UK Weather - Summer 2014

[Nev]

Yes, agree with the zoom-lens making the background appear closer than it actually was.

I did a little research and the image appears to be authentic. AccuWeather speculate that the distance between plane and funnel cloud could have been anywhere from half a mile to 3 miles (0.8km to 4.8 km).

Interestingly, Stuff (Fairfax NZ), along with several other publications, are crediting Robbie Kane on Twitter as the photo's source. However, after being confronted by the original photographer(s), Russ Greenwell & Paul King of Alamy Stock Photos, he basically admitted that he'd pinched the image from another unnamed publication.

A larger version of that image can be found here. Also, the same image from Russ Greenwell aka 'The Nikon Monkey' along with a second slightly different one can be found here.

[Blade]

Uk is above average for 8months now since december of the last year and this month is +0,61ºc higher than the average so far

[NZstorm]

Uk is above average for 8months now since december of the last year and this month is +0,61ºc higher than the average so far

Blade, how has the summer been in Lisbon?

[Simon Culling]

It was mostly sunny and 25*C at Lisbon Airport today (Tues 19th Aug) - perhaps Blade could start a separate thread and tell us all about the weather in Portugal?

I am still not sure about the photo, but there were quite a few funnels observed that day and one does appear to have been photographed by plane spotters near East Midlands Airport. Interestingly, it was not reported in the METARS for this site on that day despite being very prominent.

It has turned rather cool here in the UK and the maximum temperature today over most of England and Wales ranged between 15-19*C. Here in Milton Keynes it only reached 17*C with a few showers thrown in - the temperature was just 13*C at 1pm after a particularly heavy shower. The wind has dropped this evening as the skies have cleared and we are expecting a general ground frost in rural parts by tomorrow morning. This is rather early to be protecting the delicate flowers and plants!

[Blade]

First of all 40ºc can be considered warm in some cities but in other is now below average like kuwait city, the temperatures in lisbon are below average for a while now july was more than 1ºc below average, and this august is even colder, it has 26ºc max 18ºc min it can sound warm but the average of last century 1971-2000 was 27,8ºc max 18,1ºc min 1981-2010 28,3ºc max 18,6ºc min that station has more than 100years but its in the coldest part of the city , still not a big difference comparated with the average, in fact almost never there are 3ºc anomalies is a very stable city, but there were weird months like march 1997 with 24,5ºc max 13,1ºc min (similiar to september in new zealand) and the big heatwave of july-august 2003 which cause many deaths arround the europe, the temperatures are normally arround 5ºc 35ºc during the year.

Uk is starting to have autumn mornings , I think this month will be probably below average but the weather is unexpected

[NZstorm]

The funnel cloud in that photo would have been one of the landspout type. Not a supercell but still a great photo.

Lisbon is in a similar climate zone to Auckland, being a west coast warm temperate zone. But being continental Lisbon is obviously hotter in summer.

[Simon Culling]

The chilly weather we have been experiencing recently has now been reflected in the monthly average with the CET falling to 15.6*C (-0.4*C) up to the 21st. The rest of the month is not looking too warm either, so this may be the first month since last November without a positive anomaly. The EWR up to the 20th was 82mm which is 106% of the monthly average - and Bank Holiday Monday is looking rather wet and windy too!

Thursday morning (21st) was noticeably cold for the time of the year over the southern half of England with minimum temperatures recorded at:

2.1*C at Upper Lambourn (Berks)
2.2*C at South Newington (Oxon)
2.7*C at RAF Benson (Oxon) + Bournemouth Hurn Airport (Dorset)
3.0*C at Usk (Gwent)

Some stations even recorded a ground frost with a grass minimum of -2*C at Pershore and -1*C at Benson, Hurn, Lyneham, Boscombe Down and Larkhill.

The coming Sat/Sun night is looking even colder on the recent forecasts with the risk of an air frost in places.

[Simon Culling]

A new record low temperature for August for Northern Ireland was set on the morning of Sunday 24th August at Katesbridge in County Down. The mercury fell to -1.9*C which beat the previous record of -1.1*C that was set in 1964 at Loughermore Forest, also in County Down. Other lows for this recent night were:

-0.5*C at Magherally (Co Down)
1.3*C at Ccastelderg (Co Tyrone)
2.1*C at RAF Benson (Oxon) + Shap (Cumbria)
2.1*C at Thomastown (Co Fermanagh)
2.3*C at Bala (mid Wales)

The worst of the cold was in N Ireland - I will check to see what happened in Eire.

[Simon Culling]

It was not quite so cold in Eire overnight 23/24 August with the lowest temperatures reported from synoptic sites being 1.5*C at Mt Dillon, 1.9*C at Markree Castle and 2.0*C at Ballyhaise.

The final CET for August was 14.9*C (-0.8*C) which represents the first lower than average month since November 2013, with the dramatic change in the synoptics apparently being caused by the remnants of Hurricane Bertha. The EWR was 118mm, which is 153% of the average, with the wet last two weeks being the main culprit.

[Simon Culling]

Further to the discussion earlier in this thread concerning sunshine hours (or lack of them!) in the UK, I have attached a table of climate statistics (1981-2010) for stations from the south Midlands south westwards to SW England. The table shows that sunshine increases from 1500-1600 hours over the south Midlands to nearer 1700 in the far SW despite there being considerably more rainfall in the SW. In the Channel Islands they reach around 1900 hours and similar figures are recorded on the south east coast of England at places such as Eastbourne, Folkestone etc.). Generally speaking, coastal areas have more sunshine than inland areas. Temperature wise, the midland counties have higher average maximums but lower average minimums.