UK Summers Review 2005

Many of us are dreaming of sunny skies, high temperatures, barbeques, and days out at the beach this summer. It is often images like these which are at the forefront of our minds when thinking of the summertime. Our recent summers here in the UK, however, have been hitting the headlines for rather different reasons.

Thoughts of the past two summers in particular conjure up images of extreme weather. Extremes in any sphere of life are rarely welcome and the weather is no exception. Reports on such extreme events in the media, therefore, can often lead to a loss of perception on seasonal weather as a whole.

The summer of 2004 however, will always be remembered as a 'summer soaker'. Periods of wet and stormy weather battered the UK, resulting in some severe localised flooding epitomised by the highly recounted Boscastle events on the 16th August.

With these two extreme summers at the forefront of our summer memories, it is not surprising that once again the term 'Global Warming' has been launched into the limelight. The idea that human modification of the atmosphere is changing the global climate is now a well established concept, but often it is blamed for many individual and localised weather events.

Being that the UK is an island surrounded by water, with a mass of land not too far away, it means UK weather is prone to constant change, however, this is dependant upon many different factors. Our summers are characterised by individual events of warm, cool, wet and dry spells. Localised flooding and mini heat waves are in fact typical within the summer period.

Summer 2004
During August 2004, heavy thundery showers battered northern parts of Cornwall. These showers were formed in bands which were aligned by the convergence of the south to southwesterly winds and sea breezes along the coasts. In just 24 hours, Otterham, near Boscastle, recorded 200mm of rain, that's more than double the average rainfall for the entire month of August.

Additionally, also during the summer of 2004, there were the destructive landslides in Scotland and the rotting harvests and crops, so it is no wonder that this summer will always be remembered as a wash out. Low pressure system after low pressure system swept across the UK during the end of June and beginning of July.

In fact, the summer started off on a positive note, surprisingly seeing the highest temperature of the summer on the 8th June, where a high of 32°C was reached in Cambridge. High pressure also took charge during the last week of July, giving us warm sunny weather and temperatures into the high 80's Fahrenheit.

In summary, the summer of 2004 had many typical weather patterns, with spells of warm, cool, wet and dry weather throughout the months of June, July and August. The statistics however, say that this summer was in fact one of the wettest on record, with over 100 weather warnings issued in August alone.

Summer 2005 - Latest Update May 2005
The Met Office's Hadley Centre produces global experimental seasonal forecasts for precipitation and temperature, to get a picture of weather in the coming months. The forecast for this summer (June, July and August) favours a trend towards average to above average temperatures in Scotland and southwestern parts of England. For rest of the UK however, temperatures look to be around average.

For southwestern parts of the UK below average rainfall may be experienced, whereas elsewhere rainfall amounts are likely to be around average. These figures however, are the predicted general trends for the summer as a whole and what we must remember are the individual regional and temporal events which characterise our true British summer.