Worst Irish summer ?

Storm 10

Without a doubt the worst summer here in the West, cool cloud and wind 😠

MJohnston

Pretty clear that most people don't define their "worst summer" by any kind of quantifiable things like rainfall amounts or temperatures. I think it boils down to:

(a) How many days are overcast, grey, and 'miserable'?
(b) How recent in the memory is the summer?
(c) How recently did the poster go on a sun holiday?
(d) Where in Ireland do they live?
(e) Did the poster get soaked on the way to work before reading this thread?

For me, this summer has been not as bad as some years that I can remember, that 2007-12 spell was dismal, it actually made me crave the cold, yet dry and sunny winters. June this year was mostly really lovely too. I've started cycling this year, and the one thing I've really noticed is that it's been a lot breezier than usual (as discussed in another thread), but it's mostly been warm and I can only remember two days where it rained on my way to work. I really think the overcast weather gives a lot of people the impression of rain in their memory.

Seanachai

MJohnston wrote: »

Pretty clear that most people don't define their "worst summer" by any kind of quantifiable things like rainfall amounts or temperatures. I think it boils down to:

(a) How many days are overcast, grey, and 'miserable'?
(b) How recent in the memory is the summer?
(c) How recently did the poster go on a sun holiday?
(d) Where in Ireland do they live?
(e) Did the poster get soaked on the way to work before reading this thread?

For me, this summer has been not as bad as some years that I can remember, that 2007-12 spell was dismal, it actually made me crave the cold, yet dry and sunny winters. June this year was mostly really lovely too. I've started cycling this year, and the one thing I've really noticed is that it's been a lot breezier than usual (as discussed in another thread), but it's mostly been warm and I can only remember two days where it rained on my way to work. I really think the overcast weather gives a lot of people the impression of rain in their memory.

The factors you listed probably do have a strong bearing on the perception of whether it is a good summer or not. Right now it's the hope of some warm, dry weather at the end of Aug, beginning of Sep that's keeping me going. I'll take all the sunny, dry Autumn and Winter weather I can get too, let the cold do what it likes, I'm hairy so I can handle it. Just 4-5 days in a row where it's sunny can lift people's moods something fierce, this grey skies business has got to go! GO! it's got to f**kin go! :P

Lux23

2007 was definitely the worst I can remember, I was living on James Street and I can remember having to get buses down to Dame Street because you would get drenched through in the rain. I have lots of memories of sitting in pubs waiting for the rain to stop and it never did. I was sick several times over that summer and autumn as well.

vicwatson

Lux23 wrote: »

2007 was definitely the worst I can remember, I was living on James Street and I can remember having to get buses down to Dame Street because you would get drenched through in the rain. I have lots of memories of sitting in pubs waiting for the rain to stop and it never did. I was sick several times over that summer and autumn as well.

Was that from sitting in the pub

pauldry

2007
1985
2012
1986
2015!

dollar_king

Schadenfreudia wrote: »

Alas the statistics don't support you - '85 was worse by a wide margin!

And it was 1986, not 1985, which gave the epic lightening storm.....

both summers had major lightening storms , at least where I lived when I was eight

dollar_king

smokie72 wrote: »

1986 did have a thunderstorm in late June. It was the weekend of the World cup finals and I remember Jimmy Mcgee mentioning that there were electrical storms in Ireland that were interverning with the reception of the 3rd place play off. It was also the evening Simple Minds played in Croke Park. That was a thunderstorm to remember but the daddy of them all was in 1985 (25th/26th July). That was an epic storm that I will never forget til the day I die and I thought I would that night!

2012 was a dire summer alright but for me 2007,2008,2009 and 2011 were very poor too. I was working on a golf course during the summers of 07 and 08 and I just remember been wet and cold most of the time. It was such a change from 2006 that it was hard to comprehend. Those bad summers also tied in with the start of the recession as well. It seemed the good times were over.

obviously a location thing , 2011 was not especially bad where I lived in 2011 , I would say this summer is worse in fact ( live in west now however )

dollar_king

who_ru wrote: »

The south of the country is by far the wettest in my view.

