Arctic Hare

What a difference a day makes! Max 20.8 °C today, the first 20 for 743 years (OK just feels that way!) and with a decent amount of sunshine, too. Not feeling that warm but I was sitting outdoors in a polo shirt for quite a while and felt fine. Compared to most of this spring it's been sensational.

To my surprise, a better day than forecast here in Worcs. Max of 16.8 °C, the highest for quite a while, and far more sun and less rain than yesterday. You still wouldn't call it great for late May, but it's a big improvement on yesterday.

It's the humidity that I don't like, rather than the heat itself. That's why May is my favourite month (usually!) as you can get genuinely warm sunshine, with long daylight hours, but without the sticky, oppressive feel of August. Also without wasps homing in on your drink every time you have a snack outdoors!

Today has been absolutely dire here. I was expecting quite a few showers but in the event it's been worse. Nearly every time I've looked outside it's been raining, and some of that rain has been pretty heavy. Max today 12.9 °C and much of the time it's been in single figures. More showers tomorrow, but then... just maybe... something better? Though it's funny that the MetO regional forecast says "Fine, dry and warm on Thursday" - warm means 17 °C, apparently!

It wasn't so bad for the first half of today here. By the horribly low standards of this May, that is. I mean, it didn't start raining until after lunch, though from then on it rarely stopped. I know people in the model thread are saying not to get too excited about high teens and a few showers here and there... but tbh that sounds like heaven compared with what we have now! With the strength of the sun at this time of year, 18 °C will feel very warm if A) it's sunny and B) there isn't a gale blowing. So I'll damn well get a bit excited!

For me, at least, that is the key. In April, cold as it was the sunshine was welcome. While I appreciate it's been a bit better further north, down here in Worcs we haven't had useable clear blue skies. We've had grey murk. Frankly I'd rather have hayfever, and I'm saying that as a sufferer myself! If we go back to clear northerlies in the medium term, with cool temps but plenty of sunshine, then I'll take that, though.

Max today 14.1 °C, with lots of rain, no sun past breakfast time, gusty winds (especially tonight)... it's basically November. Again. And I am utterly, utterly sick of it.

It's been a truly dreadful May so far. To the point where a day like a couple of days ago, ie with at least some warmish sunshine between all the showers, feels almost heavenly. I'd take going back to April's sunny chill over this, without a doubt. Yes I complained about the cold then, and I see no reason to be ashamed of that as most of us did the same. But I'm at the stage now where if we get largely dry, cloudy 18 °C weather by the Bank Holiday I'll be close to being thrilled! I too have taken to having the odd sneaky peek at the NHC website to see what might be brewing in the Atlantic. As it happens there is currently a disturbance with an 80% chance of becoming a subtropical system in the next 48 hours. Admittedly in May it's pretty unlikely to become the kind of storm that can really shake things up, but you never know! And (as long as it avoided landfall, of course) I'd be all for that at this point. Roll the dice!

I don't know, but probably one place to look might be Samuel Pepys's diary. Philip Eden wrote a little article about Pepys' comments on the weather here: https://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/philip-eden/Samuel-Pepys.htm It seems from other somewhat fragmentary sources that 1663 was a pretty poor year: wet and cold, with considerable flooding, from late April until at least July. Then cold and wet again in September/October, with snow in places during October.

Grey and murky again this morning. I don't think I'd actually be that upset with a rerun of late April weather at this point. Yes, even with the cold. At least then I could step outside my door and know I was safe from rain for more than 20 minutes at a time. At least then it was sunny. Temperatures aren't as much of a deal then. Here in Worcs this morning it's overcast, gloomy, chilly and damp. There is literally nothing to say to recommend weather like this. Not even storm lovers would be able to stand it without falling asleep, as there aren't any of those either. Apart from the state of the trees and the longer daylight hours, this is pretty much November. Again. As has been mentioned, this spring is interesting from a meteorological perspective. I accept that. But here's the thing: summers 2007 and 2012 were also interesting from a meteorological perspective, and I would very much not repeat those either! Spring 2021 looks like ending up as another one I'll file in the "interesting historically, but no fun to be out in" category. Sunshine in April was welcome, but that's about it.

Which year had the lowest annual maximum, say since 1900? Has there ever been one where 25 °C hasn't been reached?

