Summer 2020 - General Discussion

sryanbruen wrote: »

Well all I can say is bye bye to July 2020. My least favourite July I have observed. It's a 1/10 chief.

I think July 2020 is getting a big fat 0 from myself. One of the worst summer months I can ever remember and the fact we couldn't go overseas makes it all the worse. Definitely up there with 2007 and 2012 if not worse.

The temperature was basically 12C-15C for the first half of the month and it rained daily, often for more than 12 hours at a time! Second half of the month improved but not by much, got slighter warmer and we may have had a few unconfirmed reports of sunshine in the past few days! The temperature rose above 20C a few times in the east and south, but i'm sure several places in Ireland struggled to get past 18C at any stage this month. I thought June 2019 was dire, but it was a peach compared to this month.

August can only be an improvement, at least in terms of temperature. Even September could be dryer and warmer than July. I still have hopes up for at least one nice week before the Autumn kicks in properly.

Today's max temperatures:



A +20C difference between western/southern Ireland compared to London and the south-east of England. London reached 37.8C while western Ireland was doing well to reach 18C.

We got to 20C in quite a few places today which is about average for the end of July or maybe a degree above but it did get to 23C in Dublin today once the rain cleared.

The heat in the UK today does raise a few questions.

Is the maximum temperature at Heathrow over the top considering all the heat from tarmac and airplanes. The surrounding areas are usually cooler by 1 to 3 degrees. A similar situation to our Shannon airport perhaps.

If today's heat in the UK had been maintained for a few days rather than just 1 day, would London have reached 40C tomorrow or on Sunday? I think it would have if the temperature readings at Heathrow is truly accurate and does not take into account extra heat generated by tarmac.

These heat plumes usually happen once to twice per summer in London but more recently they are getting over 36c with these spikes, whereas back in the 80s, 90s and early 2000's they would be getting more excited over reaching 33 or 34C.

Here in Ireland these heat spikes are far more rare, probably more like once every 5 years where we might scrape 30 or 31C in one or two rural townlands. Even when we do get heat spikes, there is usually an easterly sea breeze which lowers the predicted temperature over much of the country, or a southerly which just drags up lots of sea air across the country. Heat records seem to get broken now every summer in the UK, meanwhile in Ireland we are struggling to break our own heat records which go back over 100 years.

Our really poor location for summer warmth or heat requires several days of warmth from a proper Azores high with the perfect flow of wind with minimal sea track to sustain for a few days to even reach 30c, you have to wonder is it even possible for us to ever beat our ancient 33C all time temperature record.

orchard farm wrote: »

Does anyone think theres a chance of things to improve by next week end?

There is a chance we may see slightly warmer and dryer conditions by next weekend but it is far from nailed down for us. It could be another situation like yesterday where Ireland misses out and the UK sizzles but we shall see.