So what should you realistically expect from a British summer?

neilmac

neilmac

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Neil McLeland
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Serious question! I'm not saying your summer is rubbish and mine's great etc - to get that out of the way to start with :thumbs:.

As in the title - what should you realistically expect?

The last summer that I experienced in the UK that was a 'real' summer was in.... 1976! I am sure there may have been good summers since but I can't honestly remember the years if there were.

So with 30+ years of fair to middling summer weather and more recently wet summers year after year is it realistic to expect better?

There is always a lot of talk about the weather being so bad (understandably) as it is really frustrating to those who have to live and work and play in it.

Is it more the case nowadays that plans for these activities need to be changed or adapted to suit the changing climate thereby lowering the expectation for long periods of sunshine which results in frustration and disappointment?

Just rambling really but what do you think?

Neil
 
THat August Bank holiday weekend will be wet/cold.

Every time the weather is nice during the week, it will be crap at the weekend.

It will rain whenever it says it is sunny on the forecast. Unfortunatly, it is not vice-versa.

When it does get sunny, fat blokes take there tops off.

We dont see hardly any blue sky.

By time we have got our shorts out it is time for sweatshirts again.

There is hardly ever a sunny day at Oulton Park.


Thats about it really :lol:
 
rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain snow rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain motorway hold ups rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain and some annoying reality tv programme...

oh wait..thats the entire year not just summer...
 
Joe T said:
Magners adverts is about it tbh.
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So you shouldn't really be disappointed then :D

Matt Sayle said:
THat August Bank holiday weekend will be wet/cold.

Every time the weather is nice during the week, it will be crap at the weekend.

It will rain whenever it says it is sunny on the forecast. Unfortunatly, it is not vice-versa.

When it does get sunny, fat blokes take there tops off.

We dont see hardly any blue sky.

By time we have got our shorts out it is time for sweatshirts again.

There is hardly ever a sunny day at Oulton Park.


Thats about it really :lol:
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Good, and sadly, accurate summary :( But should you just get used to it so that you don't expect more?

surrealillusions said:
rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain snow rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain motorway hold ups rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain and some annoying reality tv programme...

oh wait..thats the entire year not just summer...
Click to expand...

Good, and sadly, accurate summary :( But should you just get used to it so that you don't expect more?
 
Ah the summer of 76, that was a good one wasn't it, I was 13 then. If we could have a summer like that then, why can't we have one like it now, or even somewhere close. I don't think it too much to expect. Mind you I can remember having lots of thick snow during the winter too, even a white Christmas.
I blame the government they've screwed up the weather along with the economy. :(
 
nilagin said:
Ah the summer of 76, that was a good one wasn't it, I was 13 then. If we could have a summer like that then, why can't we have one like it now, or even somewhere close. I don't think it too much to expect. Mind you I can remember having lots of thick snow during the winter too, even a white Christmas.
I blame the government they've screwed up the weather along with the economy. :(
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'Expect' or 'hope' for? Quite right that everyone should hope for a good old fashioned summer (and proper seasons including winter for that matter) but to expect it after all the years of rain? Really?

And why not blame the government? They're as good a target as any :shrug:
 
According to some met office guy on the radio yesterday
last summer was the wettest "on record"
this summer was the "wettest on record"
So that makes it two consecutive record summers :thumbs:

Now stop whinging about the British summer (s) :lol:
 
Imagine how much we'd moan if we were in parts of Australia where it hasn't rained for years:shrug:
 
You can hardly site '76 as a typical British summer. The reason it is remembered is because it was a drought.

Britain has a temperate climate. Can anyone remember a Wimbledon fortnight that wasn't washed out? A test season when the covers weren't on and off like a whores drawers? Glastonbury without the mud?

Historians have studied Nelson and Capt. Cook's ships logs (along with 6000 others) and found that the weather patterns we are seeing now are exactly the same as they recorded 200+ years ago, so I wouldn't hold your breath for that mediteranean climate.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4449527.ece
 
Cobra said:
According to some met office guy on the radio yesterday
last summer was the wettest "on record"
this summer was the "wettest on record"
So that makes it two consecutive record summers :thumbs:

Now stop whinging about the British summer (s) :lol:
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:lol:
 
spannerdude said:
You can hardly site '76 as a typical British summer. The reason it is remembered is because it was a drought.

Britain has a temperate climate. Can anyone remember a Wimbledon fortnight that wasn't washed out? A test season when the covers weren't on and off like a whores drawers? Glastonbury without the mud?

Historians have studied Nelson and Capt. Cook's ships logs (along with 6000 others) and found that the weather patterns we are seeing now are exactly the same as they recorded 200+ years ago, so I wouldn't hold your breath for that mediteranean climate.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4449527.ece
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Good response :thumbs: . With that historical information it would be quite normal to expect conditions as they are.

Mind you, I remember 1976 because apparently it was how summers used to be not because of drought. There have been many droughts since but no summer has yet compared.

You're right, I can't remember Wimbledon not being washed out, nor a sunny test season and a dry Glastonbury. And 1976 wasn't a typical summer - but generally most people now expect hot and dry summers and are disappointed when the rain comes.

So folks should really just get on with it because its normal.

So why get so frustrated by the weather?

Neil
 
neilmac said:
The last summer that I experienced in the UK that was a 'real' summer was in.... 1976! I am sure there may have been good summers since but I can't honestly remember the years if there were.
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Ah I remember that year, I was sixteen and had my last school holidays that year! :)



As to what to expect? we have a saying here, "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes" I can't honestly say I've noticed the weather being significantly different in recent years, we get a bit of everything. Recent winters are warmer but again we had a really cold one not that long ago.
 
minimeeze said:
Summer? What's that? :thinking:
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It's the 4 months when the rain gets slightly warmer


The other side of the coin is we don't get winters like we did when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s, I can remember the teacher going outside with a ruler and measuring the snow, if it was over the top we could all go home, when was the last time anywhere in England had snow that lasted more than a few hours.

My dad was born in 1934, he can remember a winter in Kettering Nothants in the 1940s when they opened the back door and there was a wall of drifted snow 8ft high
 
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2006 was quite nice...as was 2005. I think it drastically went downhill after last years floods.
 
We expect nothing from our summer..........

..........and even less from the Euro!
 
Mods can we lock this thread, Neil's just trying to make us all feel bad....regardless of what he says :razz:
 
The pound in your pocket is now only worth 60 pence, did you know that?

So if you send me a pound, I'll send you 60p in return :naughty:
 
I'll give you a crisp on Sunday!
 
yeah neil just you wait till spain looks like the gobi desert,,, just dont expect to come and live here ,or pick the oranges and lemings and whathaveyou .
 
donutagain said:
yeah neil just you wait till spain looks like the gobi desert,,, just dont expect to come and live here ,or pick the oranges and lemings and whathaveyou .
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:lol::lol::lol:

This thread is actually based on a serious question as in the title :thinking:

But as I said in the first post I was only rambling anyway....

Anyway I hear the Gobi Desert is quite nice at this time of year ;)

Neil
 
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