Yes, same here. June and July 2007 were so horrific from a rain/flooding point of view here that temperatures really didn't matter. A week of 15 °C but no rain would have been greeted with wild celebrations! As for August that year, Trevor Harley's site says it was 30.1 °C at Wisbech on the 5th, but if it got anywhere near 30 °C here I don't remember it. I do recall August as being a huge improvement over the previous two months, finally allowing serious post-flood cleanup to get underway, but it's not as if being a huge improvement over June/July 2007 was hard! As for this year... frankly I'd willingly take a boringly average summer right now. We've had a very poor time this spring, barring a few days in April when the sun was out and the wind wasn't strong. I was on a station platform at around 9 am today and I was genuinely wishing I'd put my winter coat on. Max so far this afternoon 12.4 °C - which is annoying at the best of times, but when it keeps being like that this late in the spring it's just pathetic.

I remember that happening here quite a bit in May 2012. Not the best omen, I know! As for 20-22 °C... with strong sunshine and light winds it can feel very warm indeed. Though to be honest right now I would be thrilled to see 20 °C at all! My 2021 outright max may still be from March as June starts. That's bonkers.

Agreed with a couple of other posters that the lack of a settled May this year is a real downer. It's my favourite month too, as when it all goes right (eg last year) it can be very warm and sunny without the unpleasant humidity of a late summer hot spell. Plus the days are longer than in say late August. When it's almost the midpoint of May and my 2021 max is still from March, that is a very very long way from inspiring.

20 °C nights are pretty much unheard of out here; I don't know whether we've ever had one. Anything above 15-16 °C in the middle of the night gets very uncomfortable for me, though to be fair that's sometimes because there's a massive storm on the way so the humdity is very high.

Much better day today. Yet another air frost overnight (min -1.1 °C) but lots of sunshine and a pleasant if still slightly chilly feel to the day. Max 15.3 °C, which I know isn't much but this "spring" I'll take what I can get! Shame about tomorrow...

Went outside a few minutes ago to check something in the garden and was surprised by how warm the sun felt. A useful reminder that, in spite of the chilly weather, we're only 6 weeks from the solstice and so when the sun is shining it has a lot of power now. (UV forecast is 6 here for lunchtime tomorrow.)

I can't see a properly settled spell in the near future, but at least it should start to feel warmer in the sunny intervals between all the beefy showers. I think it will feel more like spring, albeit probably more like early April than the middle of May. If Mother Nature is her usual trolling self, there will be a sudden flip to warm, dry, "let's all sit out in the beer garden" weather on 17th May when we no longer have to.

We seem to have missed the showers here so far, though there may have been a couple before dawn. As I type it's bright sunshine. 9.6 °C, so still not exactly balmy, but it's pleasant for brisk walking. The sun helps no end.

Chucking it down with what I can only describe as "sleety hail" here. It's 2.3 °C, which is going some for mid-afternoon in May!

I'd want a refund if October was this bad! Feels more like late November to me. Horrible day in just about every way here in Worcs. No redeeming features whatsoever.

Foul weather today. 9 °C, wet, windy. And as mentioned above, GFS suggests a foul week coming up, too. Right now I'm wondering when I'll see 15 °C again, never mind 20!

I realise it'd be less exciting than some here would want, but give me a summer that's warmer, drier and sunnier than average but not stupidly humid or full of severe storms and I'll be happy. I'd take another summer 1995! Hot yes, but I don't remember it being oppressive and sticky. Of course it would be ironic if in the months after finally being allowed to eat indoors again, we have a summer where everyone wants to sit outside anyway!

I suspect it's specifically the sunshine that's important, ahead of the warmth. Nearly every list of highest life expectancies has Japan and Switzerland at or near the top, and Norway is way up the rankings too. Often all three cooler countries are ahead of Spain, Greece or Italy on life expectancy. The biggest problem the UK has isn't that it's chilly, it's that it's cloudy. Birmingham averages around 1,400 hours a year, which is pretty pathetic by world standards. Rome gets 2,500 hours and Seville 2,900 hours. Even Tokyo gets 1,900. Given our latitude, we're not a particularly cold or (barring the far west) a particularly wet country. We are a particularly grey country. I do actually like the British weather, as I'm not particularly keen on living in a land of extremes. But when we get those stubborn spells with day after day of grey gloom and you have to leave the lights on all day even in midsummer... now that weather I will moan about with the best of 'em! The last two Aprils (one warm, one cold) have both been very sunny. Imagine if we had that much sun most Aprils. I suspect people would like the British weather much more then, even without any change in temperature. BTW I reckon the best place for sunshine, warmth and high life expectancy may be Perth, Australia. That gets 3,200 hours!

"Old man yells at cloud" about sums it up.