Spring 2024

[B87]

 LetItSnow! Daffodils in February are not noteworthy though, considering they usually come out around late Jan to Feb (and the smaller, early flowering versions can be seen throughout the winter in mild years). Winter flowering cherries exist here, and any blossoming trees seen through Dec-Feb are likely to be of that species.

Hawthorn, sloe and the like usually leaf out in March.

[richie3846]

 LetItSnow! Luckily we had that colder spell in January, which may be enough to reset the seasonal clock of most foliage. 

[B87]

 richie3846 Spring 2016 was quite cold in March and April, but it also followed the very mild Nov/Dec period.

[LetItSnow!]

 B87 I can only speak for my own experience but I have lived in this location for a couple of winters now and the advancement is ahead of even 2022 which was similarly mild. And I've lived in south-east all my life and the only time I can remember a similar year for growth was 2017 which had very advanced growth We had this discussion before but 2024 is the first time I have seen the very first leaves begin to bud in the first half of February. It has been an exceptional spell of above average temperatures that has persisted almost non-stop since September 2023 and nature is definitely responding to that which is undeniable.

[LetItSnow!]

While spring growth is on the topic, here's some random images I pulled from the spring of 1986 which was very cold! The first picture on the left was taken on the 20th of April and the second picture on the right was taken on the 1st of May. Still looked like winter!

[richie3846]

This is the nearest soil temperature monitoring site near London, and these 50cm depth readings clearly indicate that 2024 is well ahead of recent years in terms of temperature. Currently 8.3c with 2018 at around 7.8c. Unsurprisingly 2021 is the coldest at 6.4c. 

Edited April 7 by richie3846

[carinthian]

Following on from one of the warmest winters ever in these parts, spring continues with much the same as record heat this afternoon in many parts and 30c reached in Upper Austria. Austrians highest weather station at 3400m just recorded 6c and that has never ever been recorded in April before.

 C

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[emmett garland]

 LetItSnow! I could not even imagine a May 1st now looking like that..

[matty40s]

 carinthian

Unfortunately, I have had to give you a like, when I would much rather give you a "really dont like that" 

[B87]

 LetItSnow! The temperature on those 2 days... 15c on 20th April and 20c on 1st May. Pretty typical really, yet it looks like January in the photos.

April 1986 was Heathrow's coldest April on record.

Edited April 7 by B87

[Relativistic]

 B87 Spring 2013 wasn't fully leafed out until some point in June in the south-east.

[Relativistic]

 emmett garland May 2021 can't have looked much different. One of the coldest April-May combos in the past century. Unless the warm March put 2021 ahead slightly.

Edited April 7 by Relativistic

[emmett garland]

 Relativistic Possibly .I have pic from the 30th April in my brothers garden and obviously there is greenery but in the back round I see a leafless tree  but that photo in 86 looks dreary

[damianslaw]

 B87 Nov 85, Jan, Feb, Mar and Apr 86 all below mean average, notably November, February - exceptionally, a sub freezing mean and April. No wonder everything was still bare by 1 May. It was a notably cold period on the back of a cold 1985, August and Sept 86 were significantly below average. Such conditions today would feel like an ice age. 

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Hoping this spring goes a similar way to spring 2018 and then a 2018 style summer to follow. Had enough of the rain.

Edited April 7 by Weather Enthusiast91

[ANYWEATHER]

Roll on.....☺

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 B87 The north have had better weather than us which explains it

[MP-R]

 Relativistic Here’s a pic I took in Wales on 2nd May. A lot of trees were in full leaf by then after the sunny April but as you can see some the real hardwoods on the right were still budding.

 

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 Relativistic Spring 2013 was cold, so that's not surprising.

I was at university then, and specifically recall it snowing during the 2-week Easter holidays when I was on a trip to Cambridge with a couple of my flatmates at the time.

Edited April 8 by In Absence of True Seasons

[raz.org.rain]

Certainly a lot of yo-yoing in the outputs lately.

 

[Bradley in Kent]

On the subject of foliage and growth, the bluebells are coming out here, same goes for the rapeseed. We're one week into April and it's like May already! We've had years where bluebells are out mid to late April (2022, 2020, 2017, 2011) but never this early. With a warm week coming up with notably warm nights we'll be on track for a full leafed landscape even before May.

Edited April 8 by Bradley in Kent

[richie3846]

 Bradley in Kent locally I've also seen bluebells out fully, even at the beginning of the month, and rapeseed has been in flower since late March. Very early, by several weeks. 

[Relativistic]

 raz.org.rain It's always been a theoretical possibility. The April record of 29.4°C in 1949 was set midway through the month, and 30°C may've been breached in April 1775 if the CET records are to be trusted. The only thing that's changed is how likely it is.

[Addicks Fan 1981]

 raz.org.rain I'm hedging a bet now that this april may have a CET very similar if not the same as 2007.  This year and 2007 will have things in common in the sense of an el niño start and a la niña finish.   

[TonyH]

 simshady You still glad for wet and windy?