THEY told us about a barbecue summer.
The Met Office experts told us to dust off the barbecues and prepare for long, hazy days and nights.
Sadly, we’ve just said “Goodbye” to a wet and dreary holiday period with terrible amounts of rain.
But Huddersfield meteorologist Paul Stevens has a little ray of hope.
He’s forecast an Indian summer, with better weather on the way for the middle of September.
But don’t build up your hopes too much; it will be quickly followed by a wet and windy October, with even some sleet thrown in for good measure and a stormy November.
Mr Stevens revealed figures which confirm that the summer of 2009 wasn’t the barbecue summer the Met Office had predicted.
He said: “It wasn’t barbecue weather, but it was warmer than normal, with temperatures up +0.9c above the long term summer average in Huddersfield as a whole, taking the spell from June 1 to August 31 as the summer months.
“That was the warmest since the summer of 2005.
“Rainfall, though, was above normal, with July being particularly wet.
“We had 115mm of rain – nearly 50% higher than normal.
“June was just below normal at 51mm and August around normal at 68mm.
“I think the Met Office forecast wasn’t too far from right but it certainly would not stand up against the phrase ‘Barbecue summer’.
“I think next year they will think long and hard on the words they choose to describe their summer forecast.”
Mr Stevens said we can now look forward to better weather from the middle of this week as high pressure develops from the south west and then settles down near or over the UK.
He said it would make a pleasant change after a stormy start to September with the remnants of tropical storm Danny battering Yorkshire over the last few days.
Temperatures dropped to just 11°C in cloudy skies and squally bouts of rain, 5°C below the normal for early September and there was also 18mm of rain and 35mph winds.
“Look out for a settled spell from the 9th through to the 16th.
“It won’t be a heatwave with the high pressure due to settle over or slightly north of west of the UK, but in the sunshine through the day it will be very nice all the same with highs around 20°C.
“October will be unsettled, wet and at times windy with only brief interludes of settled weather. Maybe the first sleet showers over the Pennines will occur earlier than usual later in the month.
“November looks milder and stormy at times with high pressure to the south over the continent and low pressure running to the north, tightening the pressure fields across Huddersfield.
“Its looks like a pretty normal autumn to me.”