Donegal , galway , Kerry

considerably wetter than the rest of the country

Dublin , Kildare , louth , receive the least rainfall according to stats

dollar_king

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

I think they were a load of bad summers ... but these are the top 10 in that order more or less. I am confining it to the 1985-date period:

10: 1998: Well, not too bad. But VERY COLD. We have to start somewhere.
9. 1987: Very very wet summer. Some fine days but never got going.
8. 2009: Very poor and more or less rained every week for June, July and August. The saving grace was that September was lovely that year.
7. 2007: A very similar situation to 2009.
6 1988: A very wet and miserable summer that never got going either. Typical 1980s Irish summer.
5. 2002: Fairly awful summer overall. Lots of rain and some bad thunderstorms thrown in.
4. 2008: one of three out and out bad summers in a row, 2008 seemed to be the worst of the 3 as not much fine weather came after it either. Similar to 2007 and 2009.
3. 1986: 2 words: Hurricane Charlie! I remember it as wet, cold and windy most of the time.
2. 1985: Thunder, lighting, rain and, er, moving statues! A weird and horrible summer of extreme weather and religion.
1. 1997: The winner goes to 1997's AWFUL wet, thundery, foggy failure of a summer. Apart from 2 weeks, the rest was a pure misery. 5 days nonstop rain (and I MEAN nonstop) included in August. Plus plenty weeks of humid fog, thunder and lightening, and cold. The whole post-summer period was no better (other years at least had a later period of nice weather: 1997 ended in December with hurricane force winds).

spent most of the summer of 2007 drawing silage in county louth and you tend to remember weather when at that kind of thing , it was a pretty decent summer , june and july were good anyway

im struggling to remember 2011 as being particulary bad yet most seem to think it was

dollar_king

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

I think they were a load of bad summers ... but these are the top 10 in that order more or less. I am confining it to the 1985-date period:

10: 1998: Well, not too bad. But VERY COLD. We have to start somewhere.
9. 1987: Very very wet summer. Some fine days but never got going.
8. 2009: Very poor and more or less rained every week for June, July and August. The saving grace was that September was lovely that year.
7. 2007: A very similar situation to 2009.
6 1988: A very wet and miserable summer that never got going either. Typical 1980s Irish summer.
5. 2002: Fairly awful summer overall. Lots of rain and some bad thunderstorms thrown in.
4. 2008: one of three out and out bad summers in a row, 2008 seemed to be the worst of the 3 as not much fine weather came after it either. Similar to 2007 and 2009.
3. 1986: 2 words: Hurricane Charlie! I remember it as wet, cold and windy most of the time.
2. 1985: Thunder, lighting, rain and, er, moving statues! A weird and horrible summer of extreme weather and religion.
1. 1997: The winner goes to 1997's AWFUL wet, thundery, foggy failure of a summer. Apart from 2 weeks, the rest was a pure misery. 5 days nonstop rain (and I MEAN nonstop) included in August. Plus plenty weeks of humid fog, thunder and lightening, and cold. The whole post-summer period was no better (other years at least had a later period of nice weather: 1997 ended in December with hurricane force winds).

spent most of the summer of 1997 drawing silage in county louth and you tend to remember weather when at that kind of thing , it was a pretty decent summer , june and july were good anyway

im struggling to remember 2011 as being particulary bad yet most seem to think it was

dollar_king

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

2012 was pretty awful in the period June and July but I recall very nice weather in April and August and September were not bad. 2011 was something similar. 2012 was hardly a great summer but ones like 1997, 1985, 2007, 2008 and 2009 were much worse.

1997 was flat out the worst year weatherwise in general. January was cold, the February to April period was normal, May was good but from June to December, it was awful: 5 days nonstop rain in Clonmel area in August I remember all too well. And violent hurricane force destructive winds on Christmas Eve was the climax of a desperate period of wet and/or windy weather that lasted more or less from August to then.

