Worryingly Wet & Worryingly Sunless

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Cloud beautiful cloud again 

[Methuselah]

 *Stormforce~beka* Lovely, isn't it? And it's a perfectly uniform grey too! 

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 *Stormforce~beka* is it at least dry for you? Been drizzling all day in Essex and all through the night too.

[Eskimo]

I have to say I'm really starting to struggle with the lack of sun. Really struggling. 

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 Methuselah Yes we wear our uniform daily ...

 In Absence of True Seasons Yes and no. Was dry in Winchester the nwe went to Basingstoke for the day. Was heavily raining there. Left and got back to Winch and it was dry here!

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 Eskimo Me too!!

[blizzard81]

It's been a truly shocking 5 months. Seemingly none stop rain, wind or both. Heavy rain last night lasting all through today. Awful!

[SunnyG]

Awful weather today, but honestly can't say it's been non stop awful, since the past week has been okay-ish. But if last summer had been like summer 2022, it would feel different. I can stand a crappy winter, but not a crappy spring and summer too. And two on the trot? Yuk.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 SunnyG I don't even want to think of 2 bad summers on a trot. It fills me with dread.

[raz.org.rain]

 SunnyG it seems there's a higher confidence for a pattern change to something much drier over the coming months, and it seems we've got a few good factors that favour a hot and dry summer. I think the likelihood is two scenarios; warm and wet, or hot and dry. An interesting note about all the SSW talk is that it does theoretically have some impacts on summer weather, and it would be a positive one for fans of warmth...

 

[Terminal Moraine]

After the second dullest February on record here ( since 2000) March has continued the very dull weather with just 12.9 hrs of sunshine in the first 10 days; the average is 32.2 hrs for the first 10 days.

2005 was the dullest March on record with 46.6 hrs during the whole month and the first 10 days managed 25.4 hrs. 2023 was the second dullest with 48.3 hrs and the first 10 days were comparable with this year with 12.2 hrs recorded.

[SussexSnowman]

Another crap weekend of weather. Beyond tedious and boring now. 

[In Absence of True Seasons]

What a bright, beautiful Spring morning folks!

[*Stormforce~beka*]

 In Absence of True Seasons COUGH ... Cough cough!!!

[SunnyG]

 raz.org.rain Let's hope so, but my trust in forecasts is at present very low....

[In Absence of True Seasons]

Just saw the weather forecast on TV and the forecast presenter goes "After a drier spell, the rain returns on Tuesday (tomorrow". 

Oh? We had a drier spell? That's news to me. I must have slept through all 12 hours of it. 

What a joke. Well, today is drier I suppose but just foul nevertheless without a scrap of sun to be seen.

Just call it what it is. There's no sugar coating it. Every single park in my area is a swamp and I'm in one of the least wet parts of the country.

Edited March 11 by In Absence of True Seasons

[raz.org.rain]

3 hours ago, In Absence of True Seasons said:

Just call it what it is. There's no sugar coating it. Every single park in my area is a swamp and I'm in one of the least wet parts of the country.

Funny but unrelated thing, I was reading about the PETM when the earth was a much hotter planet. The UK was a very hot swampland where it rained more or less constantly, at the same latitude too. This must be a cursed location on earth.

[Metwatch]

Tomorrow looks to be another washout now, can't really catch a break! This one will introduce milder air which will still be a cloudfest for the remaining week!

I feel like our only option now is a colder northerly that will make it drier but also sunny, April 2021 type of thing. As much as I don't want cold that might be the only way we become drier and sunnier. Can't see a warmer drier southerly or overhead high pressure being that likely now from any SSW.

Edited March 11 by Metwatch

[Met.]

Such grotty rot this month that I've been thinking of buggering off to Kuala Lumpur for a week or so seeing as I'm rich and have time on my hands. But then again I can't be bovvered. 

[LetItSnow!]

 raz.org.rain So the future will turn us from a cold grey bog to a warm grey grotty swamp. Lucky I don't mind the rain!

[raz.org.rain]

 LetItSnow! I'd imagine it'd be like a much more humid and hotter American Deep South if you're into that kind of climate. For reference, the Arctic circle would have had a climate resembling what Florida currently has.

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 raz.org.rain Im not surprised by that at all. Probably the direction climate change has in store for us tbh. 

Wet, mild and cloudy with odd bursts of sunny heat from April to September.

I think humid climates in America such as Florida are fine. I've been to Florida several times and the weather is generally pretty favourable. Lots of sunshine, and lots of rainfall, but the key thing is that the rainfall is condensed and heavy. It rained *at some point* on pretty much every day, usually in the evening, but for perhaps an hour or 2 at most. A torrential burst and then back out comes the sun again. It's very, very different to the sort of wet weather we get here where it just piddles with drizzly rubbish for 18 hours on-end, and it's far more pleasant IMO. Because it means you have much more use-ability of the day without the risk of getting wet, whereas for us, many days become entire write-offs for outdoors plans because we'll get an entire day of slow, soft rain that nevertheless will get you soaked pretty quickly. 

Edited March 11 by In Absence of True Seasons

[danm]

Unfortunately this is just one of those periods that has been wetter than average, just as we've had periods that have been much drier than average (much of 2022, for example). 

[reef]

11 days in now and just 14.1 hours of sunshine. It looks to be a continuing cloudfest until at least the weekend aswell.

Already we need 5.5 hours of sunshine per day for the remaining 20 days just to reach the 1991-2020 average.

What an awful run of weather in the last 6 months.

[Summer of 95]

It's been absolutely dire and the stats prove it: (figures for Shawbury, 1991-2020 averages)

Jul 110.2mm (191%),115.7hr (59.8%) 

Aug 55.2mm (85.9%), 113.3hr (67.5%)

Sep 74.6mm (122%), 118.7hr (88.1%)

Oct 170.6mm (248%), 65.1hr (66.8%)

Nov 82.0mm (135%), 73.1hr (118%)

Dec 105.2mm (159%), 33.5hr (82%)

Jan 56.6mm (98.6%), 51.0hr (96.7%)

Feb 98.6mm (228%), 40.7hr (54.4%)

July to February totals:

753mm (157%), average 479.5

611.1hrs (73.4%) average 832.72

I'm struggling to think of such a prolonged period of persistent wet and dull weather. 

The only 9-month period I can think of that rivals it is April to December 2012, which scored 154% of average rain and 75.7% sunshine, so was actually marginally less bad. Nothing in 2000-1 or 2013-14 got close.

The winter was the dullest since 1991-2 (less rain all winter than Dec 2023 or Feb 2024 had) and wettest since 1989-90 (about 40 hours more sunshine, despite an even duller December). Wet winters here often do OK for sunshine, it's dry anticyclonic setups that can be really dull, especially in Dec and Jan.

March has about 22 hours so far, average for the month is 114.6 so would be about 40-45 for 1st-12th. With hardly any sun forecast this week it would need about 90 hours in the second half to make average- 6 hours a day, which is about normal for June. And it's raining again...