Iceni

Agree with predictions of BBQ summer but disagree about your reasons to doubt MGW because we don't have records of sufficient longevity — we do have the records... The evidence (lots of it) is in the ice cores from the Antarctic which suggest there has never been so much carbon in the atmosphere for at least 500,000 years and since industrialization has climbed steadily.

Massive clap of thunder... and the rain came from nowhere, little dog came back from his evening ramble soaked. Went out half an hour ago to get the washing in and the sky was almost clear then just looked at the radar and we have huge yellows and reds precipitation (MetO radar) slap bang over us. <_< It's been extremely pleasant in EA all week until now.

Thanks for the explanation. Winter or summer, the jet is a pain — or so it seems, just does the wrong thing at the wrong time the last 2 summers and winters apart from this last winter.

Are the charts archived anywhere from a couple of weeks ago (i.e. during the good weather)? I want to compare what the jet stream was doing then compared with now, so I can educate myself.

Fantasy Island - anything after 180 hrs.

Went to Dunwich to take advantage of the last children-free/roads clear day of the summer. Quite lovely — on the beach, a fresh onshore breeze took the temps down to about 21° C but the strong sunshine made it very pleasant, had a swim in the sea which was about 15° C (surprisingly warm) and then had fish and chips from the cafe. Driving back through lovely Suffolk watching the sun set over the wheat and barley fields was the end of a perfect day (thanks Lou Reed). Britain doesn't get any better than yesterday IMO.

Birds migrate north to breed for the food supply — hardly any insects around in the dry season, whereas northern climes have the mild weather and the water to keep a healthy insect population going. Enough to feed a family of hungry chicks. What gets me about elfin safety is that there's a rule if working conditions are too cold, but none for when it's too hot. What you should do is insist on some fans being bought and have one on your desk, not perfect but helps.

You ought to only have the windows open at night — in the day time you should shut the windows (honestly ) and draw any curtains on the sunny side of the house. This keeps all the cool night air in the house through the day. You don't want the interior temps to equalise with the outside ones, just like in winter. For example, yesterday it was around 31 ° C on the terrace outside, but stayed 23 ° C inside the house throughout the day with no fans needed. Try it tonight.

But heat is usually accompanied by humidity which is horrible. In the olden days people who were outside could get relief by sitting under a shady tree or get cooled off by the breeze, nowadays they're packed into commuter trains on their way to and from stuffy offices where they can't wear shorts and have to wear a suit. Too many homes don't have a fireplace and just have central heating where the air stagnates... a proper fire keeps the air circulating as it burns and is much healthier. Nothing better than doing some hard work digging in the garden when it's cold but sunny and bright or taking the dogs for a brisk walk on a frosty morning with no mud everywhere. I've noticed my dogs don't want to run off roaming in this hot spell, they like to follow my around the garden or sit in the shade while I potter about watering things or weeding

I want both B) I suppose my ideal climate would be the west coast of Canada... far enough north to get real cold, but temperate enough for hot sunshine. I've been thinking of emigrating.

Just 15 ° C here down from 28 ° C. Perfect day, in fact, 2009 has been the perfect year weather-wise. Lovely cold and snowy winter followed by a nice spring and now a few weeks of sunshine with enough rain to keep the garden blooming.

In Suffolk we had a series of torrential downpours lasting about 1/2 hour each and a couple of claps of thunder. Really fantastic as we've been dry since first week in May — the garden's revived and my water butt's full again. Happy days... but it could do with warming up a bit more. Best of luck for tomorrow rain wise.

Getting really excited about the possibility of some real tropical downpours at last — the garden really needs it. About another hour or two (if there's a God). Temperature's gone up to 20.9 ° C from 18 ° C in the last hour and pressure's falling. We've got a severe weather warning too, yellow at the mo. Kent looks like it's catching it.

Cloudy. 10.3 ° C with an easterly wind. When is this horrid wind going to die down? I want to plant out some veg and the wind will just dry them out.

"Oak before Ash" this year (the opposite from last year and the year before) so a dry summer. It's been an extraordinary dry spring too, only a day's rain for the last 3 weeks.

Raining cats and dogs after some thunder and lightning with a temperature of 14.2° C at 10:20 pm, which is warmer than this afternoon was.

Vicious little hail storm just now, hail falling at 45° angle in the wind... 22mph gusting to 36mph. Typical spring day.

To be a pedant, ice ages are nothing to do with solar cycles, they are caused by Earth wobbling on its axis, thus causing it to be tilted further away from the radiation source and thus colder. To D (whatever he's called): Try and find a different avator, the Lockerbie plane crash killed hundreds, and I think it's in really poor taste.

I can't give stats, but I can say this winter has been a reasonably good one. Much more 'normal' if you are my age. Particularly good were the 3 or 4 ice days we had in January, I took some lovely pictures of the hoar frosts. A lot of people were moaning about the lack of snow, but I liked it just as much, if not more than the snow we had later on, the countryside looked stunning. All in all I feel I had my winter fix and I'm now looking forward to spring and summer without feeling cheated for a change.

No melt here... temp's still -0.4° C. Don't want to go out an tempt fate by measuring how much or even talking about it in case it disappears Thing about snow is, it covers all the muddy dank fields which really depress me at this time of year — especially as we have to give a couple of dogs a 2 mile plus walk every day come rain or shine — snow is such a nice change from sticky Suffolk mud so the last few weeks have been like freedom — last winter was a total nightmare. I just went to let out one of the cats and she turned her nose up and then wanted to go to the other door to see if the snow was outside that one too — animals are a laugh sometimes.

I'm so glad for you Paul... not sure where you are in Suffolk, but I was beginning to feel a bit guilty on you missing out. The uppers are -7° C over the county, so it should be the lovely lasting powdery kind. Who knows? At this rate, Suffolk CC might have to reconsider the exorbitant £220k salary they're paying that Chief Exec woman. Ho ho.

Another snowy scene from Suffolk... I put them all in dated folders and so far I've got about 6 folders for this year — amazing! Plus the temperature's actually falling from -0.0° C to -0.2° C, so it might stick around into the night for the morning. What a good buy that toboggan was

2 or 3 cm of lovely lying snow. Still snowing steadily and another large area to the north to come which is currently into N. Norfolk... hey this is a treat! With the doom and gloom on the Models thread, I'd thought weeks of wet and mild. I just hope it lasts long enough tomorrow for more pics and doggy walks — they love it.

But it did actually start snowing so the radar was correct — eventually.

We've got snow, sleet and rain all at the same time — it's not looking like settling as everything's soaked. I make a public apology to my NW radar — but snow with a dp of 1–2° C??