In Absence of True Seasons

That's a shame, it always feels like a bit of a "waste" of leave taken when that happens. Taking leave and staying in the UK really is just such a gamble weather wise. I had the entire month of April off last year as I was between jobs, and spent much of it outdoors, a week in the lake District as well where we had 6 out of 7 days with sun! Had a full-tan by the time May rolled around lol. If I'd had this year's weather, last year, would have been a completely diferent story. A week of rain and muck in the lakes camping. Grim. Weather-wise, we seem to keep getting stuck in these patterns that fail to shift or change nowadays. Last year it was favourable as we got stuck in a solid, long run of sunny, warm and dry weather. This year seems to be very much like 2021 in being the opposite - stuck in cooler, duller and wetter weather that doesn't abate. Feast or famine...

That's interesting. Surprised by 2018, 2020 and 2022 seeing basically no sun on this day, as those years had great Aprils overall.

Forecast for the long weekend looks to have been downgraded somewhat, looking at it. Not 1 properly clear/sunny day predicted. Temps over the weekend look to be around 18c max, (after the Met Office said a couple days ago that we would likely make 20c over the Bank Holiday). So, highly unlikely we will reach 20c by April or start of May, other than in NW Scotland...unusual indeed. First week or so of May looks the same trend as April, just a tad more mild. Temps hovering around 14c or so, mix of rain and cloud and a bit of sun. I am getting more and more resolute in that I don't think we will see any real warmth until June...

What happened to the "sunny weather" over the bank holiday This country is so cloudy it's actually a joke. So it's the same old over the next few days just a few degrees warmer. Great.

pretty much

This is pretty much it, i think, compounded by the differing degrees to which people are bothered about cloud lol. Pretty solid showers now in London, 11.5c. It goes without saying that that's dross, however what's more noteworthy is that this rain wasn't even forecasted until...well, it basically arrived. As of this morning my phone's weather forecast for today had cloudy morning and then sun coming out by mid to late afternoon. I checked Met Office yesterday evening, and it had "temps warming up for South England" for today, and highs of 15c for London. Looking at my phone now, it's changed to rain the whole entire evening AND tomorrow morning. Narrator's voice: "Unsurprisingly, it did not warm up, instead, it ended up raining and remaining at 11/12c". This country's weather is like a comedy show at times (that you're forced to watch for weeks on end).

I felt that the Summer of 2020 was pretty decent overall, especially off the back of the fantastic Spring that year. But August 2020 was the perfect example of this. We had that intense heatwave that was a week or so long, but it was cloudy for about 90% of it. When I went outside it felt like I was stepping off the plane at Bangkok in the monsoon season. Much preferred August last year - temps generally mid 20s or thereabouts, clear skies, lots of sunshine. An usual August for England I'll admit, but ideal from my perspective. But, like you, I would happily sacrifice a few degrees C if meant less overcast! 21 or 22c and sunny > 27/28c and cloudy unquestionably.

IMO, April doesn't need to be a full on disaster to be considered generally dull, depressing and moan-worthy. April is a month where it's so great when there's warmth and sun because its the first real month where you'll be experiencing that since the prior September. It's first proper 'green' month of the year, and the first month where the days get noticeably longer and more usable as a result. It's like a nice breakfast after skipping dinner the night before. So, when this doesn't materialise and the month ends up just feeling like an extension of Winter with longer daylight hours, it's really tiresome. I wouldn't care if we had this weather in October, November, or March. But by April - especially mid to late April, I'm fully done with 9-12c and thick cloud day-in-day-out. What would define a 'disaster' April anyhow? A heavy snowstorm? A few days of freezing wind and hail? Or just temps consistently below the statistical average?

As someone still in their 20s, I feel this

Precisely. Sums it up in a nutshell.

Appreciate the sentiments mate, and I get what you're trying to say. However for my personally, my mood and overall energy levels are really affected to sunlight and so when its consistently overcast and lacking in sun (like it has been for the most part this Spring, off the back of a long winter), I start to really notice it. I can't pretend like its not 11c and cloudy every single day, because how my body and brain feels as a result reminds of it lol. Interesting re the bumblebees. Our garden has been basically devoid of insects this year thus far, no bees or butterflies yet, which are usually in full-force by mid April (particularly last year with the wonderful warm spring we had). The blue-tits that usually come to the 2 birdboxes we have, are absent this year as well....very telling.

