Moans, ramps and banter

[In Absence of True Seasons]

Another dark, dull, wet morning. Grim. 

How many properly sunny and clear mornings have we actually had this year? Seriously? I genuinely think that - outside of the January cold snap, which is a bit different as the mornings were like -3 to -6c so obviously going to be clear - I can count the sunny, clear and dry mornings on one hand. 

Just dire.

I can safely say that having trialled the climate of the Faroe Islands since October 2023, it's not for me, and I'd like to travel back to SE England now.

[matty40s]

Gets up, looks out of window, hey, its raining....

Groundhog day..

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 matty40s did you expect anything different?

It is an interesting phenomenon to need the lights on still, despite it being April. Quite a feat really.

Edited April 5 by In Absence of True Seasons

[danm]

Yes please! 
 

[Wynn D Woo]

 Alderc 2.0  Exactly

Being on GMT would be a complete and utter waste of daylight hours through 3/4 of the year. And with people being told to reduce energy waste, having to use more electricity with the earlier darkness, it would be counter productive. Double BST gets my vote too.

[78/79]

Edited April 5 by 78/79

[Summer8906]

13 hours ago, CryoraptorA303 said:

It might also explain why the Southampton area has significantly declined in being a hotspot since the 90s. Prior to then it almost always came up during heatwaves, 1976 being the most obvious example but it showed up in numerous others too. Now it's a complete no-show and irrelevance in terms of daily maxima or setting records, the last time it even appeared on the map was July 2014. Now it seems like stations to the east on the other side of the downs like Wiggonholt and Burlands Farm are much more important spots.

Indeed, we used to quite often in the summer get an anticyclonic NE-ly setup on the southeastern side of a large north Atlantic anticyclone. This setup appeared in the 90s quite a lot and meant that, with offshore winds, the area could achieve some high temps at times. Wasn't Southampton famous for holding the absolute record for 1976?

We also used to get more in the way of NW-lies in the summer which could often produce pleasant 22-23C temps in this sheltered area while other areas are stuck in the high teens.

July 2014 was notable for one of those more northeasterly fine summer months. I was in Germany much of the month where the same setup produced unseasonable dull, wet weather!

 

Edited April 5 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

22 minutes ago, danm said:

Yes please! 

Where's that, London Ontario?

3 hours ago, In Absence of True Seasons said:

How many properly sunny and clear mornings have we actually had this year? Seriously? I genuinely think that - outside of the January cold snap, which is a bit different as the mornings were like -3 to -6c so obviously going to be clear - I can count the sunny, clear and dry mornings on one hand. 

Indeed, and sunny and clear early mornings ought to be really quite common in April, whatever the rest of the day does.

The classic "April showers" NW-ly typically starts clear before the clouds build up from mid-morning. Even April 2012 could manage a good many days like this.

Edited April 5 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

 78/79 Almost right, Monday was correct at least, the only spring-like day in April thus far. Perhaps Wednesday ("autumn") too, and quite possibly the forecast for the weekend...

Edited April 5 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

13 hours ago, CryoraptorA303 said:

Indeed, they forget that the Med has dull, mild and very stormy winters as well as the hot and dry summers.

Depends where in the Med you are. I have spent a few weeks in a number of winters in northern Greece, near Thessaloniki, and the norm is sunny days with very low humidity and maxima of around 10-12C - but cold nights.

This is occasionally interrupted by occasional unsettled spells, normally when there is high pressure over northern Europe and lows are forced south. These can produce slow-moving lows and two- or three-day spells of heavy, thundery rain, but it doesn't normally last for weeks.

Other interruptions include occasional week-long intense cold spells (with snow), and occasional very warm spells with temps in the high teens.

What I haven't experienced, though, is weeks and weeks of unsettled weather.

The one thing the winters are not is dull. If you're fed up of the low light and sunlessness of the average UK Dec and Jan, and don't mind the risk of snow or the odd 2- or 3-day very wet spell, I'd recommend it. Due to the southerly latitude and more sensible timezone, it's never dark at 5pm, either.

Edited April 5 by Summer8906

[danm]

9 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

Where's that, London Ontario?

Haha thankfully not! Only down side is that it’s going to be pretty breezy. 

1 minute ago, Summer8906 said:

What I haven't experienced, though, is weeks and weeks of unsettled weather.

I think the only part of what we would classify as the med that would get more prolonged spells of unsettled weather is NW Iberia. 

[kold weather]

 Alderc 2.0 not only that but economically it makes absolutely 0 sense.

In that sense longer evenings are going to be FAR more beneficially economically then keeping shorter evenings/earlier mornings.

That's is the only metric that will be used in deciding what to do, you can guarantee that.

 

[CryoraptorA303]

1 hour ago, Summer8906 said:

Wasn't Southampton famous for holding the absolute record for 1976?

Not quite, it got 35.5°C on June 27th which is the June record to this day. Cheltenham later beat it with 35.9°C on July 3rd.

These don't sound too ridiculous by today's standards, but at the time these were some of the hottest days ever recorded.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 danm Show off!

[Methuselah]

 *Stormforce~beka* It'll be breezy tomorrow, Beka -- so, hang on to your hair! 

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 Methuselah LOL!! I Suspect I'll only go out on Sunday! We'll see how I feel ...

[SunnyG]

Very very mild at the moment...

[danm]

 *Stormforce~beka* Looks decent in Winchester too for most of the day.

 SunnyG yep very breezy, but very mild. Decent sunny spells now too so feels warm when the sun shines. 

[Azazel]

This is one of the grimmest looking forecasts I’ve seen at this time of year. Endless wind and marginally less cold.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 danm So it does. Not that it will feel it with the wind

[baddie]

 Summer8906 April 2018 had a full week without any sunshine whatsoever from the 7th-13th, and it was often wet and temperatures just stayed around 8c the whole time. Worst April week I ever experienced. The last 4 days were horrible too

Edited April 5 by baddie

[Summer8906]

 Azazel Looks worse than what the models were suggesting yesterday, which offered a chance of some better weather in the second half of next week.

GFS still seems to suggest next Thursday/Friday might be alright.

GFS also seems to be fairly consistently showing a switch to anticyclonic for the 3rd week, from around the 16th, so hopefully something in that. But not before the first half of April is perhaps the dullest on record.

Indeed after Monday's deluge has passed, the emphasis switches from excessive rain to excessive cloudiness. At least there is no heavy rainfall likely from Tuesday onwards, I guess.

Edited April 5 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

 Nick L Except that: a) it would be even worse if we were still on GMT and b) we are likely to experience one of the dullest first halves of April on record, so the current conditions are scarcely typical.

 baddie True, the 2nd week was very dull (but also dry, and easterly - so a slightly strange combination). I think it was warmer than 8C though, I remember it being rather humid and probably around average by day, but above at night.

Before that the 5th-7th had reasonable amounts of sunshine, and the 14th was sunny. The 15th was then wet before the warm spell kicked in.

So the first 10 days of this month, at least, looks to be even worse than 2018 with perhaps just one day of decent amounts of sunshine (the 1st) in this area.

Edited April 5 by Summer8906

[baddie]

 Summer8906 Easterlies bring us our very best or very worst conditions, so its no surprise for it to bring lots of North Sea cloud

Edited April 5 by baddie

[Summer8906]

 

 baddie Normally here they're quite good, but that week (8th-13th) was dull even here. I think the easterlies were slightly cyclonic, which doesn't help.

Edited April 5 by Summer8906