UK seasonal weather summary summer 2011

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 647 KB
• Volume: 66
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0043-1656
• DOI: 10.1002/wea.866

✦ Synopsis

Summer 2011 was characterised by frequent cool, cloudy, showery weather with only brief warm, settled spells. As such, it could be considered an 'indifferent' season, much like other recent summers. Scotland and northeast England had the wettest weather. Further south, the rain brought welcome relief where drought conditions had developed, but most of the Midlands remained relatively dry.

The UK mean temperature was 13.6°C, 0.4 degC below the 1971-2000 average. It was the coolest June across the UK since 2001, the coolest July since 2000 and the coolest August since 1993. The summer was the coolest since 1993. There were only around ten days when the temperature exceeded 25°C widely.

Although the UK summer rainfall was 18% above normal, there were very marked regional variations. Eastern Scotland and northeast England were particularly wet in July and August, with over twice the normal rainfall recorded widely in both months. Eastern Scotland had its second-wettest summer in the series. In contrast, much of the Midlands was relatively dry throughout, extending a dry period that began in autumn 2010. Over the UK, the summer was generally wetter than in 2010, but not as wet as in 2007-2009.

The UK sunshine duration was close to average, and similar to that of summer 2010. Totals overall were close to normal during June and July, but with regional variations; across western Scotland, July was one of the sunniest in the series. However, August was relatively dull across the whole country, with 79% of average sunshine.