AderynCoch

Meanwhile the heat is on in the east of Germany. It got up to 35C today in Magdeburg and 34C in Berlín. 30.1C today at my nearest weather station, though I'm unsure as to its reliability. Koliba managed 29C and Ivanka 28C (both official stations for Bratislava). I could devote an entire thread to the unusual geography and microclimates of Bratislava.

Just evaded the brunt of the thunderstorm yesterday evening. Some really impressive strikes though: http://pocasiepodlupou.sk/2019/06/03/vcerajsie-burky-v-okoli-bratislavy-a-na-zahori/

No, you don't have to justify your weather preferences. And neither do others.

Is that good? How is it good? Please explain. Finally in a summer regime here after the terrible May (yes, that's cool, wet and dull). Enjoying an evening beer in the sinking Sun, might have to stay a bit longer because there's a thunderstorm approaching.

"has been up there" of course. Annoying typo

For me this May been up there with the worst I've ever experienced (I'm 34), and that includes about 30 living in the UK. Almost unremitting rain, cloud and suppressed temperatures. For Stupava (a few miles from me) 5 days this month have reached 22C (average May high for Bratislava is 21.8C) and rainfall is at 156.7mm (about three times the monthly average). I don't have sunshine statistics but if we've had even half of what we're supposed to get at this time of year I'll be amazed. Quite simply, a dreadful month. Thank heavens it's nearly over. This was the River Morava last week (it's pretty much the same now): The Danube is also going like greased lightning, which was probably a big factor in the boat tragedy in Budapest. It probably won't burst its banks though thanks to flood defences.

So that's where all the warmth has gone. High of 8C expected here tomorrow. Snow is forecast in northern Slovakia.

We don't know what summer's going to be like. Simple as that.

You're not alone. May so far has been absolutely gash in Central Europe. Currently 11C here and raining like there's no tomorrow. Trust this to happen after an almost-snowless February wasted on winds from Africa; had we received the current synoptics it would have been snowmageddon. I was in Paris over the weekend and the weather was poor there too. Saturday genuinely felt cold, dodging frequent downpours and hail showers. Lovely city though.

A rather bland period of weather here. After the fail February, March is turning out to be a really boring one this year: too warm for late snow but not warm enough to get an early taste of summer. Just a bunch of unsettled, autumnal 10-15C days with chilly but not frosty nights. Sunday might reach 19C but then it's right back to tedium again. Yawn.

19C here yesterday. Almost felt like summer never mind spring. I saw my first wasp of the year too. Sharp contrast with the same date last year!

Even in Slovakia February is turning into a bust. There was a bit of snow in the first week but it's been like spring ever since then. A chilly weekend coming up but then back to the double-digit highs. What a bummer. I hope March makes up for this nothing February.

We'll see. The 12z ECM is mild, the 00z less so. The only agreement is for Saturday to be mild but that's still some way off. Here the forecasts in recent days have been wrong 24 hours out. This weekend in Bratislava was supposed to be 4-5C. Instead we've had 15-20cm of snow and there's more unforecast snow today. I guess I should start a Slovakia thread at some point...

January 2001 was a good winter one for the NW. First one I remember seeing was the central lunar eclipse of April 1996.

Came right in the middle of a freezing spell when clear skies are usually a given. If I remember correctly a band of snow hit the SW the previous day and moved north, leaving nothing but annoying clag by the time it reached NW England.

I can outdo you in the crappy-phone-pic stakes, BFTV. First one is a case of "Spot The Eclipsed Moon". Second is the moon starting to leave the Earth's shadow a short time ago (thought that one came out quite well considering).

It's been snowing here every day since I came back on Tuesday, though there have been thaws (without which I'd probably be buried by now - I can well imagine there being metres of snow in the Alps). Maximum depth has been 20-25cm; now it's more like 15cm in undisturbed areas with more coming down. I'm going to head up to the nearby hills (about 500m) tomorrow to see what it's like. I've been up there before when there's been half a metre lying with virtually nothing lower down.

Arrived back in Slovakia this afternoon to this:

If weather could be compared to food this spell would be a boiled potato without even butter to slightly deblandify it. I feel part of my soul draining away every time I look at the forecast and see the same mind-numbing nothingness. If anyone has any ideas other than attempted hibernation I'm all ears. I tried thinking of November/December 2015 to remind me how worse things could be but that just made me feel queasy - good grief what a ghastly period that was.

Dropping a shedload of ice cubes in the North Atlantic is my proposal.

I've missed your posts Ian. Welcome back. Do you know how to stop the Balkans stealing snow from Central Europe by any chance? A deflector shield over Ukraine?

I'm back in the hood. From -4C and drifting snow to this. i think I might hibernate for the next three weeks.

Yes it's been a decent start to winter here but it's warming up just in time for Christmas (doesn't bother me as I'm flying to the UK on Friday}. A couple of pictures from the weekend. The first one is in Dúbravka, the last one is looking into Austria from Devínska Kobyla with the Danube winding its way towards Slovakia.

Not a bad start to winter here. A cold week at the end of November into the beginning of December with some snow, followed by a "meh" week and now snow again. There was hardly any autumn this year; just a summer which wouldn't end flipping straight to winter.

I was only eight at the time and don't remember this period at all (didn't have an active interest in the weather yet) but I remember Christmas Day 1993 being cold and icy, even if December on the whole was mild.