Moans, ramps and banter

[East Lancs Rain]

1 hour ago, markyo said:

Can feel my mood darken already, totally unnecessary as the outlook is still fairly positive, normalish Spring weather on offer, but the worst 6  months of the year are approaching fast October can't come fast enough now. Health both physical and mental will suffer. If i could hibernate i would and avoid the next 20 plus weeks with pleasure. And let us be honest we haven't had a Winter have we?  My favourite season is a non event....again. 

I get the same feeling in Late October when the clocks go back, when we are plunged into darkness by 4 pm, and knowing there will be 5-6 months of chilly, damp and gloomy weather. Normally around mid-late February I start to feel more positive as the days are getting longer and we can get some mild and sunny days, however this year I haven’t felt more positive yet due to it being so dull and wet. This winter has been a really long slog for many of us on here who like dry, sunny weather. Such a depressing spell of weather. The fact the winter has been very mild has not made up for the fact that it’s been one of the dullest and wettest winters on record. I would rather have had a winter with just average temperatures but with above average sunshine and below average rainfall. The nice crisp sunny days we normally get in winter have been severely lacking this year. 
 

Im sorry you feel this way, I can relate as I hate late autumn and winter and would happily hibernate between late October and mid March. I just feel so tired, fed up and motivation disappears. Especially this year. It’s just been so dull and wet since July. We are well overdue a long spell of warm, dry and sunny weather now. It’s the mild/warm weather lovers turn to enjoy the weather now, it’s time for the sun to shine.

 

 SollyOlly You guys are quite lucky really as the UK has one of the coolest and cloudiest summers in the world. Most countries summers at our latitude are hotter and sunnier.

[East Lancs Rain]

 sundog Well that’s one way to get to work!

 

 danm Im surprised NW England isn’t included in the darkest blue, it has been one of (if not the wettest) February I can ever remember.

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 CryoraptorA303 It's definitely been far wetter than average, which in of itself makes it an outlier winter, and then due to that wetness it's been super mild so much of the time, although if might not have always necessarily have *felt* particularly 'mild' because rain and wind in Winter time feels positively grim by default.

Regionality is also factoring in here I'd say @TwisterGirl81 Winters in the SW are definitely wetter and milder than alot of other places in the country so could also partly be a case it feeling more 'standard' of a winter to you. As a maritime climate our winters are wet and dull by default, but the sheer lack of morning and evening frosts for example (in my area at least) this year has been super noticeable. I think that cold week in Jan was the only times I saw frost this entire winter. Which is pretty mad.

Either way, what's done is done...I'm looking to a sunnier and drier Spring now. 

[danm]

4 minutes ago, East Lancs Rain said:

Im surprised NW England isn’t included in the darkest blue, it has been one of (if not the wettest) February I can ever remember.

There isn't actually much difference between rainfall totals in NW England and the SE (see below) but obv from a difference from average perspective it's been a soaker in the south, less so in the north which averages more rainfall. 

Edited March 1 by danm

[Arctic Hare]

2 hours ago, markyo said:

My favourite season is a non event....again. 

Even though my preferences don't really match yours, I sympathise a lot with that. My own favourite season is spring for its contrasts: traditionally April could see 20+ °C warmth, lying snow, thunderstorms, gales, hail, you name it. Often several of those in the space of one day! Now it seems to be in a rut most of the time, increasingly (or so it feels) a gloomy and wet rut which is disastrous for my own town and its heavily tourism-based economy. Flooding is by far the biggest cause of weather-related stress here, way ahead of cold, heat, wind or even snow.

I really like spring, but maybe I should say "what spring used to be" as days on end of rain just make me endure the season rather than enjoy it. So as I say, I sympathise with your own disappointment about winter.

Edited March 1 by Arctic Hare

[markyo]

57 minutes ago, TwisterGirl81 said:

Am I missing something? I don’t ever remember feeling warm the past 4 months, mild some days maybe but never warm unless I was indoors

Thats the difference, i've been in shorts and a t shirt this entire winter, only a fleece on now and again. There hasn't been a Winter, just had the 2nd mildest February  in 300 years, wet yes but record breaking nearly temp wise. You are certainly missing something if you feel this Winter has been cold in my opinion., it hasn't.

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 East Lancs Rain Indeed, this winter has really not delivered much for anyone regardless of preferences...the worst of both worlds! 

