Reading the comments on here I have to agree that the last two years summers 
haven't been brilliant. Nevertheless, even today has reached 22.5C, despite 
being cloudy with just a few sunny periods. Before the last decade I used to 
have a yardstick of anything above 70F being decent holiday weather.
I remember well a holiday near Padstow where it rained for 13 of the 14 days 
and the temperature didn't climb above 17C. It stopped on the last day and 
we sunbathed in a temperature of 20C. (Probably 1975, possibly July). Mind 
you the next year wasn't too bad ;-)

Dave

It certainly wasn't 1975 Dave ,that was the year that summer returned after 
the dreadful '60s and early '70s

RonB
"Dave Cornwell"  wrote in message 
news:eQCpk.10552$JM.481@newsfe16.ams2...
> Reading the comments on here I have to agree that the last two years 
> summers haven't been brilliant. Nevertheless, even today has reached 
> 22.5C, despite being cloudy with just a few sunny periods. Before the last 
> decade I used to have a yardstick of anything above 70F being decent 
> holiday weather.
> I remember well a holiday near Padstow where it rained for 13 of the 14 
> days and the temperature didn't climb above 17C. It stopped on the last 
> day and we sunbathed in a temperature of 20C. (Probably 1975, possibly 
> July). Mind you the next year wasn't too bad ;-)
>
> Dave
>

On Aug 16, 5:00 pm, "Dave Cornwell"
 wrote:
> Reading the comments on here I have to agree that the last two years summers
> haven't been brilliant. Nevertheless, even today has reached 22.5C, despite
> being cloudy with just a few sunny periods. Before the last decade I used to
> have a yardstick of anything above 70F being decent holiday weather.
> I remember well a holiday near Padstow where it rained for 13 of the 14 days
> and the temperature didn't climb above 17C. It stopped on the last day and
> we sunbathed in a temperature of 20C. (Probably 1975, possibly July). Mind
> you the next year wasn't too bad ;-)
>
> Dave

           Actually, Dave, 1975 wasn't "too bad" either and if the
exceptional summer of 1976 had not occurred we may well be talking
about the hot summer of 1975 to this day.  But I agree with your basic
premise that we have got used to good summers and when we get
something of a "retro" one, like this and last year's, there are
complaints about the awful weather, and from me as much as anyone
(well, not quite).  For truly awful summers you can't beat some of
those in the '50's and '60's, 1954 in particular.  CET and EWR figures
for the summer months largely confirm this view.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey

On Aug 17, 1:56 am, Tudor Hughes  wrote:
> On Aug 16, 5:00 pm, "Dave Cornwell"
>
>  wrote:
> > Reading the comments on here I have to agree that the last two years summers
> > haven't been brilliant. Nevertheless, even today has reached 22.5C, despite
> > being cloudy with just a few sunny periods. Before the last decade I used to
> > have a yardstick of anything above 70F being decent holiday weather.
> > I remember well a holiday near Padstow where it rained for 13 of the 14 days
> > and the temperature didn't climb above 17C. It stopped on the last day and
> > we sunbathed in a temperature of 20C. (Probably 1975, possibly July). Mind
> > you the next year wasn't too bad ;-)
>
> > Dave
>
>            Actually, Dave, 1975 wasn't "too bad" either and if the
> exceptional summer of 1976 had not occurred we may well be talking
> about the hot summer of 1975 to this day.  But I agree with your basic
> premise that we have got used to good summers and when we get
> something of a "retro" one, like this and last year's, there are
> complaints about the awful weather, and from me as much as anyone
> (well, not quite).  For truly awful summers you can't beat some of
> those in the '50's and '60's, 1954 in particular.  CET and EWR figures
> for the summer months largely confirm this view.
>
> Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey

It has to be said though that the long-term averages, even those which
include hardly any of the recent warming (e.g. 1961-1990) indicate
mean maximum temps of 21 or 22C in Southern England in July and
August. When you get a month like this one where the temperature
doesn't seem to climb above 20C much, it must be below par even with
respect to the colder 1960s-1980s, never mind the warmer last 20
years.

Nick

nick150971@yahoo.co.uk wrote:

> On Aug 17, 1:56 am, Tudor Hughes  wrote:
> > On Aug 16, 5:00 pm, "Dave Cornwell"
> > 
> >  wrote:
> > > Reading the comments on here I have to agree that the last two
> > > years summers haven't been brilliant. Nevertheless, even today
> > > has reached 22.5C, despite being cloudy with just a few sunny
> > > periods. Before the last decade I used to have a yardstick of
> > > anything above 70F being decent holiday weather.  I remember well
> > > a holiday near Padstow where it rained for 13 of the 14 days and
> > > the temperature didn't climb above 17C. It stopped on the last
> > > day and we sunbathed in a temperature of 20C. (Probably 1975,
> > > possibly July). Mind you the next year wasn't too bad ;-)
> > 
> > > Dave
> > 
> >            Actually, Dave, 1975 wasn't "too bad" either and if the
> > exceptional summer of 1976 had not occurred we may well be talking
> > about the hot summer of 1975 to this day.  But I agree with your
> > basic premise that we have got used to good summers and when we get
> > something of a "retro" one, like this and last year's, there are
> > complaints about the awful weather, and from me as much as anyone
> > (well, not quite).  For truly awful summers you can't beat some of
> > those in the '50's and '60's, 1954 in particular.  CET and EWR
> > figures for the summer months largely confirm this view.
> > 
> > Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey
> 
> It has to be said though that the long-term averages, even those which
> include hardly any of the recent warming (e.g. 1961-1990) indicate
> mean maximum temps of 21 or 22C in Southern England in July and
> August. When you get a month like this one where the temperature
> doesn't seem to climb above 20C much, it must be below par even with
> respect to the colder 1960s-1980s, never mind the warmer last 20
> years.
> 
> Nick

Don't forget that if the long-term mean daily max for August is 22c
then roughly half of the years will have mean daily max temps lower
than that. A year wher the temp "doesn't seem to climb above 20c much"
is just part of the normal climate. If such years didn't occur the
averages would be higher.

This reminds me of the Trade Union leader who said that no-one should
be earning less than the average wage :-)

Norman
-- 
Norman Lynagh
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire
85m a.s.l.
(remove "thisbit" twice to e-mail)