Arch Stanton

Not sure about it being perpetually dry since last Sept, the ground was absolutely saturated in February this year, but it’s definitely been drier than normal since May and almost drought like since June.

Feels more pleasant here as well although the temp is already at 23.2 and its only 9am. The breeze feels a lot cooler than of late

Every brightly coloured echo on the rainfall radar gets deflected by the N20 storm-shield Fingers crossed some of that action travelling north from France breaks through

Wishful thinking I reckon

So it peaked at 37.2c in Barnet, that’s still the highest temp I’ve ever experienced in the UK and sadly it won’t be the last… Very breezy outside, I really hope there are some atmospheric pyrotechnics headed our way!

35.7c and climbing albeit slowly now. There are some gusty winds as well that have a zero cooling effect

29.8c here now and its only 0945, if it stays cloud free then its going to get close to 40 i think

Temps peaked at 33.8c at 1700 here in the Barnet area and are 32.3c at 1835

35.7c London, Sun 17th

A 60sec shower is all that fell on my part of N London yesterday, there seems to be a rain-shadow on N20 / N12 that has deflected any serious showers for weeks now and so the ground is baked hard like concrete - not good. I fear a monsoon-like washout in August

I was in Mundaka and that was what the barometers were saying. I couldn’t give a toss if you or anyone believe it or not - not my problem

Good for you

After experiencing an unbearable 40c & 41c last Fri & Sat in Northern Spain (with 80% humidity) I'm grateful for this freshness we're experiencing

A friend of mine deliberately (occassionally) stings himself with nettles on his arm or hand, and he's reckons his hay-fever has completely disappeared - apparently, nettles are a natural anti-histimine. I laughed when he told me, but he swears by it and no longer uses sprays or tablets. Might be worth giving it a go as crazy as it sounds!

The MeteoGroup graphics for snowfall are always exagerrated. I've seen vast swathes of white over central and southern england with air temps of 4-6c, they are completely unreliable and belong in the Daily Express!

Monsoon-like rain and winds here in Barnet right now, it’s horrendous

I just had a look at the Scottish Mountain webcams, it looks like late May early Mid June such is the lack of snow on them.. There won’t be any snow patches left by July at this rate

That’s brilliant, just out of curiosity have you actually kept these newspapers by any chance? What’s striking are the 13c temps 3/4 days before the blizzard and no general inkling of what was to come judging by the understated weather outlooks - it doesn’t seem like it was predicted at all I wonder how todays models and this forum would have coped 5/6 in advance?!

In his part of the world its Continental Air that delivers the goods, especially when atlantic fronts run up from the SW against it like in 1982. For S Wales that Northerly set up you describe hardly produces anything south of the Brecon Beacons so he's right in that respect for his part of the world

The BBC have put up this great video of South Wales and the unforgettable winter of1981/82: It's up there with 1947 and 63 as far as South Wales is concerned although not as lon lasting as those other two. It snowed continuosly for 36hrs with an easterly gale and then on and off for 6-7 hours more. There was a snow drift in my garden that went up to the roof do 5m high. I can't see how modern Britain could cope if this happened now, I'd love to see it happen though but I doubt it ever will. Anyway, Happy Xmas, enjoy the video Snow in Wales: Remembering 1981's white Christmas WWW.BBC.CO.UK The BBC's Neil Prior was three at the time and the snow is one of his formative memories.

A cold continent is always key, when Germany & the Low Countries are at 6-7c then anything we get is usually short lived or transient

Very squally winds right now in North London and temps of 18.1c - strange weather indeed, I certainly wasn't expecting these strong winds

Iceland looks caked in snow according to that - I wonder if thats unusual so early on in the season?

Thats MeteoGroup for you

I agree, I've been thinking about this for a while too. Its yet more evidence that temperatures are trending upward; I also wouldn't be surprised if that 20c UK Feb figure will become more common over the coming years.