the south west.

January has just gone on and on and on - it's been utterly and gruesomely vile. Only hot water bottles have kept me alive - my house is an icebox (and my central heating very expensive.) My only relief has been the wood fire every evening, and quite frankly I don't care if it's polluting!

Today I've been dancing all round the house and garden in a state of bliss at the better weather!