On a different note, it looks like being a very warm and close night in the South again.

Huge contrast last night: -1C somewhere in the highlands, to 17C minimum in Plymouth.

Min 16C here S Hants, grass min 15! Dullish all day with max only 19. Currently 18C with a 17C dewpoint... relative humidity is currently 95% here and it's not raining!

It's cold tonight in London.........I'm toying with putting my fire on.......or I might just put my jammy jacket on but I'm cold sat here in a t-shirt.......

Seriously, do you feel cold?

I'm slightly too warm.

I've put my pyjama jacket on and it's OK now

I've noticed in the last few years that I increasingly feel the cold as I'm getting older.

Right - well I hope you remain comfortable tonight

looking like cloud might be an issue as weak embedded fronts cross the uk , so not as hot? but muggy humid bright sat - mon.

the big cool down (autumn) is still going to happen mid next week... looking like scotland could see overnight frosts.

Good stat D'@ve.

I recorded just a quarter of the rainfall in July compared to June - 36mm.

Two days into August and I've had 6mm go through the gauge. This reminds me of the phenomenal August 2003 when on 1st August it was rather drab and I registered 6mm. That ended up the lot for the month. Not another drop fell until 10th September.

Recent talk of another "mini heatwave" has made me think it's worth reminding what the definition in the UK is of a heatwave. Technically it is when 5 or more consecutive days register maximum temperatures of at least 5c or more above the long term average. Regards this long term average I am not sure which 30 year period they are now using to define it against. I would have thought it should by now be 1981 to 2010 but I have a feeling the 1961 to 1990 period is still the benchmark for some reason and not even 1971 to 2000.


How could anyone have been cold last night as a previous poster mentioned being? Like Blueblade said, it ended up very muggy overnight and my minimum temperature early this morning was 17.1c. It did catch me out a bit and I woke with a very wet neck and pillow.

I think the Met Office are using 1981 to 2010 - link

Thanks, I was just about to make a detailed check. Interesting the January 1981 to December 2010 thirty year period in the latest long term average for the UK, as it ended with an exceptional month of freeze and snowfall nationwide which must have had some affect.

It's amazing how many times people need to be reminded of the difference between climate and weather and that they do not mean the same thing, as D'@ve stated. These long term averages illustrate the point well. Thirty years of UK weather is the climate, but the past 30 days is just the weather. Otherwise the British climate would literally be changing on a weekly basis among all kinds of extremes.

Re: BiB - yes, I thought that.

You are both right, of course. It's quite amusing the way a one off extreme event is so often cited as evidence for climate change, when in reality, it's just the weather being the weather.

bib.... i refer to heat as 25c or over, a mini heatwave therefore can be just 1 day of 25c+ . of course thats just my termination and not an official stat.

mini heatwave sounds better then 'a hot day'...

Now you tell us! If you are talking about a day in London that's a mere 2 or 3 degrees C above normal, well it's not surprising that you keep on seeing this 'mini heatwave!"

So what one word would anyone here like to use to describe Summer 2016 so far?

Mine is - Nondescript.

Humid ( in London anyhow)

Disappointing......

Humid and warm but grim (in more ways than one)

Not one I'll look back at fondly.

I don't know, it's always seemed duller than normal summers I mean the light seems different somehow, we don't seem to have got any nice evenings this year.

As I write this is it looks like a November afternoon at about 3pm just nasty somehow.

No, this one was a shocker I'm afraid.

Yes.

The fact that at least it has been quite warm, is just about the only positive thing I can say about it too.

Any rate, Saturday looks pretty good, so a chance to get out in the garden with a cold drink, and relax, hopefully.

The piece I've highlighted above is spot on with my own perception actually, especially the evenings. Also the humidity does seem more longer lasting than usual, which is an aspect that has also been mentioned.

The month of September is often one of my favourites and very rarely disappoints. Obviously the evenings are shorter but you can't have it all.

so far?..... its almost over for me, another week/10 days and itll be more like autumn then summer...

i hate september, my least favourite month , everything dying, darkening, cooling...

first week in june and the third week in july were quite good... the in between weeks were bad, dull, wet, forgettable.

august doesnt look like itll be as wet as previous augusts, but itll be autumnal next week with a chilly northerly.

i havnt put my pool up this year..... so overall, poor.

i use the 'uppers' as a guide, if we get under the +10 isotherm then itll be very warm at least, hot in any sun.. it does look like cloud will spoil the 'heatwave' for most though, the southeast will fare best until tuesday.

anomaly charts though have called the general synoptic pattern spot on for upto 2 weeks in advance

Now if you'd said November, I would have agreed with you

I think you're being a tad pessimistic, to be honest. It's still perfectly possible to have hot Sunny weather, well into September, and we're only at early August. Yes the Sun is that bit weaker in a few weeks, but it's still essentially Summer like.

I love Autumn, its my favourite season. I love the colours, the darker evenings, the cooler temps not that its been overly warm this summer but it has been muggy.

i like november, its proper autumn, it doesnt pretend to be summer like september does. its the way everythings dying in sept/oct i dislike, no im not a big fan of gareish autumn colours. give me the emerging fresh leaves of spring anyday.

warmth in september is just... meh.

I do much prefer Spring. I agree with you on that one.