Was 2018 the best ever year for weather in modern times?

Sycamore Tree

2018 was a classic for me in terms of fascinating or enjoyable weather.
It had everything really - Great cold periods and loads of snow, an epic summer of sun and loads of wild storms throughout.

MidMan25

Without doubt. Very memorable throughout in my neck of the woods. Even the last 7 weeks have been quite out of the ordinary with the amount of rain alone. I think November was the wettest month in Cork since December 2015. Emma in March, the most epic thunderstorm I've ever seen in May the went on for an entire night, and a long warm and exceptionally dry summer.

esposito

Sycamore Tree wrote: »

2018 was a classic for me in terms of fascinating or enjoyable weather.
It had everything really - Great cold periods and loads of snow, an epic summer of sun and loads of wild storms throughout.

All that was missing were some thunderstorms during the summer which I expected because of the heat. 2018 was a very good year indeed for interesting weather. Pity the last month i.e now is a very unsettled and an Atlantic dominated one. But a lot to look forward to in the new year.

pad199207

Without a doubt. 80s style blizzards and 80s style thunderstorms

LionelNashe

This is quite funny. You denizens of the weather forum have a different definition of what's the 'best ever year for weather' than normal humans.

Billcarson

Personnaly I preferred 2010 . Great cold spell in Jan and of course the very memorable month of dec. The first half of summer that yr wasn't bad.

2018 would be my second fav yr of recent times.

MidMan25

LionelNashe wrote: »

This is quite funny. You denizens of the weather forum have a different definition of what's the 'best ever year for weather' than normal humans.

What would your criteria be? Surely everyone bar farmers were delighted with that summer? Emma was an inconvenience for about 4 days.

LionelNashe

MidMan25 wrote: »

What would your criteria be? Surely everyone bar farmers were delighted with that summer? Emma was an inconvenience for about 4 days.

Exactly - my definition of 'best ever year for weather' would include a long hot summer as the number 1 priority. The point I was making is that all the posters above me were including 'interesting' and 'memorable' events like snow and unusual rain and wild storms etc. Not the kind of weather that people normally like.

Graces7

LionelNashe wrote: »

This is quite funny. You denizens of the weather forum have a different definition of what's the 'best ever year for weather' than normal humans.

roflol.. not all of us , believe me! :eek: far from it.

sryanbruen

Billcarson wrote: »

Personnaly I preferred 2010 . Great cold spell in Jan and of course the very memorable month of dec. The first half of summer that yr wasn't bad.

2018 would be my second fav yr of recent times.

Same here. 2018 was giving 2010 a run for its money but November and December have been awfully ****e so 2010 remains king for me. Saying that, I’ve made some new favourite months this year; February, June and October.

Here's a little GIF of some of my 2018 pics.



Highlights of 2018 to me in order

1. May to July heatwaves and sunny spells
2. Beast from the East/Storm Emma
3. Storm Ali
4. Northwesterly bringing snow on 16 January (first snow since March 2016)
5. October cold spell bringing severe frost

You would think the Beast from the East/Storm Emma was my favourite but no, the early Summer period actually was, particularly June.

The weather has definitely been a treat to me this year. Hopefully 2019 will be as exciting as this was.

Gonzo

sryanbruen wrote: »

Same here. 2018 was giving 2010 a run for its money but November and December have been awfully ****e so 2010 remains king for me. Saying that, I’ve made some new favourite months this year; February, June and October.

I would agree with this. 2018 has been mostly a great year for weather. November and December this year is definitely the low point of the year, we haven't had a single enjoyable day of weather since the end of October.

The Beast From the East/Storm Emma was very good, an exceptional snow event but I feel 2010 definitely was better for several reasons:

- it occurred late November and lasted most of December.
- as it was proper winter, the temperatures could get a lot colder
- snow was on the ground for several weeks from 2 seperate events.
- The snow trains from the Irish sea where much more impressive in 2010.
- The Beast From The East segment was a bit of a letdown in my area, if it wasn't for Storm Emma we would have only had 2 or 3 inches of snow.
- It was really Storm Emma which delivered an insane amount of snow over a 48 hour period.
- Storm Emma occurred at the beginning of March, once the snow stopped falling the thaw was rapid.
- The snowflakes themselves were generally small in size, no massive flakes like we had in 2010.

My main criticism of Storm Emma is while the snow depths were really good, I didn't fully get the chance to enjoy it as melting was obvious once the snow lightened off and there was dripping everywhere. The snow was becoming watery very quickly. This may not have happened if the event had occurred a month earlier.

The Summer of 2018 was mostly fantastic. Once again we have definitely had better summers such as 1995. We never really got the temperature extremes in the East this year.

The onshore easterly breezes kept much of the heatwave under 22C here in Meath, but the weather itself sure was lovely. We got 28C on 2 or 3 days of the summer. The 2013 heatwave was definitely hotter in Meath than the 2018 one.

The main thing was the lack of rain and the amount of sunshine we got.

Overall I have really enjoyed 2018 from January all the way to the end of October. September wasn't a great month but October was really good, more like a cooler version of a decent summer month.

Artane2002

Gonzo wrote: »

I would agree with this. 2018 has been mostly a great year for weather. November and December this year is definitely the low point of the year, we haven't had a single enjoyable day of weather since the end of October.

