Wildswimmer Pete

Hazy sunshine early morning replaced by high cloud at lunchtime. Afternoon saw a thickening of the cloud with occasional bright intervals. At teatime my external sensor reported 24C before some light showery activity, currently 18.3C and damp. The cloud has that orange/yellow aspect of thundery conditions but looks like we won't see any tonight.

After overnight hospital stay in Liverpool, came back in glorious, sunny conditions and tonight seems to be mild at no lower than 9-10C. Even warmer tomorrow and as I'm not allowed to do anything for a couple of weeks it'll the back garden for me catching some rays. The possible icing on the cake is thundery weather overnight Friday which I love while being curled up in bed. Looks like this coming weekend's threatened 9C coldfest has retreated with just moderately cool, showery activity on Sat. and Sun and the heat returning after a couple of days.

Very cold last night, just 4.1C, Liverpool ATIS reported 15C at 15:00 BST both values are poor for a mid-June afternoon. Sunny in the morning with fair-weather Cu (1/8) but by 11:00 became fully infilled by Cu with just brief sunny intervals, however my Crookes radiometer on the windowsill is happily twirling so there's obviously plenty of IR radiation arriving at the ground. Light breeze F1, currently dry.

This afternoon a lot of cloud melted away resulting in mostly 1/8 with some occasional patches of larger Cu: 2/8. Looking at the cloud aloft it seemed to be coming from the NW, but at ground level the wind felt to be from the west. Currently overcast which developed at teatime. Not particularly warm but the still nagging breeze didn't feel quite as chilly while sunbathing. Dry all day. Edit: Just after I posted, we had a sharp shower. Currently dry again but still overcast. Wind has dropped out.

Calm and clear overnight but chilly, min 6.2C. Cloud 4/8 and the Cu is too large and extensive to describe as "fair weather". This morning (@10:30BST) still that chilly breeze and just 12C isn't very good. Have to make my way to Liverpool for minor heart surgery on Wednesday by public transport, so I do hope the expected mild temperatures actually materialise.

Well, June 1975 saw widespread snow during the first week (I remember seeing it) but just a few days later we saw the start of a cracking summer, only bettered by that of '76. I'm a fan of pattern matching but this time round I can't see a repeat of the '75 situation.

From memory 1972 might have been a bit chilly but we did see some warmer interludes, however we didn't have that relentless NWesterly so much a feature of the current season.

Quite cloudy in the morning, generally 6/8, but the afternoon sunny with less than 1/8 cloud. Strangely the fair-weather Cu streaming towards my location on the fairly stiff NWesterly breeze was melting away overhead, leaving the area over Frodsham Marsh and the Weaver valley virtually cloudless. Checking Liverpool ATIS the highest we managed was 15C, currently 14C, overnight min here was 8.0C. No precipitation over previous 24 hrs, wind currently 330deg 10kt @ 16:20Z

"i'm not discussing my bills with you" - then you can't claim the moral high ground if you can't justify your stance. Those of us who have to pay, pay through the nose and unseasonal cold costs dearly in financial terms as well those of well-being. When I first started living on my own in the early 70s the cost of light and heat was an irritating incidental. Nowadays energy costs are the main part of one's budget, look up "fuel poverty". Try thinking 45 years into the future. "you'll see it shoot up over 40C) - actually my outdoor sensor situated in the back garden in front of a SWesterly-facing wall: 31C Last night's min was 8.0C "Liverpool airport is directly on the estuary and exposed to the NW'erly winds more so than we are" - yes, I was brought up on Wirral and then moved to Runcorn, so I do know the geography of Merseyside and Cheshire quite well. When I walked to our shops in shorts and T-shirt if I hadn't known better I would have thought it was mid-April.

It's the same here 14 miles inland, here in the New Town we are a couple of hundred feet above sea level - its the Old Town that's at sea level. I actually took the sea temp. yesterday at Colwyn Bay: 13.5C using a calibrated spirit bucket thermomter, high Spring tide fully in, that came in over fairly warm sands. I understand the deep-water temp. in Liverpool Bay is just 11.1C which is currently below the lowest previous figure: 11.4C. However we are still in the early part of the month we hopefully we can better that.

