Up until now for me it was 2006, which was.fairly similar to now.
Any others people remember
Sorry Syran but I have to contradict one point you made here regarding June 2013. It started off very nice here in this part of the country. I remember because we got our dog (a puppy at the time) during this fine spell, and a fine spell it was as the air mass and feel of the air, the look of the sky (dark steel blue) etc was much better than anything the following July brought, which, like this current spell, was just pure hell for me.
‘76
Yeah I understand everything you said. I don't downplay just how good of a summer 1995 was. It was the best Irish summer in living memory going by people's recollections as well as what the statistics have to say. Not many summers can say it was the warmest, driest and sunniest on record all in one season. Just wish I could have experienced it being brought into this world 5 years later.
1995
When you’ve experienced a long, hot summer like 1995 (or 1976 I understand), those sunny spells are nice but will always fall short. As has been pointed out, 1995 did see some cloudy spells but basically for the month of August and much of June and July, you didn’t pray for good weather, it was an expectation. I think because temperature records weren’t readily broken, people who didn’t experience it dismiss it. But when you’re enjoying your umpteenth day in the normally notoriously baltic open air pool of your hometown (that struggles to stay open pretty much every summer), you know it’s good and you don’t really care that 30°C wasn’t hit. Experientially, that summer is peerless for me. I’ve spent 26 years waiting for a repeat.
The June 2013 sun was great but just not that long a spell. 1996 was a nothing summer.
Nice & all as the last 10 days to 2 weeks have been they haven't a patch on the 1995 & 1976 heat waves.
There was a Harp ad with the line something like "you could fry an egg, if you had an egg that is". To me this sums up 1976 to a T.
2020 was spring, not summer. The actual summer period (meteorologically, June, July and August) was dreadful and the worst I have experienced. Summer 2020 in a few words - cloud, cloud, cloud.
The amount of misinformation in this thread is funny to be honest. June 2013 started off terribly.. it didn't unless you hate day after day of sunshine that is. Summer 1996 was pretty good up until August by Irish standards with June and July both providing lovely sunny periods mid-month and mixed weather either side but no washouts.
May to July 2018 was comparable to the sunniest summers on record in Dublin, the visibility was excellent in late June in particular with very low humidity, bags of sunshine, high temperatures; true continental feel to the weather. I know the west had it quite poor in July 2018 after first few days whilst August was poor everywhere.
I think you’re right! I’m not mixing them up personally though. That first lockdown period was pleasant and sunny but too early to make a vintage summer. The weather was overall disappointing for a summer where we really needed the stars to align as none of us was going anywhere.
It was a hosepipe ban accompanied by cloudy gloom for the most part. The absolute worst of all worlds. The actual sunny weather was pretty short-lived. No water, yellowing grass but not even the ingredient to make it worth it. 2018’s sunny spell wasn’t long enough to make it a vintage summer.
Much like I’ve seen August 2003 mentioned a few times. Oh, it was hot all right… and seriously hazy every day in Dublin. I remember the torture because my parents spent most of that month in the UK on their holliers with friends in the south midlands. In the UK, the temperature was being matched by sun every day and temperature records were being neared or broken almost daily in various parts of the UK.
Meanwhile, we were getting high 20s haze. Not like, flithery, high haze that is basically sunny but proper gloom. The most oppressive weather I’ve experienced in Ireland. 2006’s spell ended like that (probably the highest humidity ever at the end of the spell but was at least the weather impressive for a good, solid period.)
A lovely spring and first half of June and dire after that. What I remember about last August was rotting mouldy flowers in the garden in low temperatures and rain.
Someone mentioned 1887 a few posts back 😁 but I'll go back a decade to 1878 which was a very similar summer to 1976 but not as dry.
What a year that was! Look at the mean temps for the following winter (78/79) at the Phoenix Park: Nov 3.2c, Dec -0.1, Jan 1.2c.
That December was colder to any month in 1917, 1947 or 1963.
People are mistaking Summer for the first lockdown period of late March to mid May
How could one have forgotten summer 2018 and the infamous hose pipe ban already
Definitely, even though I was a child-I vividly remember the reservoir in Stillorgan being practically dried out
Terrible writing indeed. The article could have been interesting, had somebody who can actually write had written it.
"The Irish Times noted the changes in people’s habits that began to be noticed throughout June, as people grew more accustomed to the new Mediterranean climate."
There is no end to the skills of journalists is there? Not only are they experts in all things science, politics and the economy, but now are selling themselves as expert social psychologists as well.
Pollock by name, Pollock by article. Horrendous.
