In Absence of True Seasons

James1979 Yes. Pretty sure it was 14.5c on Xmas day in my area in 2023. Struggling to get above 10c for the last few days here lol, and with the wind chill, it's been a "feels like less than 10c" situation. Just madness. Ahh, Britain - one of the only places where all that separates a day in summer from a day in winter is the daylight hours. Indeed, the max/high on the summer solstice in June 2021 was actually cooler in parts of the country than the winter solstice of the December 6 months prior. A feat that very few climates that have "seasons" can make claim to.

WYorksWeather The thing is with "redeeming" the year, there's no "making up for lost time" so to speak. It'll be well into May before anything shifts properly, and there's no guarantee it even will, tbh. Regardless of what pans out over summer and autumn this year, it won't change the fact that the first third of the entire year was woefully dull, wet and uninspiring. It's a bit like summer 2023, which was near-universally perceived as a very poor summer season despite the very sunny and dry June, because the proceeding 6-7 weeks were absolutely rotten. So, for me, it's less a case of "writing the year off", but moreso recognising the reality that even a 'perfect' rest of the year will not erase how poor this winter and spring have been, and as such, the year will only ever be able to come out as, say, a 6/10 overall at best.

*Stormforce~beka* hope you feel better! I know first hand how much it can suck (although my issues aren't precisely the same)

SunSean Stellar work, sir.

TwisterGirl81 Since the cold snap in January lol. That's been the only spell of properly non-dull weather this year. Prior to that...it was September 2023. It all comes back to the temps vs sunshine levels discussion. Yes, this April hasn't overall been notably cold, but there's nothing warm or even pleasant about 14/15c when it's thick, dark cloud and intermittent drizzle. At this time of year, cloud cover makes all the difference as to how 'warm' it actually feels.

Metwatch Yes. I think sunshine is also playing a big part. It's been really, really dull for April, especially recently (outside of some sun over the weekend, but with no warmth though). Bird and insect life seems properly subdued for nearly May, also.

AWD Yes, but you (should) also get some days around 18c and even above it, too. in my area, this is even more true. In London, I expect mid to high teens pretty regularly by the end of April. As it stands, we are heading into May struggling to even get into double digits, and with constantly dark, overcast and drizzly skies to boot. Truly grim. This would be well-suited to mid February, or late November, not nearly halfway through the year. This Spring is honestly probably going to be worse than last year's at this rate, and that's honestly an impressive feat considering how dire Spring 2023 was (especially in the East as we fully missed out on the good 2+ weeks of sunny, warm weather folk elsewhere got in May, as we were stuck under continual N.Sea cloud and cold breeze).

TwisterGirl81 Enjoy it...9c and drizzle here in Essex. Actually quite interesting that exactly the same pattern seems to be manifesting as in Spring 2023. Cool, cloudy, wet Spring, but the South-West fares better than us in the East. West overall is generally better in these set-ups. parts of Ireland recently have been 15-18c and sunny, whilst we've barely scraped double digits for nigh-on a week over here.

SunnyG Yes, many such references can be found throughout historical writings haha. The oldest one I've read was in Tacitus' (the roman historian) Agricola & Germania. I quote: "The climate is foul. The sky is overcast with continual rain and cloud, but the cold is not severe. The duration of daylight is beyond the measure of our zone. The nights are clear and, in the distant parts of Britannia, short, so that there is but a brief space separating the evening and the morning twilight. If there are no clouds, the sun’s brilliance, they maintain, is visible throughout the night. It neither sets nor rises, but simply passes over. That is to say, the flat extremities of earth with their low shadows do not permit the darkness to mount high, and nightfall never reaches the sky or the stars". Highlighted the most interesting part lol, especially seeing as it mentions that the cold is not severe, and this was nearly 2000 years ago (I thought we had tonnes of proper cold, regular snow, etc "back in the day". ). This is coming from a Roman perspective too, so pretty much anything fairly chilly would've been 'cold' to him, so indeed, Britain must've always been largely pretty mild, but often wet and overcast...aka, what we have now.

SunSean True true! Although, IMO, that's just because of the propensity (well, near-guarantee) of our climate to deliver garbage grey/wet sewage the vast majority of the time lol, not some sort of special accuracy of British meteorologists in forecasting cloudy/wet weather. The forecasts for 2 weeks away that show overcast with potential rain have a far likelihood of manifesting, than the forecasts that show fully sunny, dry weather, purely from a probability standpoint. I mean, we could sit here right now and make a prediction that, on the 21st of April 2025, or the 9th of October 2026, it will be "15c and overcast, with a 40% chance of rain", and I imagine there'll be a decent enough chance of it being pretty accurate.

Another good one. Got to laugh because otherwise we will cry.

SunnyG The whole "10 days out" is a meme by this point. It's been "10 days out" since last October, lol. Zero point in placing stock in anything more than 48-72 hours in advance.

