jamesay

Foul all day with lashing rain on and off (more on than off) since 7am this morning .

the current spell has definitely seen the largest daily swings i can remember in London in the last 15 years. ground frost temps at night then 20 degrees in the day for the last few days - very unusual and very "continental" cycling home across London this evening I could really feel the cold spots and currents in the shade of buildings, cool, cool areas where the sun hadn't got to in the day. and then passing through very warm currents of air running all the way in patches through town as a result of the rapid daily heating & no wind. Cold blasts of air passing railway arches and dark alleys, retaining cold pools of air amongst the otherwise heated streets. we're talking 10 degrees difference between the space of a few hundred yards, as the sun set and the heat leached away. quite unique in its extremity but absolutely delightful.

get a grip!

Sun's coming out here now, 23.5 deg and pleasantly warm. We've had no rain, so the neigbours mocking me for watering the garden yesterday " dont know why you're bothering, it's gonna pour down all week" have egg on the faces!

I would agree with "overhype" comments if i lived in the North. However, the last month has been absolutely glorious in the South East of England, warm (sometimes hot), dry and sunny, with mostly fairly low humidity. We have been verging on what i would call heatwave conditions throughout most of this period, with temps hovering just above or just below 80 deg F. That's very very decent for the UK, partic over an extended period. OK , not 90 F every day for a fortnight, but those types of heatwaves are extremely rare (the mid-late 1990's and early noughties occurances being the exception rather than the rule. 2007 was wet and cool everywhere, including the South East - temps barely reached 20 degrees in London for much of the summer and often 16-18 degrees. In the North, summer barely got started and autumn came early. In stark comparison to preceeding summers it felt appallingly abysmal but it wasnt too far off the mark from many pre 1990's summers gone by in terms of temps (though it was also very wet) . I remember just ONE "stand-out" hot day in August. The rest of the summer was a write-off. 2008 was better in the South, (less rain) though still pretty poor for temperatures everywhere and very wet outside the south East 2009 showed a more sharp regional divide in the summer - my relatives in North West England moaned about the rain and in some parts it was nearly as bad as 2007 (or was perceived as such). In the South East, we had a "good" summer, by and large and the trend of improvement from 2007's base continued. 2010 seems to be showing a similar divide, in temperatures at least, with the South East enjoying a more continental style summer, but this time with much lower temperatures (though not masses of rain this time, it seems) away from the favoured zone, though still warmer than 2007-09 so far. I have often wondered about cyles in the weather as anyone who shows an interest in meterology does. It is interesting that 2007 and 2008 were both poor summers and i think there have been previous examples of 2 poor summers in sucession then a warming trend. I am sure Mr Data can supply us with details. The rest of summer 2010. For all the forecast of breakdowns and heavy rains, my hunch - and that's all it is - is that the trend for dry and warm weather in the south east will continue, with cooler temps and rain further north west. It's interesting to note that London has yet again missed out on the forecast heavy rain today and temperatures are at 23 degrees, 4 degrees above what was forecast just yesterday. In some ways the SE vs The Rest divide could be said to apply to many summers in the UK, but the quite pronounced difference in South East vs The Rest appears to be the theme this year and i expect that to continue.