Far too mild and lacking in wintry conditions to appease colder fans, and far too wet, dark/dull and windy to make that milder weather useable and pleasant for those who aren't big fans of the cold either.

It's a shame because our climate so often fails to manifest much to appease either "coldies" or "warmies". The lack of true seasonal disparity is my main gripe with living here weather-wise. You're right that heat-haters could have it so, so much worse as most countries do have hotter and sunnier summer climates, but that's small mercies after such a dross winter like this one

[The real Lomond snowstorm]

 danm Exactly. Where I live in Scotland it's been around average rainfall. Yet our average for February is 150mm according to the nearest weather station (which is coastal and may actually be a little drier than inland near the hills where I live ).

Quite frankly I wish I'd received the amount of rain that many of these areas have received

 

 

[SunnyG]

QED

[I remember Atlantic 252]

right! no moaning ever again from rain/warm fans, just had warmest/rainy February, what more do you want

[CryoraptorA303]

 Arctic Hare I was under the impression that we were getting quite a string of warm Aprils actually. It's only really 2023 that was dull and mild, and of course 2021 was dry and cold.

[CharlieBear9]

 Arctic Hare I'd have thought Spring was the quietest time for visitors to Bewdley. It's the only period when there aren't any fishing contests on the river, which draw in hundreds of people a week throughout the rest of the year, if the river's not in flood of course.

[B87]

 East Lancs Rain 12.4c max, 3.3c min, and 127 sun hours. A much nicer month than Feb 2024.

 CryoraptorA303 2012, 2013 and 2016 all had cold Aprils here

[In Absence of True Seasons]

Aaaaaand it's raining again. Shocker. March...on continues the pattern.

Does it ever end? Have we actually had 2 consecutive dry days this entire month? Maybe we have, but it certainly doesn't feel like it. Feels like it's rained more-or-less every day at some point, irrespective of what the forecast has said will happen.

 I remember Atlantic 252 Who is a fan of mild, rainy weather? As far as I'm aware, there are no ducks, snails/slugs or sentient patches of moss lurking about in the forum

[CharlieBear9]

 In Absence of True Seasons Neves Screamer's enjoyed it. We spoke earlier.

[TwisterGirl81]

 CryoraptorA303 I’m not arguing just conveying my experience of this winter but you are forgetting I live in a milder area of the country ie Devon where we have more milder winters generally than where many others live in this country 

[CryoraptorA303]

 B87 Yes, so that's three out of the last however many. April really can't be argued to be underdelivering if you ask me.

[TwisterGirl81]

 In Absence of True Seasons thankyou, I just typed this very thing, thanks for your non biased reply to me as always

I genuinely have not felt this winter has been out of the ordinary temperature wise in any shape of the imagination…at times it’s felt friged, others times mild, this is normal here in winter, where I am 

Edited March 1 by TwisterGirl81

[CryoraptorA303]

 TwisterGirl81

It was just as above average in Devon as everywhere else in the south.

[TwisterGirl81]

 CryoraptorA303  I think you’ll find this graph more of an example of my experience of winter overall temp wise. Yes February has been mild, January was bloody cold, December….meh. 
 

We live in a warming climate so I’d expect we’d usually always be above average overall 

Edited March 1 by TwisterGirl81

[SollyOlly]

 CharlieBear9 lolz. And there is at least one other, but I won't be rude and call him/ her out...!  

[raz.org.rain]

 CryoraptorA303 I'd argue that achieving a below average CET in any month is an exception these days, which is depressing when you think about it. The safe bet is to assume that every month will come out as exceptionally mild.

[TwisterGirl81]

 markyo well I’m not overweight so tend to feel the cold more than others would who might be, less fat insulation 

[CryoraptorA303]

 TwisterGirl81 I'm not overweight either and I don't feel the cold. Weight has nothing to do with it at this level. What are you trying to suggest here?

[raz.org.rain]

 TwisterGirl81 the average temperature would overall still be considerably above average. That doesn't mean we'd be exempt from cold snaps, just that they'd be much less frequent and considerably shorter. Apart from a snowy opening to December and that cold spell in January, it has been unusually mild. I mean, it's still comparatively cold if you're expecting mid-spring temperatures, but for the dead of winter it was well above average.

Edited March 1 by raz.org.rain