Scorcher

I hope we don't get a summer like 2005 as it was a bit of a non-event in my view, not much excitement on offer really. I remember the Ashes series didn't have too many rain interruptions but there very few hot days either once we reached the middle of July. I remember September being nice though.

For your and your parents' sake I hope September is warm and sunny but I definitely wouldn't sacrifice August for a warm settled September! By the end of September the sun is a lot lower and weaker than it is in August and the days are shorter of course, so you can't quite get the full benefits of the sunshine as you can in August. I too would like to see some variety this summer but I would like it to be predominantly sunny with temperatures above 24C, with a few thundery interludes. I would like the rain to be infrequent though as damp ground and soil can suppress temperatures. In my opinion it would also be nice to see some record temperatures at some stage- there was nothing better than seeing the BBC weather forecasts during 2006 when they were forecasting 34-37C right across England, quite astonishing! Never thought I would see the day, and I have to say I was on top of the world during July 06!

That table is very interesting, 1983 is very surprising. Hard to believe such a warm summer followed such a cold spring- look how close April got to being colder than January! Even June was relatively cool, it is quite amazing that the 2nd warmest month on record followed it.

Hmm, interesting to see 1983 and 1976 there, the summers in those two years were hot- let's hope that 2008 follows suit!

It often doesn't get higher than 18C in March, I think that is more a reflection on how exceptional February was rather than how cool March has been.

That is interesting, more than I thought. There weren't too many in the 90s though and it appears that it is becoming less common. This month has a decent chance but we still can't really say what the last week is going to produce.

I think March 2006 just sums up the unpredicatability of March and why I would not be counting any chickens about a below average month. That month was notably below average right until the last week when there was a major warm up and prevented it from being anything remarkable. At this point in 2006 we were well below average. Right now the CET is 1C above average and yet some are suggesting a below average month is set in stone! Yes, it could happen but when the first half is above average it does not favour a below average month overall. There is a considerable increase in the strength of the sun between the start of March and the end of the month so this has to be taken into account.

That's a bit harsh, he's usually closer than everyone else!

I disagree that a below average March looks on the cards. It's 0.9C above average at the moment and is not going to be dented much in the next week I don't think. There just doesn't seem to be enough frost on offer at the moment to take it below average and I am backing a warmish spell in the last week which I think will leave it around average or maybe marginally above.

Interesting, thanks for that. I wonder if it felt as warm during the warm spell of February 98 as it did during the warm spell of February 2008. I just can't imagine how it could be better during the second week of February than it was last month- wind was virtually non-existent, even in Lancaster which is quite something! The key word there is 'feel', obviously the sun wasn't any stronger than in previous years but a combination of clear skies and very light winds (maybe dry air too??) made the sun feel surprisingly strong for so early in the year.

Amazing month in my opinion, it was wonderful in the North West of England. The last week was fairly forgettable but the second week was remarkable- day after day of unbroken sunshine and temperatures regularly getting to between 13 and 16C in my area. I can't recall a mild winter month before that was also exceptionally sunny- this one provided amazingly clear days and nights, light winds and I have never really felt such strength in the sun so early in the year. Obviously the frosts got more severe in after mid-month but the days were still stunning. I was too young to really remember the specifics of February 1998 but it seems that month was quite something.

That's after virtually everyone predicted a cold start! There will be a couple of days of below average temperatures but it looks like it will be turning milder midweek, I'm not sure this start will be enough to produce the average-below average March that a large number of people have predicted!

So is it safe to say that the highest temperature of the winter is the 18.2C at Trawscoed? Not that I expected it to get much higher than that!

I'll take a cold March if it leads to a summer like 1976! And I remember March 2006 was pretty cold and look what that summer produced. I doubt there is any correlation but it's interesting.

Amazing stuff again today, the temperature in Manchester went from 2C at 9.20 to 11C at 11.50. Temperatures seem to continue rising until about 2 or 2.30 and then there is quite a sharp drop after 4pm.

I'm going to go for the second half of March, maybe March 19th.

Interesting to see Wakefield coming up in the records more than once, I really doubt whether this ever was a standard site as you never hear about it now. Looking through temperature records there are numerous stations that have appeared consistently in certain decades. Off the top of my head I can think of Raunds, Northants and Bawtry, South Yorkshire as such places, but you never hear about them anymore.

Interesting to see 1983 there in there, with a similar January temperature wise to 1983 I hope that the summer follows suit and delivers plenty of heat as in 83!

5 degrees is the figure I have always heard too, as long as the temperature doesn't drop below 5C you are likely to see at least some growth in the grass.

I'm not sure about that- wasn't 1995 a La Nina year? That summer turned out to be quite a hot one.

It has been a little bit odd, we seemed to be in a favoured location here for the first few days of the month while areas just to the south were in cloud, although it seems the tables may have turned now! It has been cloudy for the past few days.

At this stage an average or below average month is still possible but these next couple of days are not going to help the prospect of that happening. I know what you mean about September feeling August in previous years, I don't think it did this year either with no particularly high temperatures this time around, whereas last year there was a late heatwave with some very high temperatures on the 21st I think. Maybe my first post was misleading as I haven't changed my location as I've just gone back to Lancaster University, and we have actually had quite a lot of sunshine up here so far in October (not the past couple of days though). Light winds have made it feel warmer in some ways than 2005 felt at the start but we had a few cool nights at the start of this month.

I only thing different I have noticed about this October so far compared to previous Octobers is the lack of wind. It has been relatively calm and rainfall has been on the low side. Also the night-time minima have started to rise- certainly in my area we haven't been particularly close to a frost so far and the next couple of nights look like being very mild. In fact the minimum temperature last night in Manchester was 14C compared to an average of around 8C. That is quite a difference. I think we could well see a repeat over the next 3 or 4 nights which means the CET is only going to be going one way for the next few days. I don't think there has been any indication so far in October that things have been different from recent years temperature-wise. Look at October 2005- there weren't really any exceptional maximum temperatures in that month but the temperatures were consistently above average particularly at night.

Definitely not welcome for all of us, I would be more than happy for this pleasant weather to continue for another month or so.

I thought Hawarden in Flintshire was the warmest place yesterday at 25.6C?