Worryingly Wet & Worryingly Sunless

[SunSean]

 *Stormforce~beka* Only 4 days from next Thursday but I just need to experience sunshine again, even for a little bit, since we're not getting it in our crappy corner of the country lol.

Another grey day today in Essex & the threat of more rain looms large!

[Scorcher]

Very good start to the month here with 20.3 hours of sunshine. We may well pass February's (pitiful) total for the whole month by the weekend.

The last couple of days have reminded me a lot of March 2003.

[CryoraptorA303]

20 minutes ago, Scorcher said:

The last couple of days have reminded me a lot of March 2003.

Uh oh... Is Faversham preparing a comeback tour? 

[Fen Wolf]

 SunSean i say the same thing to my family & friends when i’m annoyed or say Ive had enough let’s find the nearest cliff or pier to drive off.  
 

weather is actually good today so far!  Can it stay dry for a full 24hrs?  Find out next week 

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 SunSean Just seen the blog post about another SSW landing for Spring. 2023 here we go again...

The last paragraph just takes the cake for me:

"But the SSW increases the risk that any gradually warm up towards April may be subject to set-backs, perhaps dramatic, with a cruel reminder of winter not yet done at some point in the coming weeks."

Yep, that's it. Final straw for me after the last 3/4 months of dross we have just had.  Will definitely be joining you in taking a Spring holiday to somewhere warm and sunny. Maybe Cyprus. 

[Fen Wolf]

I will also be out of the uk until the end of the month soon

[LetItSnow!]

With the global reserve for warmer than average conditions being off the scale I personally think a cool spring is unlikely, but it happened in 2021 so it’s not out of the question it could happen again. We are somewhat similar globally to 1998 and that saw a dramatic flip to cool conditions in April so, along with an SSW, I do think wintry spells are likely this spring, but whether they are isolated spells within a mild season or it turns genuinely colder than average, we will wait and see. 

Scandinavian countries have seen a notable period of well below normal temperatures for the most part since October last year so it goes to show you it is possible if all things land in our favour and seasons like spring 2021 and also the first half of December 2022 are big reasons why I refuse to accept the notion that UK cold is confined to history — however I would like to see our luck pay off for winter 2024/2025 instead of spring 2024! 

Advanced vegetation after a very mild winter could negatively be affected by a cold spring. 

[SunSean]

 In Absence of True Seasons Guess the only hope is that every long term forecast so far, the opposite has happened haha. Cold wouldn't bother me if it was April 2021 style but more March 2023 style unrelenting grey? No thank you!

surprisingly nice day so far from about 11am- key words being "so far" lol.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 In Absence of True Seasons I'm feeling left out

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 SunSean Yeah April 2021 style would be lovely, frosty mornings and nights, warm during the day, but lots of sunshine. 

I highly doubt that'll be the case though. It'll be predominantly cloudy, wet and cool. Probably windy as well, as that happened last year during the SSW.

Silver linings as you say is that pretty much all the long range forecasts have been woefully inaccurate, so fingers crossed this one is too

Edited March 6 by In Absence of True Seasons

[East Lancs Rain]

19 hours ago, baddie said:

November 2015 - April 2016 was another, but we didnt really get much glorious weather to make up for it. Just a little bit in May followed by an awful June

We did get a nice September and October here, and August 2016 was also pretty good in the south (it was a very mixed month here). Then the winter of 2016/17 was also quite dry, and we had a nice Spring in 2017.
 

I’d also like to point out that before March last year, we had a dry and sunny February, the winter was also quite dry (IIRC) and the spring, summer and autumn of 2022 were all drier than average, especially the summer. And before that, I think the winter of 2021/22 was quite dry also.. So I’d say we were probably due a wet spell. Although I agree with other it’s gone on for a way too long, we definitely need a few months of drier than average weather now.

 

Edited March 6 by East Lancs Rain

[East Lancs Rain]

20 hours ago, baddie said:

November 2015 - April 2016 was another, but we didnt really get much glorious weather to make up for it. Just a little bit in May followed by an awful June

September and October 2016 were good though (and August 2016 in the south, it was a very mixed month here though). And the winter of 2016/17 was quite dry and the Spring of 2017 was quite good. September 2016 to June 2017 was quite a nice period for weather.

 

16 hours ago, Scorcher said:

interesting how some Yorkshire folk are convinced the weather is better on that side of the Pennines. I have family in Yorkshire and my experience is that it's often cooler- especially in spring.

12.7C here today so far from cold.

It got to about 10.5C here yesterday in East Lancs, which I wouldn’t consider cold for early March. I’m guessing West Yorkshire was very similar. It did feel quite chilly when I went for a late afternoon walk though. It was nice and sunny earlier today but it’s clouded over now and it’s cooler at only 8.4C.
 

I guess it depends on where in Manchester you are. The city centre is warmer and is relatively dry with around 800-900 mm of rain a year. But the surrounding towns like Oldham and Rochdale are a bit cooler and considerably wetter with around 1200-1300 mm of rain a year, wetter than just about anywhere in Yorkshire. As for sunshine, I would guess the city centre is a bit sunnier than the surrounding towns as well.

