Relativistic

There was some see-sawing in 2012 outside of the first five months. June and July were mostly cool and wet, but both had spells of warm/hot days in their final weeks. September had a hot spell in the opening week before then becoming much cooler, and December was very much a month of two halves: the first half was excellent, with thick frosts and snow featuring, while the second half was extremely mild.

I don't think the original comment was supposed to be taken so seriously... I'd appreciate not having another GW derailment in the wrong thread.

Quite a mixture of Junes that followed these years. June 1987 was very cool (12.8C), while 1772 was a warm one (16.1C). These two were both in the top 30.

Shame we didn't go sub-10C in the end. This month does at least tell us that it's still possible, though.

I'll go with 14.9°C and 60mm.

The haar's rolled in here. First time this year.

This'll be the first time since 2013 that at least three of the first five months of the year were below their respective 1961-90 averages. All five managed it in 2013. The last time exactly three of the first five months managed it was in 2010 (January, February, and May).

Indeed, sub-10C may be on a knife-edge now. Would be a shame not to finish sub-10C as such Mays are rare -- there have only been nine since 1900!

Provisionally, the highest daily mean of the meteorological Spring is still the 31st March's value of 14.3C. Can we make it to the end of May without recording a higher daily mean? Can't have been many years where the highest was in March.

Unusually cold for late May. Currently 8C, gusty, and very wet. Last May was far more settled than this one.

Yes, looks like we'll be trundling along in the 9s for the foreseeable future. If the month ends in the same vein then there's a chance we'll end up in the top-five coldest Mays of the past century. In reverse-chronological order, we have the following: 1996: 9.1C 1984: 9.9C 1975: 9.9C 1968: 9.8C 1955: 9.7C 1941: 9.4C 1935: 9.9C 1923: 9.2C A remarkable decadal consistency for sub-10C Mays until the 2000s (someone else may have already pointed this out). Thanks to the cluster in the upper 9s, we don't have to finish that far below 10C to rank well on this list.

I'm guessing you mean two months (being April and May). Over the entire record, only the Spring of 1837 has managed an aggregate below 17C.

Unless there's a 2012-style warm-up, we look to be heading towards our first season below the 1961-90 average since Autumn 2019, and our first Spring to achieve the same feat since 2013. There's zero chance we'll match 2013 (the coldest since the 1800s and a full degree below this year if May finishes on 10.0C).

I don't disagree. But those months had those average highs because some days got into the high 20s or low 30s, thus pulling the average up; the days that were unsettled had average highs much lower than 22°C. I'm disputing that a 22°C day in London in Summer means "unsettled, rainy, and cloudy", because looking at the data it definitely doesn't. My own memories from Essex also back this up. August 2011 is a more extreme example. Highs on unsettled days were often lower than in July 2012, with 16-17°C common. The reason the average was higher was due to a number of finer days which saw temperatures peak much higher than the mean. Again, you can check that via the link I provided.

Codswallop. When I lived in Essex, where mean Summer highs are perhaps a degree lower than your location, highs of 21°C usually meant sunshine and scattered clouds, and not "unsettled, rainy and cloudy". The reason e.g. July 2012 had an average high above 21°C was because of a spell of hot days at the end where temperatures climbed into the high 20s. The unsettled days had highs in the 17-19°C range -- certainly not 21-22°C. You can check that at this link to Heathrow weather data: Weather in July 2012 in Heathrow, England, United Kingdom WWW.TIMEANDDATE.COM Weather reports from July 2012 in Heathrow, England, United Kingdom with highs and lows Unsettled weather in Essex generally brought summertime highs in the same range when I lived there.

I decided to look at means for the 40-day period 1st April to 10th May. The provisional value for this year is 6.9C (a 0.3C downward correction for the first 10 days of May would just about see us round down to 6.8C). The last time the mean was this cold was in 1941 (6.5C), and during the 1900s there were only two further instances where the mean was colder: 1917 (6.6C) and 1922 (6.7C). Beyond that, we have 1887 (6.8C), 1879 (5.8C), 1837 (5.9C), 1812 (6.5C), 1809 (6.4C), 1799 (6.0C), and 1782 (5.4C). So provisionally we're 11th coldest on record for the period.

Forgot to check this at the end of the month. After corrections we ended up with 5.3C, so did manage third coldest since 1970.

Can't speak for those in the south, but we've had a number of excellent days this Spring up here. In fact, the very first day of the (meteorological) season was stunning. A number of days in March were excellent, and April consistently produced sunny weather. May has so far been less sunny, however.

Snow showers here in Edinburgh. And I'm not talking about a pathetic five-minute period of sleet; I'm talking about a heavy half-hour shower of the fat-flaked January-type stuff. I'm relatively young but this sets a new record for the latest I've witnessed falling snow in Britain. My previous record was the 30th April 2016 in Birmingham.

Graupel shower currently.

I enjoyed today perhaps more than most because it felt somewhat nostalgic; many a day in the Mays of my teenage years (namely 2012, 2013, and 2015) were similarly cool, wet and windy.

I saw that too. Surprised as a top temperature of 14°C doesn't seem that low for early May?

Rolling CET for the past 12 months is 10.1C. A May mean of 11.0C or lower will take us sub-10C.

I'd take the dip we had around 1700, with all of that due to cold winter periods. I'm quite happy for summer months to remain normal (in the sense of recent averages).

The provisional figure to the 30th is 1.8C. Unless we get an upward correction this will put us comfortably in the top five since the record began. Last time we made the top five for any month was in March 2013 which placed joint-fifth. The last top-10 finish was in September 2015, placing joint-eighth.