This is it, 100%. Yes the temperatures haven't been *that* cold for April (although definitely below average alot of days for the south). Its just the sheer lack of sunny days. Outside of the 2 days on the Easter weekend, there have been, I think maybe 2 full sunny days in my area this entire month. Which imo is dire. The other days have just seen a few hours of sun max (usually in the morning or evening). The South of this country just cannot seem to maintain clear skies anymore and it sucks. I've notice this trend in recent years. Even during some.of the heatwaves we've had, it's been 30c with thick cloud. The amount of days over the past few years I go to work to a clear sky but by 10am it's completely gone, is unbelievable.

How do they seem positive? The setup seems similar to 2021 which was a summer without much reliable or consistent sunny / warm weather outside of a couple of heat blasts.

Mad how we can get temps that are a good few degrees warmer during times near our winter solstice, than times closer to our summer solstice (like now - almost May and 9c in London). Sums up this island's climate in a nutshell. God-awful. Same dross for 8/9 months+ of the year, just tweak the sunrise and sunset hours.

Oh my word. Shall we all move to Finland? Or perhaps the tropical climes of Lithuania or Poland? I'll definitely be taking a trip somewhere outside of this godforsaken island if this model materialises

I know there's a level of subjectivity to these things but I don't understand personally how anyone could prefer a spring like this to something with more sun and less dullness. Its not even particularly cold to appease cold weather lovers. Just perpetually wallowing in 10-12c or so, cloudy, rainy and maybe the odd bit of blue sky early in the morning or evening. Its just so bloody boring. If someone genuinely enjoys 11c and overcast then good for them I guess, in the perfect location for it! Other than maybe the Faroe Islands or Western Norway. Yeah people focus far too much on the 'averages'. They don't have that much bearing for weather perception and feeling this time of year. 12c and sunny is soooo different in April to 12 or even 14c and overcast or raining

Christ. You may as well go to Latvia, Poland or Romania instead!!

Enjoy it. I often sing praises of North America's climate and this is the perfect example. Once Canada is done with winter...it's done, and you can rely on warmth to come. England on the other hand....well, it's nearly May and 5c when I left my house an hour ago for work

Yeah I don't really know why people only seem to consider the impacts of 30c+ weather, and then ignore the flipsides of a cold spell. The latter sees elderly people literally freezing to death in their own homes, and health issues arising for many people who are on the breadline and so cannot afford to put the heating on with the crazy energy costs. This is before we get on to how it affects homeless folk living on the streets... Our 30c+ heatwaves last, what, a week at the very most, and other than for people with serious existing conditions, all they do is make sleeping a bit uncomfortable. I might be wrong, but I don't think people are dying in their homes because of a few days of mid 30s temps. We aren't going to need to reformulate our entire country's built infrastructure to make air-con the norm because of the potential of 1 or 2 weeks of 30c+ weather in the summer. Same as we don't invest in adverse weather capabilities for our transport systems to the capacity that Norway, Sweden, Finland etc do, just because we might get 1 or 2 weeks max of thick snow in a cold winter. Worth noting that alot of the housing in Europe's warmer countries (Spain, Italy, Croatia etc) do not have air-conditioning, and they have temps of 30c+ for weeks on end.

I can quite easily see this year being a repeat of 2021. A very cool, dull and wet late Spring and start into Summer. We may have to wave for the obligatory 30c heatwave in June to see any real warmth (which will appear overnight from 15/16c the day before )

Careful what you wish for, or climate might become Thailand's, and our bumblebees transformed into giant locusts! Saw that on the news. Hosepipe ban in Devon!? Just...how....

April 2021 is much maligned imo. Lots of sunny weather, very springlike. I even ended up with a bit of a tan by the end of that month from hiking, purely because of the sunshine levels... It makes things feel alot warmer this time of year. Prime example being this morning. 7c when I left my house for work today but I ditched the coat because it's feeling warmer than the previous mornings of 9/10c purely because of the clear sky!!!

Interesting how different weather patterns affect different hayfever sufferers. Mine has been awful this year, worst in years. Last year funnily enough, barely a sneeze. Nor in 2020 during the warmer Spring. This year it's the painful itchy eyes. You'd think that the extra wind would "dampen" it but doesn't seem to work like that evidently. P.s - You must really feel the heat to need Aircon on during Spring!! The warmest we get in April is like 20/21c!!

Yeah, and everyone is saying "Oh the weather has been typical for this time of year". No, it hasn't. Agree. I think they genuinely just prefer overcast and cool weather tbh...

Probably not recommended given the current sociopolitical situation.... I just found it a bit laughable that the Capital of Russia (generally associated with 'cold') is at literally double the temperature that London is at present lol.