Spring 2024

[SunnyG]

 In Absence of True Seasons They had proper cold in the 1600s that's for sure, what with the Thames being frozen so that they could hold fairs all over it...

[Metwatch]

Since it's turned cooler from mid month have noticed the tree foliage 'leafing out' has slowed down considerably. At one point start of last week, some trees like the sycamore we have in the garden or horse chestnut down the road from here were borderline ahead of mid April 2020 but not anymore now. Reminds me a bit more of April 2021. Following the very warm end of March that spring it turned colder through April and leafs coming out slowed down, then  started to speed up again around this time now (19th - 25th April) as it turned a little warmer. I suppose this cooler weather is helping to prolong flowering though, and things like the bluebell display should last well into May.

Edited April 24 by Metwatch

[Weather Enthusiast91]

 SunnyG I remember that well. 

[SunnyG]

 Weather Enthusiast91 Personally you mean?

[Weather Enthusiast91]

 SunnyG Yes, I am very old. 

[raz.org.rain]

 SunnyG the little ice age period is a good example of how averages can skew the general perception of events. Most years look abnormally cold on record because the winters were absolutely frigid, but the summers were comparable to what we have today with some truly hot and dry summers in the 1600s.

[Metwatch]

6 hours ago, In Absence of True Seasons said:

(I thought we had tonnes of proper cold, regular snow, etc "back in the day". ). This is coming from a Roman perspective too, so pretty much anything fairly chilly would've been 'cold' to him, so indeed, Britain must've always been largely pretty mild, but often wet and overcast...aka, what we have now.

Obviously taking these long period graphs with a pinch of salt as always, but the roman period apparantly may have been fairly warm, with then a cool down into the mid 1000s. If warming happened at the rate it's happening currently but 2000 years ago, it may have been even hotter than now.

Edited April 24 by Metwatch

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 Metwatch Yes. I think sunshine is also playing a big part. It's been really, really dull for April, especially recently (outside of some sun over the weekend, but with no warmth though). 

Bird and insect life seems properly subdued for nearly May, also.

[Dare i watch the GFS 06Z]

....And there is it the classical HP over Greenland that spreads northwards up to the arctic, another completely useless spring month coming?

[SunSean]

 Dare i watch the GFS 06Z "But...but...but the SSW will be different this time guys!"

There's no other way around it- SSW = Sudden Spring Wrecker. We don't get a Spring if we get an SSW. The earliest we can expect ANY kind of settled sunny weather would be late May now but it's still a roll of the dice depending on all this crap northern blocking nonsense so we may just get the dullest year ever, time will tell!

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 Dare i watch the GFS 06Z I'm sure the polar bears will love the HP.

Don't worry about us all in Northern Europe stuck under another month of cloudy, cool, wet dross lol

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 SunSean Agree. We basically skip Spring in such set-ups (Spring here meaning something actually different, more useable and more pleasant than the winter weather prior), and get a 2-month minimum extension of December-like dross. 

Exactly the same as last year. I wouldn't be surprised if most of May is cool and cloudy and then out of nowhere we get the week-long heatwave in June with zero transition or steady shift to summery weather.

Sure, May *might* be better, but the start of it certainly won't be, and by that point, we've wasted away most of Spring already.  May is the final third of Spring and the latter half sort of bleeds into summer anyway (or it should, at least), so the time for high Spring is well past. Getting 17c-20c days in May isn't some grand feat or sign of a major pattern shift tbh. It's very expected weather in May especially for the SE. Such days I expected here and there during April too.

Edited April 25 by In Absence of True Seasons

[SunnyG]

 In Absence of True SeasonsYou read it here first (probably not lmao): May will not be better. If anything, it will be worse.

[B87]

So probably well into June before we see anything warm then. Last year the warmest day of the spring was only 22.7c. This year could be even worse?

[SunnyG]

 B87 I think we can manage 23c but probably early June...

[B87]

 SunnyG Then June manages to combine 1990, 1991, 1998, 2012, 2016 all into one.

[SunnyG]

 

And there's this too...

[B87]

I don't want to see anyone cheering for a SSW to ruin spring ever again. 2 in a row now. Hopefully 2025 will be more seasonal regarding rainfall and sunshine.

[Azazel]

 B87 yes, I'm writing off May and the remainder of spring now as we know how long these patterns take to shift.

That's 2 months down from what I describe as the "warmer and lighter" half of the year (April - September) .

April and May used to be my favourite months of the year because the nights are drawing out rapidly, plants are in bloom and you get those first lovely warm spring days.

Not anymore lol. Might even be my new least favourite part of the year because there is something so irredeemably cruel and foul about having to endure this ghastly extension of Winter right up until summer.

[B87]

 Azazel And it looks like we will be very lucky to get 30 hours of sun from the first week of May. 

I mentioned yesterday that if we have a 200 hour sun deficit by the start of June, then we will need a repeat of summer 2022, plus a 230 hour September (which would be the sunniest on record), just to get back to the running average.

Hopefully we get a dry, sunny October with an average high of 20c to make up for the lack of spring-like weather in the actual spring.

Edited April 25 by B87

[Met.]

5°C here right now. At this point I wouldn't be surprised to wake on up 6th May to 2°C and heavy wet snow falling.

[Frigid]

6C at 2PM is very impressive given the time of year. We hardly saw that in the winter lol. 

Barring today, this cool spell has been very pleasant. Most days were sunny and dry, with max temps around 9-12C.. reminds me a lot of April 2021. Next week looks the complete opposite, with mild rain on it's way. How exciting,

[lassie23]

Is this tripe the result of the SSW or is British spring weather just tripe these days? I mean this is the type of tripe we had in December only it was warmer then

[danm]

 lassie23 hard to say for sure, northern blocking is actually pretty common at this time of year, but I do think the SSW has enhanced and prolonged this pattern. 

[B87]

 danm This spring would be considered very wet and dull for an autumn. It has definitely been ruined by the SSW.