Bright spells with Heavy Showers and the occasional risk of Flooding: Reclections on the Summer that Didn't Happen

We've recently finished a 6 month stint of living in the middle of Manchester City Centre and I feel compelled to reflect on our time spent in the city. The six months we resided in Manchester comprised of 2012's calendar months of spring and summer. Climatically it was one of the more interesting of British Summers, as will be explained throughout this post. It must be said at this point that the British are generally a race of people who crave the sun and chase it. The basis of many holidays is purely on warmth and sunshine. Spanish resorts hum to the sound of sun-worshiping Brits. They laze by the sea or pool while drinking cheap lager and cocktails as they burn to a shade of orange that a tanning bed cannot produce.

We became residents of Manchester in March. The month was a good example of how bright and warm it can potentially get in Britain. March of 2012 was the third hottest of that calendar month recorded across the UK and warmest since the 1957 edition. Other statistics included it being the fifth driest and third sunniest March - total sunlight hours - on record. It's too easy to dismiss the UK as being perpetually wet, cold and damp, but I nearly got sunstroke on my first visit to London. So, yes, it is possible for the country to warm up.

March, being the first month of spring, gave the British public optimism of a bright and warm six months ahead. And these six months included some of the biggest events possible squeezed into the calendar. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, The Olympics, Paralympics, Wimbledon and the Euro 2012 soccer cup were all the big headline acts for summer 2012. Our local village green had a large video screen that was ready to celebrate all of these events and promote the outdoor lifestyle that the spring and summer months enable. The same venue had a program of outdoor movies to be hosted on Thursday nights.

While the weather was causing excitement and optimism throughout the public it was tempered by a backdrop of drought throughout regions of England. Those of us from Australia and countries of similar climates may find it amusing that Britain, the perceived undisputed heavyweight champion of miserably wet weather, could possibly be mentioned in the same sentence as the word 'drought'. But the winter of 2011/12 was a dry one by historical standards, as was the prior one. The year of 2011 was the UK's driest in 90 years. There was much fear from the government and water management bodies that a dry winter wasn't a good eve to a potentially water-hungry summer. To mitigate this, water restrictions were implemented throughout many of the worst affected areas of the country. Then came April.

Throughout March we would often open the balcony doors, enjoying the warmth and watching the diners at the alfresco furniture below as they gave the restaurants much needed business. Within the first few days of April I was looking out through the same doors as a dusting of snow was falling past our Central Manchester windows. And the furniture that was so popular a week before was scattered by wild winds like the aftermath of a Wild West pub fight. It became a running joke that I'd often report that there were no outdoor diners below our apartment...as it would be lashing down with rain. After the tease and promise of March this was all very sobering indeed.

                                                                                                                                

It was only after we ended up living in the middle of Manchester that I learnt of its nickname of the Rainy City. Rather than fill me with dread it made me feel a special kinship as my hometown of Melbourne is often given the same name. This was a year where Manchester lived up to its name. It happened to be the wettest summer in 100 years.  The average temperatures throughout Manchester averaged 14.7 degrees throughout summer.      

The weather brings with it a different set of practicalities. As much as I try to be of the 'soldier on and wear a raincoat' brigade sometimes that doesn't quite cut it. I had grand plans of using summer to explore the nearby countryside including the wonderful Peak District. But as much as you tell yourself to carry on regardless in spite of what nature serves up it's hard to be motivated or inspired when rain was a feature. One of my interests is in a product that there's an infinite selection of in Britain: beer. A news story made me take great interest in the village of Hebden Bridge, North East of Manchester within the boundaries of West Yorkshire. Aside from being declared the Lesbian Capital of the UK, its other claim is the Little Valley Brewery. The brewery works alongside the monks of Ampleforth Abbey who have recommenced brewing some strong beer for the first time in 450 years or so. Alas. it seemed that my interest in visiting Hebden Bridge was shelved as the town was mostly flooded throughout summer.

The weather also has huge economic implications. The strange climate of summer 2012 is not one that the current austerity economy wanted. The restaurants below our apartment were hungry for customers that weren't turning up to dine alfresco. And the outdoor cinema more amusingly was the local outdoor summer cinema season that we had looked forward to. Ironically, I think one of the few sessions that weren’t washed out was the screening of Singing in the Rain. 