On the other end of the scale, 2013 and 2014 were lovely summers but we got a 1997-style period of wet and windy weather with violent hurricane force winds from December to February 2013/14 pitched between those 2 exceptional summers. This period of weather along with most of 1997 and the Novemnber/December snow of 2010 was the worst weather in the last 20 years.

nothing compared to 2012 for me in terms of awfulness , I think its because it continued into autumn and spring of 2013 , yet to meet a farmer who rates any year worse

dollar_king

hotwhiskey wrote: »

True many here will not remember 85'. 1985 was the worst here and is still talked about more so among the farming community.

In 1985 making hay for cattle feeding was the main source of feeding along with cutting silage. Cutting silage then was not on the same speed as today. In that year my hay was a total mess, black and rotten it ended up. Anyway to cut a long story short that year effected many more so through the loss of income and hardship. 2007 was a bad summer yes but it doesn't stick in my mind as the machinery we use today can all have cut in one day and stored, But in 85' it took 5 to 7 good days.

it appeared worse due to the limited options available to farmers back then

small machinery which struggled in wet conditions

no silage bales so hay was more important

Schadenfreudia

Ah jaysus Dollar - would ya ever stop? I was chided once for posting the same thing in different threads

dollar_king

Schadenfreudia wrote: »

Ah jaysus Dollar - would ya ever stop? I was chided once for posting the same thing in different threads

ok , il delete them

Schadenfreudia

dollar_king wrote: »

ok , il delete them

For God's sake don't! :eek:

I don't want to be clobbered for back-seat modding

dollar_king

Schadenfreudia wrote: »

For God's sake don't! :eek:

I don't want to be clobbered for back-seat modding

clicked on edit button but it wont function so stuck with posts

JCX BXC

Well this thread has taken an unusual turn.

pauldry

2007 was the year britain spent july under water and rihanna made it as whatever she is due to "umbrella ella ella"

Were it not for the wettest july in 240 years in britain we may never have found love in a hopeless place.

sryanbruen

Here I'm an actual meteorologist and I'm gonna show ya the worst Irish summers (at least since my records began). First of all to the person who said APRIL 2012 was a good month! NO it was not nearly a good month, it was an absolutely terrible month with non-stop rainfall! Fact: Grange, Dublin (my station) had its wettest April on record in 2012 with 131.4mm which is 337% of the LTA. Second of all, 2010 wasn't a bad Summer at all! Only July was bad. June started off quite wet (6th-9th) though overall it was an absolute stunner month for Summer! July was horrible and August was excellent! with little rain and plenty of sunshine. Okay, here I go with the worst Summers in Irish history.

5. 2007 - June was exceptionally wet nearly everywhere but relatively sunny and quite warm. July was awfully wet and cold but quite sunny! August was a pretty average month with some heavy downpours at the start (up to the 20th) and slightly duller than normal. Temperatures were at or below average. Overall, Summer 2007 was exceptionally wet though the saving grace that made it lower on this list is that it was sunny and relatively mild.

4. 2002 - June was the wettest on record in parts of the west ('til 2012) and it was also very dull and cold. July was no better as it again was quite wet, dull (my second dullest July on record) and cool. August was again dull but unlike the previous months, it was warm and dry in most places. Overall, Summer 2002 wasn't anything great with quite cool and wet conditions. What made it worse was that it was exceptionally dull. Grange for example, recorded only 79% of its seasonal average.

3. 1986 - June was extremely dull, wet and relatively mild. July was the dullest on record with variable rainfall and average temperatures. August was exceptionally cold, wet and dull. On Tuesday, August 5th, a storm hit the southwest of Ireland with Caherciveen recording 88.7mm in 24 hours. Exactly 20 days later, Hurricane Charley hit Ireland and brought a good drenching downpour to the country. Kippure, Wicklow recorded around 280mm during Hurricane Charley's visit. Overall, Summer 1986 was very poor with sunshine totals even lower than those of 2002. Grange for example again, recorded only 74% of its seasonal average (July contributed to it by only 21% thus the dullest on record). The August storms contributed to the rainfall by almost 150%. Temperatures were around -1.0c below average and August was particularly cold with differences of average widely around -2 - -3c.