Pretty much at my wit's end tbh. It's like living inside a tupperware box dripping with condensation. We haven't had a 'Spring' this year, and it looks like it'll be well into May before we see anything remotely settled, sunny and warm. So that's 2 years on the trot, because 2023 was also effectively Springless until very far into May (the end of May for me in the SE). If its somehow possible, 2024 is actually panning out even worse than 2023, which is actually quite impressive considering the bar for last Spring and last year in general is so low, its buried 10 feet into the dirt. 2023-24 has been a real eye-opener for me about the realities of living in this climate in its current iteration - having to wait until nearly halfway into the year to obtain a few scraps of consistent sunshine, dryness and warmth, is just no way to live life, unless your sense of fulfilment solely comprises reaching a book whilst listening to the rain smack the window, watching TV with the lights on at 2pm in late April (because its so dark outside), and playing in puddles. Seeing as winter is more-or-less non-existent now, we spend 8-9 months of a year wallowing in the same dull, wet, depressing 8/9c-13/14c conditions, waiting for the May to Sept period to land and potentially deliver something more uplifting. I say 'potential', because during that 3-4 month period, dry, sunny and warm weather only occurs a few weeks in total (if that). Indeed, a big chunk of that May-Sept period can very easily be dross too, but at least the grey lasts longer and the rain is warmer, eh. It's honestly no wonder that people of the British Isles became such avid seafarers, and that their seafaring was generally focused towards places with sunny, tropical, colourful climates. A desire to seek colours other than grey undoubtedly seeped into the national psyche. A pessimistic post, admittedly, but I'm utterly defeated seeing as my health issues are going to be worse a second-year running due to the weather conditions, regardless of how many Vitamin D tablets I pop.

B87 You're right about grass browning/yellowing off in summer. It's not "nonsense". Especially for SE and Southern England. It's happened nearly every year I can remember since my young childhood. Playing in the local parks with my friends during school summer holidays...the grass would always be a bit "straw like" come late July / early August. It bounces back near immediately after summer. Perfectly normal and signs of an actual summer season. Last summer was the only year in my life where grass in my garden and local area has basically zero yellowing. Which, obviously, is indicative of the type of high summer we had (or lack thereof).

MisfitDog3 Cooler spring weather is fine and pleasant if its also accompanied by plenty of sunshine and plenty of dry, crisp weather. April 2021 was a great example of this. This Spring is certainly not that! I don't think I've seen any frosts in my area this entire Spring, and as for sunshine, we're on another below-average month (no surprises there), with above average rainfall also (again, no surprises). It's just more of the same dull, drizzly fare we've had for months now, but with a bit more daylight hour. Reality is though, approaching the half-way point of the year and getting days with with colder max / high temps than nearly the entirety of Winter just gone, is genuinely laughable.

Definitely one of the coolest runs into May I can think of. Weekend wasn't fantastic in my area. Some sun, some cloud, but my main gripe is that barely getting into double digits in the last week of April is incredibly poor for SE England. We should be readily getting mid to high teen temps now. In of itself, the second half of April hasn't been too dire. But it's dire when compounded with the fact that we're coming off the back of months upon months of dull, wet weather. Just don't really have anything more to add by this point! I'm moaned-out, and there's nothing to get excited about on the horizon re the models. I'll leave it with this. We've basically spent the last however god knows long saying "the pattern *has* to change soon, law of averages etc...it can't stay like this for much longer, can it?". And our climate's response has just been "Watch me, suckers".

cheese I know what you mean haha. For me personally, I take any warm and sunny days by this point in the year, regardless of what's to follow. A spell of 20-25c and sunny and dry, followed by some frigid spring days, like central Europe has had, is preferable to me than another 10 days of 10-12/13c, mostly overcast and on-and-off rainy conditions that we're having instead, as it's basically just a continuation of what we've had for months and months. It's super boring! But it'd definitely be a shock to the system to go from 25c to 5c overnight lol. Madness.

Wimbledon88 Proper biblical. Light and scattered indeed....lol Jheez tomorrows just looking worse and worse. Fully clouding over by midday now and barely reaching double digits. Going to be grim with that thick cloud and only 9/10c in the afternoon

danm I need to use the Met more! The apps on the phone are just woefully inaccurate

ANYWEATHER As of yesterday, today was meant to be sun and cloud here but now raining most of the day and cloudy later, so I wouldn't bank on anything re tomorrow's weather. The forecast can and does change even just hours ahead of time! Wouldn't surprise me if tomorrow is cloudy and showery also. Yes, I'm being pessimistic admittedly, but it's hard not to be after the last; 12 months of weather.

Metwatch Definitely an improvement, but still not great, especially considering another wet spell could easily push back the drying-out that's being achieved. Sunshine hours has been poor this April and will continue to be poor throughout the remainder of the month, looks like. Going to have soggy, saturated ground into May, it seems! Our garden is still ridiculous spongy and wet. Not something I've ever seen in my lifetime this late in the year.

SunnyG Getting paid triple figures per year for a job where you can have a ridiculously low success rate and not be fired? Or getting paid triple figures per year for a job where you can say to everyone "it's going to be some degree of cloudy, and also some degree of wet" daily and then put your feet up. Probably a combo of both. Either way, I'd be smiling too!

Good grief, the weather today is far more dire than forecasted. Dull, gloomy, windy and chilly. Looking to be showers later too, lol. It was showing as 13c and mostly sunny when I looked yesterday. So much for "high pressure".