1976 …. Every day on the beach in Kerry. Different beach each day. Grandparents, uncles aunts and cousins all having fun every day for weeks. Parents used to go every morning to butchers and the shop… cooking meals on the beach…if I remember correctly, that summer was the longest and best until I moved abroad.
here I am 36c today, no beach no swimming pool (alas) just too hot to sunbathe…miles from home and wishing I was back on those Kerry beaches again!
The summer of '95 was unreal. Late teens. Parties. REM at Slane. Class.
1995 and 2013.
95 - me and my mates built a raft and lived on the thing for the summer. Great days. If you look at any clips from the big GAA games that summer it's sweltering in all of them.
And to me, a great April and May is not that great. Much shorter days, cooler evenings. It's just not late enough in the year to get too excited about. I was in the Dublin area and there was only one day where I regretted not getting to the sea to get some swimming in. I think it was 24 degrees that day. Inland was better. I do recall being envious of rellies getting better weather than us. But just too early for me to personally get excited about and just not heat that really struck me apart from that one day.
maybe to you but it is to a lot of people.
its not just diy its people jobs , mine included that rely on good weather. good weather is dry warm with a light brease around 15-20 degrees. once it goes above that it starts becoming bad weather.
its a balancing act. but too hot is way worse that cold .
as you say we need rain mixed in
I was doing my Leaving Cert in 1995.
The exam hall was stifling every single day.
If I recall, it didn't rain from the start of June until mid-August
The reservoirs were dangerously low and there were gorse fires in the mountains.
I can remember 10 weeks of 25c and higher. Muggy nights and clear blue sky by day
I think you guys might be at crossed wires because April and May last year were fabulous but later in the summer was not great. At least in Dublin, it was quite wet and overcast a lot of the time. Not the worst summer by any means, but not anywhere near the best weather wise.
Spring 2020 was unreal though. Two months of non stop sunshine in Dublin. Shorts and BBQ weather. Right when we needed it during the strictest part of the lockdown.
1995 was one of the best for sure but I won a couple of golf competitions that summer mainly because of wet weather conditions which favoured my iron /fairway wood off the tee strategy at the time. Also, at at no time during 1995 was the grass as burnt as it was during the dry weeks in 2018. I'm too young to remember the 1970s. 2003 was another good one but overall I would say 2018.
The measure of how much DIY I could do in a summer is most assuredly not the mark of a good summer, that much I know, considering the amount I got done in crappy summers because it’s actually easier to get a lot done in a dryish, cool summer.
This week, I basked in a lake that felt tropical under skies that felt tropical. And there were multiple days I could have chosen to do that. That’s exceptional, not a feckin’ 19°C dry day that lets me paint a wall or whatever. Two years ago, Dublin had severe water shortages - and endless cloud. By your DIY measure, that summer was ideal. But it was actually depressing. Yellowing grass and not even sun to accompany it.
this thread is called best summer not hottest summer.
best is a measure of quality . a lot of things make that up. temp is one, as the temp increases up the quality of the summer increases until about 20 degrees, after that it levels off and rapidly drops if it goes about 25.
same gos for humidity. last week was horrible both in temps and humidity
what part of the country are you in. here in tipp i spent weeks outside painting and doing jobs. everything you could find was painted from the house, gates, trailers to a shed roof etc. no shortage of good weather
I don't think that was piss 😳
Not where I was. It was very disappointing. And like I said, I paid extra attention because there was very little else going on. If you had a good summer where you were, good for you. I did not. I recall regretting one Saturday I didn’t go to the sea because it was literally the only day the weather and water would have been warm enough to do so. One day.
And, ahem, if it was warm enough but not so warm that you could get stuff done around the house, you’ve pretty much admitted right there that it was unexceptional heat-wise. Caught rapid! 😄 DIY weather is not the measure of an exceptional summer to me, especially as I have always preferred doing DIY in cooler or even cold weather. If you’re doing it right, you won’t be cool for long.
1887 for me, was a really scorcher
what are you talking about. it did deliver exactly what we needed.
it was lovely last year . nice and warm and lovely days where you could actually work and do jobs around the house. perfect diy weather.
if last year was like last week it would have been a disaster . way to hot , people goin gto the beach . people stuck inside and misserable.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w4.vanillicon.com/v2/444ec6bdb93f8729d46a0de31ca76287.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wb.vanillicon.com/v2/b6984b3dff155c34b5a9498bb42f9c13.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://www.boards.ie/applications/dashboard/design/images/banned.png)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wb.vanillicon.com/v2/b78264a0e13e5e3a27935691920a2390.svg)