2. 2012 - I'm pretty sure we all know this infamous Summer. June was the wettest on record with some record breaking daily falls in places including at Grange. It was also very dull and cool. July was no better with non-stop rainfall from time to time (not as heavy this time though) and it was very cold, coldest July in my records as well as quite dull again. August started off quite wet (until the 6th) then a dry period set in which was very pleasant. The rest of August then was a mix bag between sunny spells, heavy showers and heavy rain (24th and 27th in particular). August was overall a fairly warm, dull (quite sunny here though) and relatively wet month with nothing spectacular. Overall, Summer 2012 was another very poor Summer with exceptional wet spells from time to time, lack of warmth (saving grace was June 26th-28th, July 17th and August 10th) and exceptional dull conditions. Many parts had their dullest Summer since 2008 whilst others had their dullest on record.

1. 2008 - With the exception of some sunny days in the first half of June, there is nothing good about this Summer! From dull and wet conditions to unseasonably windy days! June was a dull, wet and mainly mild month. July was another dull, wet and mild month. August was an extremely wet and dull month with the saving grace of mild nights which meant for average or higher than normal temperatures. I can't stress how bad this Summer was! August 2008 was the wettest in my records and also one of the wettest months ever! For example, I recorded 184.2mm which is 288% of my average. June 2012 was a close call with this month as being the wettest Summer month but didn't pass it with 181.9mm which comes to 378% of my average.

If I were to do a top 10 worst Summers in Irish history these would be the rest:

10. 1988
9. 1980
8. 1985
7. 2009
6. 1912

Schadenfreudia

sryanbruen wrote: »

Fact: Grange, Dublin (my station)....

.....obviously wasn't working in 1985

sryanbruen

Schadenfreudia wrote: »

.....obviously wasn't working in 1985

True, records started at Grange in 1986. I was just using Met Éireann's historical data to indicate the worst Irish Summers.

Schadenfreudia

sryanbruen wrote: »

True, records started at Grange in 1986. I was just using Met Éireann's historical data to indicate the worst Irish Summers.

Mine was operative in '85 (in another, lower, part of Dublin) and it reads like a horror story :eek:

juneg

sryanbruen wrote: »

True, records started at Grange in 1986. I was just using Met Éireann's historical data to indicate the worst Irish Summers.

And how are you rating 2015 so far?
Is it a contender?

Stealthfins

Looking forward to a crispy Autumn and Winter.
Usually after a wet summer the Winter and Autumn are nice.
Hopefully plenty of offshore winds and glassy seas off the west coast,combined with a saw swell....
Like 2012

sryanbruen

Stealthfins wrote: »

Looking forward to a crispy Autumn and Winter.
Usually after a wet summer the Winter and Autumn are nice.
Hopefully plenty of offshore winds and glassy seas off the west coast,combined with a saw swell....
Like 2012

Hopefully we get a SNOWY Winter! Not a stormy one like Winter 2013 / 14 which was absolutely horrible. Here's 2012's Autumn and Winter 2012 / 13's summaries to see if ya remember what it was like:

September 2012: Exceptionally dry among the south coast (5mm in parts of Cork throughout), but worst September storm for decades brought rainfall totals up in many eastern and northern parts. Overall, mainly dry, quite sunny but cold month.

October 2012: Rather average October with the exception of it was so cold! Mainly sunny in most places but here in Dublin, it was very dull - very similar to October 2013. Rainfall was just mainly above average but nothing significant.

November 2012: Mainly wet, cool and sunny (except in the northwest). Unless you live in the UK at the time, there was again nothing spectacular about this month.