We recently stayed in a B&B where the lady running it gave some insight into the impact the weather forecast can have. We visited over a long-weekend when the owners expected it to be fully booked, but the uncertain weather forecast seemed to spook the prospective customers she believed – a pattern that had been typical throughout summer. It had its moments, but the weather over the long-weekend was warm and sunny for the most part, in spite of the weather forecasts of flooding and wild storms – which did happen elsewhere, mind you. This negative speculating has had a great impact on a struggling tourist market. The B&B landlady told us of a number of large businesses contemplating a class action against the Met Office Weather Bureau for their part in revenue dipping up to 1/3^rd on last year.

I have developed a particular fascination for the fine art of weather forecasting here. I have noticed that you can take the four-day forecasts of several sources and each one can vary greatly between the four days. I even started to take the average across the various news and weather sites. Some newspaper web sites don't even list the weather forecast - have they gotten it too wrong too many times? I have made a table below that highlights the disparity in weather forecasting for Manchester.

	Weds	Low	High	Thurs	Low	High	Fri	Low	High	Sat	Low	High
Manchester Evening News	A shower	8	13	Spotty Showers	10	15	Rather Cloudy	7	15	More Clouds than Sun	10	13
BBC	Light Rain Shower	10	14	Heavy Rain	11	14	Light Rain Shower	6	13	Heavy Rain	10	13
The Guardian	Sunny with Showers	8	14	Showers	8	15	Mostly Cloudy	7	14	Mostly Cloudy	8	15
The Met Office	Light Shower Day	8	14	Light Rain	10	13	Light Rain	9	12	Sunny Day	8	13
Sky News	Light Rain	9	14	Light Rain	9	15	Sunny	6	14	Sunny Intervals	9	15

The BBC news service provides two levels of news - the national/international coverage and the more localised content relevant to your region, whether it be London, the Midlands or the North West of England as we were in Manchester. The weather also gets the two-tiered treatment. I have noticed two things about the BBC television weather coverage. The presenters seem so friendly that you couldn't turn them away from the door if they came to sign you up to a lifetime subscription of Readers' Digest. They're often Scottish or Irish ladies with the warmest accent that you could listen to all day. I suspect that this is to counter my second observation; the forecasts are usually brutally honest or otherwise gloomy. There could be a day when not a single piece of cloud is visible across mainland Britain, yet a light shower occurring off the coast of the Faroe Islands is something to keep an eye on in case it develops.

Throughout the disappointment of summer, the media offered some optimism. There were reports of an 'Indian Summer' arriving in September. I'm writing this post in late September from the middle of Manchester. I can tell you that any hope of this Indian summer has well and truly been taken out the back and euthanised. Today is the third consecutive day of constant heavy rain - enough to bring September's average monthly rainfall in 24 hours. There are currently 23 flood warnings and 118 alerts scattered across the country. Furthermore, 3 unfortunate people have died as a result of the rain and winds over the last day. So it's highly unlikely that there's going to be any 'Indian Summer' between now and winter.

The people of Manchester seem to fall in two distinct groups as far as the rain goes. The first group tend to overuse words like 'crap' and lament that they're not in Spain, Florida, Australia, the Bahamas or anywhere else warmer and drier than here. The second group are resolute realists who believe that Manchester is to be accepted as it is and people should adapt and love its rainy days accordingly. I believe that the climate has a part to play in the character of the Manchurians. As is the case in my '4 seasons in one day' hometown of Melbourne, the weather and climate provide a ready-made topic of discussion and humour. I fell into the 'embrace the drenching rain' camp myself. To me I cannot imagine Manchester without rain after experiencing one of its finest years. 

Incorporated into the Manchester coat of arms is the emblem of the worker bee – a nod to the industrious nature of the people who built this pioneering industrial city. I finish this post by recommending my nomination for an alternative emblem. On days of heavy rain the evening peak hour would be pock-marked with a familiar scene - litter bins stuffed with the day’s casualties of countless dead umbrellas competing for space, jutting out like a TV aerial cum public art installation. To me it sums up the Manchester of 2012.