Spring 2024

[Earthshine]

View in Vienna today.  Remarkable how green it is at the start of April.  Already 26°C.

[TheOgre]

It’s really annoying how much better weather the rest of Europe (aside from most of Scandinavia) gets. The *climate* may be similar in most of north and west of Europe but the *weather* is so much better!

Edited April 7 by TheOgre

[SunSean]

 TheOgre Yeah i notice too, I feel like UK is the boy who gets picked last at the school kickabout or the friend who doesn't get invited to the party lol. There aren't many places worse than UK in terms of getting pleasant sunny weather.

[Scorcher]

 B87 Even in the warmest springs there will still be a lot of bare trees this early in April. Things are more advanced than normal without a doubt.

There are the really extreme years like 2012 when horse chestnuts were in full leaf by the end of March but that is the absolute extreme.

Hardwood trees don't come into leaf until the 2nd half of the month usually and are sometimes bare at the beginning of May in colder springs.

 

[Scorcher]

 LetItSnow! Definitely ahead of normal for this early in the month.

Of course on the continent the trees will be more advanced after temperatures well in excess of 20C. Even one day above 21/22C will produce major leaf growth within a day.

[LetItSnow!]

 Scorcher I know that for a fact because i’m 2018 until about the 16th of April there was barely any vegetation locally but then a couple days in the 20s exploded things into life. It’s all it takes. I’m surprised anyone would think vegetation isn’t ahead of the curve compared to average due to the fact it has been running almost non-stop well above average since January 21st. It’s funny to think that some years gone by this is what things would have looked like in early May. May 2021 definitely had a quite bare look to it though even that wasn’t as bare as it could have been due to the second half of February and the second half of March being warm at times. 

[Scorcher]

 LetItSnow! I distinctly remember in May 2008 there were a lot of completely bare trees a few days into the month. Then once the warm spell started around the 5th/6th everything was totally green within 2 days.

[ChannelThunder]

Shame about the wind today. Clear blue skies all morning here, but can't really sit in it without being cold and irritated by this gusty breeze.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 TwisterGirl81since last March ...

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 Earthshine beautiful. What spring should be like. Most of the trees here are still very batten. 

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 TheOgre Most of Scandinavia has better weather than us too, imo. Unless you're in, like, Tromso, they get more average sunshine hours than much of the UK at certain parts of the year, and they get proper winters for this who enjoy such conditions. 

There's not really anything about the UK climate that is better than Scandinavia's unless you're someone who really, really hates cold / snow. But for me, cold isn't universal. I've been to Finland in February and it was about -5c in the day and -10c at night, but completely still and sunny, and it was far more tolerable and didn't feel as cold as those dank, wet and windy days that are common in UK winters where it's like 8-10c but feels truly grim. 

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 Scorcher standard, lol. 

Central / mainland Europe gets proper winter conditions and snow...UK gets rain, cloud and 8-15c temps.

Central / mainland Europe's gets unusually impressive early Spring warmth of 20-30c and clear sunny weather...UK gets rain, cloud and 8-15c temps.

[B87]

 Scorcher I'd expect to see all leaf out complete by around 20-25 April in a typical year. This year it does feel like there will still be some bare or partially leafed trees going into May.

[Scorcher]

 B87 There's no way you can say that. As I've mentioned earlier- one or two days above 20C and everything will be fully in leaf within a couple of days.

And given things are ahead of where they should be now, I'd expect most trees will be fully in leaf by the last week of the month. There's another above average week coming up.

[B87]

 Scorcher We aren't really ahead of where we should be here though. Look at the aerial photos that I posted and you can see bare trees all around, with very few leafed out.

[richie3846]

 LetItSnow! also depends on the dominant varieties in any given area. Horse chestnuts about to flower, and coming into full leaf now, while ash is only just starting to come out. Local varieties can skew perception of the advancement of spring I reckon. 

[richie3846]

 B87  B87 I think this is unlikely. Unless London has been colder than Swindon, the rest of the bare trees are going to open up really quickly now we've had some warmer weather.

[richie3846]

 B87 it'll be worth checking the varieties that are in the photos. They are likely to be the later developing trees. It's been exceptionally mild for a long time now, it's not feasible that growth isn't ahead, trees can't defy physics.

[LetItSnow!]

 Scorcher Yeah, I think there's a definite underplaying of the above average temperatures at play here. There are a couple trees (including some ash  richie384) that are already in full leaf and a lot are about 25-50% there. There is no possible way they could be behind due to how mild it has been. I expect a further rapid explosion of growth to continue. I'll have to get out there and take some pictures.

[richie3846]

 LetItSnow! I've been astounded at the advancement of spring this year, it's only the 7th of April and we're on the brink of full leaf of all trees. In the chilly spring of 2021, our local ash wasn't in full leaf until early June. This year it seems likely this could happen before the end of April. 

[B87]

 richie3846 This pic probably shows the largest variety of trees, mostly all bare.

[richie3846]

 B87 I suspect many are breaking out in leaf right now, which is not visible on this sort of long distance shot 

Edited April 7 by richie3846

[B87]

 richie3846 If we get to May and everything isn't fully leafed out, that would be notably late. Such occasions include 2013, 2016 and 2021.

I can't imagine getting to June and not having everything leafed out. I would say that over the year, we have 7-8 months of foliage and 4-5 months of bare trees, depending on the year.

[richie3846]

It's very unlikely to get to May and not be in full leaf this year given how consistently mild it's been. It would take a long northerly to make any major dent in growth at this stage. 

[LetItSnow!]

 richie3846 I've been saying that since February. My park behind my apartment really started to come to life at the start of February with blossom, daffodils and even buds appear in that month. Temperature anomalies seem to have been similar both by day and night and I imagine the frost-free conditions down here have really aided the growth. I feel like in a strange way the mildness has killed the spring a little bit. It doesn't feel very springlike. The blossoms and the daffodils and the early spring flowers are already mostly gone so we've gone back to a temporary gray state. It feels more like a transition from winter straight to summer (yes, I know that's what spring is but you know what I mean). I'm no expert on trees and such but I also think the persistent well above normal temperatures late last year have also affected things. We had barely any winter weather, just summer that lasted til mid October then only about 2 weeks of winter in mid-February (I'm only speaking for my local area as I know it wasn't as anomalously mild up north during the autumn and winter compared to down here). Basically there's been no winter re-charge. Hate to think of the effects that could have. If we have a frosty spell mid-April then it would probably bring more frosts than the whole of winter!

 B87 Funny because when I look at that picture I notice the green poking out more than the grey lol. I can see quite a few well budded trees in the landscape.