stainesbloke

Beautiful day with loads of warm sun, hopefully much more of this to come this year.

Absolutely gorgeous day here. Reached 17C with loads of sunshine and light-moderate winds. Much more of this in Spring would be lovely!

Last summer was one of two distinct halves here. The first was pretty grim; despite a couple of warm days at the beginning of June and some some convective interest during that month, to me it felt like it just rained all the time and was often cloudy. Then after nearly 3 weeks of dull nothingness in July our fortunes dramatically improved and the rest of the summer was generally much better, with the nicest August here for some years (not difficult!). Interested to see what this year will bring.

I don't remember much about summer 2015 apart from the cold wind for most of June, despite quite a few nice sunny days. July and August must have been fairly inoffensive but weren't they rather cloudy?

Increased cloud amounts and pesky breezes are more common in recent summers imho. 2015 was very breezy; I remember June that year being reasonably sunny and usable here but the cold and gusty NW wind just wouldn't quit. Hopefully some long, properly sunny and warm/hot spells this year.

Lively showers passing through here, sunny intervals in between on a rather strong wind. No thunder yet.

If only it was July! First attempt at a plume this year so far, hopefully a thunderous year to come...

Agree, something changed post 2006 big time where thunderstorms are concerned, including here in the SE. April-September would generally see most storms here, though thundery showers would occur at least several times over the winter months too. The best warmer month storms would usually occur after a good few days of warmth and when a cold front would gradually move in from the SW or W.

Congratulations Surrey! It's a great feeling to be able to drive, you can now go storm chasing too

Great that you made use of the sale on seeds, sounds well worth it. Will have to look out this year for sales. Will you make beer from your hops lol? Shame your site doesn't allow greenhouses or polytunnels, they are so useful. Can you use cloches? The most exotic things I'll try growing this year are okra (tried and failed last year), mooli and melons. You can get melons that should ripen outside, think 'Outdoor Wonder' and 'Emir' are quite reliable, unless we have a very poor summer. I'll be growing potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, sweetcorn, cabbages, broccoli, beetroot, carrot, parsnips, winter squash, spinach and loads of fruit this year Fingers crossed for a nice summer!

Yes you certainly were lucky! Events like this occurred more frequently in the 80's-90's. I remember many a storm preventing sleep and flooding local roads etc. It's become so much rarer in recent years with most thundery activity keeping to the continent but am hoping a more 'normal service' resumes soon.

Having an allotment makes me realise that the British climate will do anything to test a food growers patience to the max I especially detest this wind as it roars across our allotment site making outdoor work very unpleasant. High pressure please! Hope you and your plot are doing well, have you sown anything yet and what will you be growing this year?

August was good here and September too (too late though). Shame about June, very unpleasantly wet and dull despite apparently above average temperatures (certainly didn't feel like that in reality). July was dreary and dull too until the last third of the month. I'm hoping for above average temperatures this summer (as usual) but most importantly I'd love to see above average sunshine amounts. Can't bear depressing summer gloom. Oh and some proper '80's-90's style thunderstorms. About time we had some of those, it has been pathetically poor here for storms for the last 15 years or so, the biggest change I've noticed in recent summer conditions.

Cold start here (1C) with some frost but I can see plenty of blue sky and the sun! Finally

Big puddles but no flooding. Just grey and wet.

Very showery here with no sunshine as yet. Radar looks pretty wet for this afternoon. Ugh!

Me too, no room to sit down in it at the moment as I'm storing all my pots in there for the winter. Bit more sun today would be nice, looks like rain coming soon.

The vile wind is back, says 12C but feels freezing. Yuck! At least it's dry now.

Forecast is for dry weather with bright spells. Gloomy here with heavy drizzle. Very annoyed!

Grey and dreary start to the day here and rather breezy. Today looks like disappointing so hopefully tomorrow will be better and at least see some sunshine.

Very pleasant but chilly start to the day here after yesterday's dramas, 2C and some sunshine, with a very light W'ly wind.

Agree, doesn't have to be 30C every day but at least some sunshine would be nice, not endless grey skies. Bad enough in winter! Thankfully this winter hasn't been as bad as recent ones for the dreaded gloom.

17C here too, absolutely lovely!!

Very dreary morning here after a lovely day yesterday, go away cloud! Mild though and no wind.

Lol, I wonder if people will learn to be a bit more realistic next year, despite whatever fantastical output is showing at 10 days out? Don't agree winter is finished just yet, a good few weeks left where we could see some very wintry weather. Hopefully not though!