BlueDomeSky

After having the good fortune of dodging the lines of cumulus yesterday, allowing for some lovely prolonged sunny spells (albeit very locally to me). Today I wake up to sheets of hideous, sun-blotting altostratus.

These consecutive days of fleeting sunlight are really starting to get to me now. It really is one of THOSE Julys, eh... Day after day, I look at Sat24 and see the stratiform clouds blanket NW Europe, meanwhile, southern France and most of Iberia, besides the odd scattering of upper or mid level clouds, it's hot sunshine for them! An average regime, yes, but that's my problem... Oh the mediocrity!

Starting to properly fed-up with these chilly mornings, waking up and feeling the autumnal chill wipes the smile right off my face, because its a reminder of how much of a rare commodity warmth can often be in this country.

I'm in total agreement with you. My friend cannot wrap his head around the fact that I enjoy heat, to him, it's a nuisance, describing the humid heat of the Costa del Sol as suffocating. The experience of walking out of Málaga airport in July or August, out of the air conditioning and feeling the wall of heat and the intense UV 10 sunlight, seeing the bright colours of the beige and white architecture and Mediterranean plants against the clear blue sky is a true pleasure for me. Conversely, to walk out of the airport when returning to the UK and being hit with a dismal cool breeze and dingy colours of the grey concrete surfaces, black soil and grey skies is a thoroughly miserable experience.

When the 850hpa temperature is 3c, I need to usual mid-morning clouding-over to hold off; better yet, I would like to see it hold off until.... October? I even turned on my fan heater this morning because I was really feeling the chill. However, before the stratus of doom appeared, the slightly pale skies this morning were reminiscent of the Costa del Sol, with the slightly pale skies that they get down there due to the haze that builds up over the Med basin in summer. I have a native Spaniard friend living in the Costa del Sol that absolutely hates the summer heat and envies me when I tell him about the piddly sub-20c overcast summer weather that we have here. I would love to trade places with him just 3 months every summer just so I can get guaranteed blazing summer heat and clear skies.

3rd of July and I have felt the compulsion to turn on the fan heater to take the edge off the chill in my bedroom, despite the sun. Not a fan of this chilly, breezy Atlantic airmass at all.

I agree. The poxy warm sectors and warm fronts in summer are unwelcome in my books, even if they bring in some humid warmth beneath the stratus. Now that the cold front has passed, the sky is looking rather pale behind the cumulus. I'm not sure if its the Canadian wildfire smoke or cirrus, does anyone know?

One upside to dull June/July days where the maxima stays the low 20s is that my grass-pollen triggered hayfever reduces quite significantly. Even the grass is disappointed by the anaemic weather! Before the cold front a couple of days ago, my hayfever was out of control.

Ugly, flat stratiform clouds today that wouldn't look out of place in December. As BBC Weather's Louise Lear would probably call it, "nuisance cloud". The return of the westerlies has to be one of the most frustrating weather phenomena we get in this country.

Back to clagfest! Yesterday was interesting with some late-onset clag as the front approached and then increased once the front had passed, also there was noticeable streak of Canadian wildfire smoke across the sky at one point.

Has anyone noticed the huge smoke cloud out in the Atlantic on today's NASA satellite photo? Some of it is extending along the front crossing the country today. I wonder if it will end up drifting over here...

Now this is what I like to wake up to! I will the make the most of it before that ominous looking front sends us back into low 20s and claggy infill by day.

Horrid infilled cumulus here in London. Typical, uninspiring Atlantic airmass conditions. Looking at satellite images, the way the sheets of what is essentially broken, lumpy stratus pile in from the west. I am missing the unbroken sunshine of April, May and early-mid June. I truly hope that the forecasts of barely making the 20s and mostly cloudy/overcast do not come to fruition, it's bad enough now with the clouds, even with the lovely mid 20s warmth.

Stratocumulus beneath cirrus today. Not a fan of that combination personally. A lovely evening here yesterday with only a few scraps of cumulus and that slight haze that forms, just before the cumulus appears.

Curious to see if we manage to reach 0% cloud cover today before the sun sets.

Once again, an unpleasantly chilly, overcast morning here in London, just as boiler packed in a few days ago. Once the North Sea stratus dissipates, i love seeing those gin-clear skies and in shelter from that nagging chilly wind, you can almost pretend that it's July.

Started off clear, before altostratus moved in temporarily before clearing up again. Now, cumulus humilis, some with pileus. I am looking fowards to seeing if the clouds tomorrow have an interesting look due to forming in an airmass behind a front originating from the continent rather than the Atlantic. 15.5°c (feels like 14°c) 3.3°c dewpoint 10.5 kmh ENE wind (18.3 kmh gusts) 1020 hpa pressure

Cloudless skies this morning before altostratus followed by stratus drifted over from the SW. Now overcast with spells of light - moderate and blustery rain. 9.4°C, dew point 7.3°C, gusts up to 36.7 km/h, pressure 1009 mbar, feels like 7°C.

Overcast, breezy and unpleasant, with persistent light rain, 10.2°C (feels like 6°C) 1010 mbar and falling, 99% humidity

My hopes materialised, short of the clouds disappearing entirely, they spaced out and grew vertically, not horizontally.

Started off cloudless here in the SE. I'm hoping these cumuli are going to convect upwards and not be defeated by an inversion and spread out sideways. After what happened in March, my seasonal depression doesn't need more chilly, dreary days.

Currently in London, partly cloudy with fairly thick cirrus and a few scattered cumulus beneath it. 14.2°C at St. James Park (17:00). Interesting to note the large plume of sand/dust over western and south western Europe today.

After a mostly sunny morning, cloud has built in London and is now mostly cloudy. 12.6°C at St. James Park (13:00) (from NASA Worldview)

Mostly cloudy and damp in London. 11°C at 16:00 at St. James Park. NASA Worldview

Mild and partly cloudy, with a noticable breeze in London. 12°C at St. James Park. Late morning satellite image comments (NASA Worldview) Variable cloud across much of England and Wales Sunniest along some south facing coasts in England and Wales. Mostly cloudy or overcast in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the south of Ireland. (Zoom in for detail)