Sun Chaser

Cold spell is over. Would have been nice if it snowed here but there's still time. If not then hopefully we can end up with another mild dry winter!

Autumn 2023, a very good autumn and a third pleasant autumn on the trot! This year I'd give it a 7.5/10 for the exceptional spells of heat in early Sep and early Oct, as well as some early cold in mid Oct and late Nov. However the rest of the autumn tended to be a little too wet for my liking, nothing unbearable like 2019 but enough to let down some of the highlights (which were really high!) of the autumn. Despite this, a good amount of sunshine and some very warm temps overall. Some great colours as well!

I can't complain. Lots of sun on offer over the next 8-9 or so days and cold temperatures at the time of year when they're exciting and enjoyable, especially so early in the season! Usually at this time of year it's nothing but dreary endless dull weather that we get so this is great. Much rather this happened in late November than say, early March.

Autumn 2023 definitely one of the better ones, helped by two very nice heatwaves, with early September being THE best spell of autumn heat I've ever seen. Early October was pretty significant too - we recorded 26c on the 9th which is seriously impressive for 6 weeks deep into autumn. Then a nice cold clear interlude mid month before Babet heralded a much less pleasant second half to autumn, but not without interest at least with some named storms. Not my thing but November never really is. Now it looks like we're having a cold dry end to see out the autumn. A good mix of weather then! I do have to say, the last three autumns have given me a much higher opinion of the season as they've all been mostly pleasant. Enjoying it before we get a cold nasty one like 2012, 2013, 2019 or 2020.

Another glorious day, 14 degrees and clear blue sunny skies all day. Probably the last time we'll get that until February at least! In the meantime an intruiging period looks like it's coming up. This is the time of year when I'm actually interested in cold weather before I start looking for signs of spring in January. The models are showing a fine line between very wet and dull depressing weather or frosty, clear and sunny easterlies (which is the best you can get in December really) depending on where the low tracks. It'll be interesting to monitor what comes of the next few days.

I do agree, probably the only recent examples of mild and sunny in Dec/early Jan have come as single-day instances. eg Jan 2nd 2023 (nicest early Jan day I can remember), and new year 2022 was record mild and sunny in many places. But struggling to think of any other instances

Still feels freezing! Would rather it was 0c and sunny than 10c and raining

Yeah. Very wet but very sunny. Haven't been looking at the models lately because they've been very boring but I'm imagining it's at least a bit NWly at the moment? What's it looking like for 2023 becoming the new warmest autumn on record? I'm fairly sure with a November CET of around 8.8 we can get it.

To be fair... while its been wet it's been fairly sunny for the time of year. Always hated November but I can think of worse recent early Novembers (2022, 2020, especially 2019)

Don't like November but the ones that I can remember thinking were pretty good most recently were 2016, 2017 and 2021. If I was older I would've enjoyed 2010, and especially 2005 as my area at the time had a rare snowfall! On the other hand... dishonourable mention to Nov 2019 which was very wet, windy and dull. It was COLD but not to a level of any interest, often reaching 2-3 overnight and barely scraping 7-8c in the day, the absolute worst temperature wise when combined with rain as it's cold enough to be extremely unpleasant. Nov 2022 was also horrible as the torrential rain didn't stop all month (wettest month since 2009 where I was at the time) but it was saved by the freak mild weekend of 17-18c and clear blue skies mid month which I really enjoyed.

First air frost of the year sighted last night while I was in Surrey! Somewhat earlier than what I'm used to. Enjoyed this week it's been quite sunny

For November it's been pretty good! But nothing can stop the daylight hours from being so demoralising

Only 113 days until spring!

It's weird to think just how weirdly different the first half of October was over just a short distance. Here on 6-10 October we were having one of the most exceptional spells of October weather I can remember, only 2011 tops it. While 300 miles north they were having the most miserable endless stream of rainfall. October 2023 is a weird one. The article ends with "it will be remembered as a soggy, grey month" but I'll definitely remember the first half for being so summery (it really was). Obviously the second half was wet here but it was nothing compared to what they experienced in eastern Scotland and, with it being my first October away from Plymouth, it's felt a lot less depressingly grey with tonnes more sunshine and generally a more mobile setup - shorter periods of rainfall, less prolonged than back in SW. We've had a chain of three very warm Octobers now (and 5 wet ones in a row) so I'm expecting a cold dry one in 2024!

A very lovely morning of clear blue skies to follow on from yesterday which was also very sunny. Today and tomorrow both look settled and clear. Perfect conditions for the time of year. You wouldn't think we've been breaking records for low pressure but here we are!

A lovely sunny afternoon in London, was up the walkie talkie building and the sky was so perfectly clear, 14c and sunny at this time of year is something I'll definitely take. Can hear Ciaran starting to arrive now as the winds definitely started picking up later in the day! Some real deep lows being forecasted. Probably another washout November ahead of us

This prediction from mid July has mostly hit the nail on the head so far this autumn. Hopefully the rest doesn't transpire!

Seems very different to the average figure I have since 2011 which is 75 hours

We have been really lucky with the timing of the rain, having recently moved to London I can definitely feel the difference between an "unsettled" period in the east vs the west, significantly more sunny interludes here. Sitting at 94 hours here which is hardly incredible for the SE, but back home in Plymouth it would be up there with the likes of the very sunny 2016 and 2018!

This is very true, most years there's a day in mid-late January where for the first time in months it has felt pleasant, and you know spring will be on the way soon. For example Jan 12th 2022 heralding a change with the beginning of a long spell of mild sunny high pressure. This year while Jan 2nd was very springlike the actual switch didn't occur until Jan 30th with the preceding weeks alternating between either cold and sunny or mild and cloudy.

Gloomy. Wet. Muggy. Grey. Dull. Damp. Since the lovely cold crisp few days we had this time last week it's just been disgusting weather non stop and, by the look of the models, will stay like this ad infinitum! It's not warm, it's not cold, it's just uninteresting, annoying, frustrating and depressing. An endless zonal barrage of low pressure meaning even more flooding and next to no sunshine. If it's going to stay like this just roll on March. How can anyone enjoy this

Also the contrast between this weekend and last is insane. Over the course of the past week we've dropped 15 degrees! Been an interesting October so far

Today is the kind of day that gets me so excited for spring. 10c and sunny but with sunshine equivalent to early spring, feeling like a good February day. Crystal clear blue skies, perfect sunshine. yes it's cold but that's still a novelty at the moment. Come late October I'll be sick of it This just has me looking forward to March even more!

Looks like a pretty cold spell for October is coming up, wouldn't be surprised if somewhere in England records a very early single digit maximum this weekend! If not then, surely sometime during next week

God it's freezing and it's really wet. Nightmare weather. No more of this please. I can appreciate the cold if it's going to be sunny like the next few days but anything like today is just depressing. How can anyone enjoy this?!