 

Generally, the weather is a lot drier on the eastern side of the Pennines, and somewhat sunnier too. There is a poster on here from Leeds who often gets drier/sunnier weather than what I’m getting. The exception is when we get a sunny easterly (usually in Spring) when west of the Pennines is warmer.

[Derecho]

1 hour ago, East Lancs Rain said:

I’d also like to point out that before March last year, we had a dry and sunny February

I'm pretty sure this time last year there was a thread called 'worryingly dry' after that February and then that's when our unsettled rut began (excepting mid-May to late June - that feels like a very long time ago now!).

So hopefully this thread will initiate the change to worryingly dry and sunny weather again.

Edited March 6 by Derecho

[raz.org.rain]

I'd be much happier if we can get an extended dry period, and it sounds like it could potentially be likely at some point in March or April. Only trouble is that if that continues through summer, it's going to get seriously hot. I think that's a safe concern considering that we have to exit this pattern of persistently wet sooner rather than later, and you'd expect an extended dry spell to follow.

[SunSean]

 Derecho Yeah, that's pretty much the purpose of this thread, a kind of reverse psychology relief from this wet & dull curse we have been in haha. Hopefully it works!

[baddie]

 Scorcher If we continue the high for the rest of the month, I imagine we will get a March 2003 redux. that month only seen 28 hours of sunshine in the first 13 days followed by an extremely sunny second half making it one of the sunniest on record

Edited March 6 by baddie

[Scorcher]

 East Lancs Rain There is a big difference between where you are and where I am currently near Manchester Airport. My friend who coaches at Burnley confirms this- it is a lot wetter and generally cooler up there than here.

I guess comparing East Lancs with West Yorkshire is very different to comparing Cheshire or South Manchester.

[CryoraptorA303]

 baddie That'd be the second close 2003 relative this year. Along with February being close relatives with 2022, 1995 and 1989, I'm getting really worried that Faversham is planning a massive rave for it's 21st birthday now 

[CryoraptorA303]

 Scorcher West Yorkshire is on the other side of the Pennines so it'll be significantly different to Manchester let alone eastern Lancashire. Manchester is right at the northernmost point of the central plains so its at the very tail end of southerly/continental influence. Something like June 2023 is a great visualisation of the border between the central plains and the North Western hills.

[WYorksWeather]

 CryoraptorA303 The key I think is that Yorkshire generally has a slightly higher overall maximum temperature potential in summer, but is also a bit more prone to poor springs, especially under easterlies. A nagging breeze is often the result. The flipside is a lot more protection from the extreme rainfall totals that seem to affect areas slightly further south and west when we have unsettled periods.

Overall though I definitely prefer the Yorkshire climate to most other places nearby. Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Cheshire, all generally seem to have wetter climates, though I've never looked in detail at the statistics. But anecdotally, usually when I take a trip west or south the weather is worse there than it is back home.

[East Lancs Rain]

 WYorksWeather I definitely prefer the climate on the east coast to here. Much drier, much more sunshine and more temperature moderation so fewer heatwaves, fewer cold nights etc. You also get a sea breeze which is nice in summer. The only downside is the cooler springs with cold sea breezes.

 

Lancashire tends to be warmer than Yorkshire and the north east in an easterly wind, but Yorkshire tends to be warmer (and often sunnier) in a westerly wind, which is most of the time.

Edited March 6 by East Lancs Rain

[raz.org.rain]

11 hours ago, In Absence of True Seasons said:

Yep, that's it. Final straw for me after the last 3/4 months of dross we have just had.  Will definitely be joining you in taking a Spring holiday to somewhere warm and sunny. Maybe Cyprus.

I've mentioned elsewhere that I'm not convinced that a SSW will deliver cold, I'm not entirely sure why it gets spoken about like it's some guaranteed omen of a deep Arctic plunge when it could just as easily go the other way and deliver early warmth... which wasn't mentioned in the blog oddly enough.

[baddie]

Im not trusting the weekly forecast at all this week. When Met Office forecasts "overcast" all day, it will just turn into a day like today has been. Misty morning and lovely sunny afternoon

[SunSean]

Blimey, shows how crap its been down in my little area of Essex lately as I thought it was a nice enough day yesterday and even that only had a measly 4 hours of sunshine

Still only had 2 days that have scraped the 50% mark of sunshine since our last fully sunny day on Jan 26th!

Only 4 hours yesterday...and yet because of how bad its been, it felt like a wonderful day! 

Dear oh dear.

Looks like quite a few places have been doing better lately regarding sunshine since this thread went up so that's a start, just need it to be a nationwide thing now.

After such a long time of rain and grey, it will feel even worse for those locations who do miss out when there is sunshine on parts of the country. Essex definitely one of those missing out at the moment

[marky810]

Another dawn of grey from horizon to horizon and its still damp. Will it clear? Looking at sat24 it might burn off but then Monday was sunny...