December 2012: Very windy generally. Variable rainfall with most places wet and sunny in the east. Mild overall after a cold start.

January 2013: Extremely dull, mainly wet, quite windy and a little cooler than normal. (Mild start, cold mid-month, mild end).

February 2013: Quite cold, sunny and dry. Again nothing spectacular.

March 2013 (felt like Winter!): Coldest March on record with plenty of snowfall. Very dull except in parts of the west and mainly wet in the east and south.

gilly0512

sryanbruen wrote: »

Hopefully we get a SNOWY Winter! Not a stormy one like Winter 2013 / 14 which was absolutely horrible. Here's 2012's Autumn and Winter 2012 / 13's summaries to see if ya remember what it was like:

September 2012: Exceptionally dry among the south coast (5mm in parts of Cork throughout), but worst September storm for decades brought rainfall totals up in many eastern and northern parts. Overall, mainly dry, quite sunny but cold month.

October 2012: Rather average October with the exception of it was so cold! Mainly sunny in most places but here in Dublin, it was very dull - very similar to October 2013. Rainfall was just mainly above average but nothing significant.

November 2012: Mainly wet, cool and sunny (except in the northwest). Unless you live in the UK at the time, there was again nothing spectacular about this month.

December 2012: Very windy generally. Variable rainfall with most places wet and sunny in the east. Mild overall after a cold start.

January 2013: Extremely dull, mainly wet, quite windy and a little cooler than normal. (Mild start, cold mid-month, mild end).

February 2013: Quite cold, sunny and dry. Again nothing spectacular.

March 2013 (felt like Winter!): Coldest March on record with plenty of snowfall. Very dull except in parts of the west and mainly wet in the east and south.

It's funny how quickly you forget some of the awful Summers that we've had previously, I had completely forgotten about how bad 2008 was, and I didn't recall June 2012 been that bad either. I suppose at the end of the day we are easily pleased in this country, and a two or three week spell of great weather during the Summer, generally has us waxing lyrical about it being the best summer ever, just like July 2013 when we had three weeks of non stop sun, and temperatures in the high 20s. As regards your hopes for Winter, I would have to disagree with you on snow. It is lovely to look at, but we are completely incapable of dealing with snow in this country, and any Winter without snow is a good winter in my book.

Seanachai

gilly2308 wrote: »

It's funny how quickly you forget some of the awful Summers that we've had previously, I had completely forgotten about how bad 2008 was, and I didn't recall June 2012 been that bad either. I suppose at the end of the day we are easily pleased in this country, and a two or three week spell of great weather during the Summer, generally has us waxing lyrical about it being the best summer ever, just like July 2013 when we had three weeks of non stop sun, and temperatures in the high 20s. As regards your hopes for Winter, I would have to disagree with you on snow. It is lovely to look at, but we are completely incapable of dealing with snow in this country, and any Winter without snow is a good winter in my book.

A two or three week spell of good weather would be glorious, you're right about the snow, it turns into the 'Day after tomorrow' after a couple of days of snowfall

sryanbruen

gilly2308 wrote: »

It's funny how quickly you forget some of the awful Summers that we've had previously, I had completely forgotten about how bad 2008 was, and I didn't recall June 2012 been that bad either. I suppose at the end of the day we are easily pleased in this country, and a two or three week spell of great weather during the Summer, generally has us waxing lyrical about it being the best summer ever, just like July 2013 when we had three weeks of non stop sun, and temperatures in the high 20s. As regards your hopes for Winter, I would have to disagree with you on snow. It is lovely to look at, but we are completely incapable of dealing with snow in this country, and any Winter without snow is a good winter in my book.

I don't forget any day's weather!

Schadenfreudia

sryanbruen wrote: »

I don't forget any day's weather!

I think he meant it in the sense of "It's funny how quickly one forgets some of the awful Summers that we've had previously

I have records of the weather going back to my first childhood - but if you asked me about the 23rd July 1988 - I'd have to look it up.