The Beast From the East/Storm Emma was very good, an exceptional snow event but I feel 2010 definitely was better for several reasons:

- it occurred late November and lasted most of December.
- as it was proper winter, the temperatures could get a lot colder
- snow was on the ground for several weeks from 2 seperate events.
- The snow trains from the Irish sea where much more impressive in 2010.
- The Beast From The East segment was a bit of a letdown in my area, if it wasn't for Storm Emma we would have only had 2 or 3 inches of snow.
- It was really Storm Emma which delivered an insane amount of snow over a 48 hour period.
- Storm Emma occurred at the beginning of March, once the snow stopped falling the thaw was rapid.
- The snowflakes themselves were generally small in size, no massive flakes like we had in 2010.

My main criticism of Storm Emma is while the snow depths were really good, I didn't fully get the chance to enjoy it as melting was obvious once the snow lightened off and there was dripping everywhere. The snow was becoming watery very quickly. This may not have happened if the event had occurred a month earlier.

The Summer of 2018 was mostly fantastic. Once again we have definitely had better summers such as 1995. We never really got the temperature extremes in the East this year.

The onshore easterly breezes kept much of the heatwave under 22C here in Meath, but the weather itself sure was lovely. We got 28C on 2 or 3 days of the summer. The 2013 heatwave was definitely hotter in Meath than the 2018 one.

The main thing was the lack of rain and the amount of sunshine we got.

Overall I have really enjoyed 2018 from January all the way to the end of October. September wasn't a great month but October was really good, more like a cooler version of a decent summer month.

I remember you got some impressive accumulations from the potent northwesterly in mid January so I'm guessing that's why you thought January was nice?

pauldry

My favorite year for weather ever was 1947 and 1976

In the 2000s 2007 was good coz there was tons of rain that Summer and 2009 too. 2010 has to stand out too when it was -9.4c at the beach in Sligo

Xenji

Not really in Castlebar, we missed out on most of the Beast From The East and Storm Emma, our summer besides a lovely June was a washout by the end.

The only really interesting thing we had besides cracking 30 degrees in June was Storm Eleanor in January which brought stronger gusts than Ali, Darwin and damp squid that was Ophelia.

Gonzo

Artane2002 wrote: »

I remember you got some impressive accumulations from the potent northwesterly in mid January so I'm guessing that's why you thought January was nice?

yep, that was probably one of the best snowfalls from Atlantic showers I've ever had. Ended up with about 4 inches of snow from that. Usually Atlantic northwesterly's rarely deliver more than a dusting here.

Donegal Storm

Late February through to July was definitely the best and most eventful period in recent times, was fortunate enough to be right in the firing line of the deepest snow during the storm in Kildare and of course the countless long sunny days.

I moved back to Donegal in August though and it's been fairly awful since. Also haven't heard a single rumble of thunder all year, very few convective days and haven't experienced a decent storm. A year of two halves I'd say..

sryanbruen

Gonzo wrote: »

I would agree with this. 2018 has been mostly a great year for weather. November and December this year is definitely the low point of the year, we haven't had a single enjoyable day of weather since the end of October.

The Beast From the East/Storm Emma was very good, an exceptional snow event but I feel 2010 definitely was better for several reasons:

- it occurred late November and lasted most of December.
- as it was proper winter, the temperatures could get a lot colder
- snow was on the ground for several weeks from 2 seperate events.
- The snow trains from the Irish sea where much more impressive in 2010.
- The Beast From The East segment was a bit of a letdown in my area, if it wasn't for Storm Emma we would have only had 2 or 3 inches of snow.
- It was really Storm Emma which delivered an insane amount of snow over a 48 hour period.
- Storm Emma occurred at the beginning of March, once the snow stopped falling the thaw was rapid.
- The snowflakes themselves were generally small in size, no massive flakes like we had in 2010.

I preferred that period in 2010 not only because of longevity but also because it was nicer to experience. 2010 had light winds and plenty of sunshine, compare the below two photos for instance.

This picture was taken by a poster named donothoponpop at Tinahely, Wicklow on 27 November 2010. My favourite picture I've seen honestly or at least in the top 5 - there were some damn fine pictures taken during that period that sometimes it's hard to pick one single favourite.



This was my area on 1 March 2018. Not nearly as beautiful if you ask me because of the dull nature of the weather.



Of course, there was some stonkers of photos especially from Kildare with towns like Sallins although I just prefer 2010 all around.

nacho libre

I would have to say 2010 too, but the late February and mid- march 2018 cold was something special, because it put to bed the argument that you can't get severe cold and snow past mid- February. I will never forget it being 12 degrees on the 16th of March, then by the morning of the 17th the temperature was down to 1c- madness!
Let's hope 2019 gives us a record breaking cold spell!

sryanbruen

Here's a slideshow of what I think are my best photos taken of each month this year.

I did and will not include December in it as no photos have been great for the month due to the poor weather and it doesn't look like that will improve for the rest of the period to give some great scenes. Even November got some good scenes.

Really proud of the photography this year as I do say so myself.

Thanks for watching I meant to add in it!

Mortelaro

From a farming point of view it was a difficult year trying to cope with snow,drought and floods
Very costly for most
One best forgotten
Whilst for weather nerds like ourselves and the inner child,it was a shot in the arm
Most people would have loved the sunny summer
I'd prefer winter weather in winter ie before march and a few wet days during the summer for balance
It can't be extreme the whole time,eventually everything would die