I live on Palacefields, looking to my southwest cloud appears 1/8, looking north east towards Warrington, a good 3/8. Liverpool ATIS is reporting 14C (on a fine, sunny June afternoon?) with that now inevitable cold NWesterly (300deg). Look at my avatar - that is a 1" thick slab of ice. I can withstand temperatures that would kill most within a few minutes, but chronic exposure to persistant low temperatures I find both physiologically and psychologically enervating. You have to bear in mind that as you age you feel the cold increasingly more acutely. Are you responsible for paying for your energy costs? I have to budget more for my heat and light that I do for my food. The onset of autumn is feared by those of a certain age. For most of my life we had four reasonably defined seasons in their right places. No longer. The most warmth we can expect nowadays is a couple of weeks of relatively warm (but not particularly sunny) weather in July. From thereon it's "Forever Autumn". BTW are you sunbathing as I am - bare chested?

I'm entitled to my opinion as you are entitled your own. Difference is, I've endured a lot more British summers than you, more than three times as many than your mere 21. During my 1950/60s youth I was taught to respect the views of those older and wiser, unlike today it would seem. "Crystal blue skies" - you need to see Specsavers.

Looking at the appalling weather we've endured over the past six weeks, my (pessimistic) view is that the already cold UK climate has been ratcheted a couple of notches further down towards another Maunder Minimum (or at least another Dalton). Wish I got out of the country thirty years ago when I had the chance.

You omitted the relevant part of my post:

It's the pattern I've noticed the past three or four "summers" - the Anomalous Northwesterly begins in June and lasts for the rest of the "summer" bringing a relentless flood of polar maritime air, resulting in sunny breakfast times before the grey lid of Sc slams down, which doesn't melt away until sunset when what little heat from the day radiates away overnight under clear skies. Next day: rinse and repeat. The only problem with 2015 is that the Anomalous Northwesterly arrived six weeks early in late April. In this neck of the woods since 2010 summer has been two or three warm weeks in July before the AN reasserts itself.

Cold, cloudy and very windy, just 13C. Bloody hopeless for early June teatime. Looks like the relentless cold with continue for the foreseen future looking at next week's forecast.

Day started well with extensive sunny intervals but around lunchtime the Cu infill developed. Now just 16C at 2:00pm with even lower expected tomorrow. Currently dry with but now light wind 290deg so didn't take too long to revert to NWerly.

A bit showery around lunch-time. Went out at teatime and although still very windy the wind didn't have that "bite", felt quite mild. Also lengthy sunny intervals towards the evening. Currently around 4/8 cloud and outdoor temp.12.6C which is a lot of improvement over last night. Must take care to reset my in/out thermo so I catch tonight's min.

Rain early on but now brightening up with some small patches of blue showing. Still windy from the west (240deg) but chilly at just 13C.

Still driving rain and outdoor temp 9.6C BBQ anyone? Having an early night to keep warm in bed. Goodnight all, let's hope tomorrow sees an improvement.

So dark I need room lights, fan heater blasting away, gale driving rain against the windows, my outdoor sensor shows 8.9C. Welcome to the British "summer"

Yes, the British climate seems to have degenerated into "Forever Autumn" - and late Autumn at that.

I've seen over sixty Mays and this has been one of the worst (if not the worst) Mays I've endured with that now permanent cold NWesterly wind. The first May I can remember when maxima barely reached 16C let alone 20C. Looks like June is carrying on in the same vein with last night very cold. Looks like we could well be entering the expected Grand Minimum with the possibility of even more chilly "summers" for the foreseeable future.

1st June, start of meteorological summer, grey, windy, cold - currently 11C @ 1:30pm. Change of month, no change in the autumnal weather. You couldn't make it up

Yesterday was glorious in the afternoon with very light breezes and respectable temperatures. Overnight, rain that lasted into the morning with overcast but later, bright then sunny intervals around 3pm. However we're back to that chilly NWesterly breeze with a miserable 13C at 4pm. Surely we should have a pattern change after six weeks of persistant polar maritime incursions? It's about time we saw some Spanish plumes, or even better a strategically placed summer Bartlett?