Backtrack

Met office forecasted a cloudy day today. I'm currently sat in the garden in the sun, doesn't get much better than this in April, 20.5C with strong spring sunshine!

Just a quick question. Is today's UV much stronger than it should be? In summer it takes me a couple of hours to even notice a burn, but today I've been sat out for 40 minutes and I've got sunburn already!! What's going on?

Well we were forecast unbroken sunshine until 6pm, but the cloud has come 8 hours early. I hate this region.

I don't either man, it takes quite a high UV index for me to burn, but I look so much healthier with some colour in me. I for one cannot wait until summer when I can just sit outside with a nice cold Koppaberg and enjoy some proper warmth. Today was nice though, UV is still low, recovering to around 3 mid-week, but the sun is starting to feel properly warm now.

Quite a contrast to last year when the UV was much higher than it should of been for the time of year, but I'm sure we'll see some kind of recovery closer to, and in the summer months.

Well, we do have three other seasons to contend with before the year is out mate, including winter at the end of it!

It feels nice enough though away from the breeze!

Similar to last year when this topic was started on March 14th, I've started it again this year. Just having a browse of UVawareness.com and I've come across the first moderate UV index of 2014. I've been checking since February and today it's here. It's for Hayle in Cornwall (same as last year) for Saturday 15th, one day later than last year. Similarly, we had a higher than normal UV index last year for much of spring and summer, and a warning was even put out from the Met Office because of this! But here you go folks, summer is on the doorstep!

With so many different outlooks and opinions on weather preferences, it'll be interesting to see what weather people actually want to see this summer. I'm not talking about what weather you're dreaming of. Keep it within the realms of possibility, not 4 months of sizzling sunshine with temperatures in the 40's, because living in the UK, you know that isn't going to happen. So to kick things off (I'm including May, as that's my favourite month, I often count that as a summer month anyway) May A similar high pressure cell to what we currently have, dominating much of the month bringing sunny skies and temperatures widely in the mid twenties. Pretty selfish of me perhaps, because with the HP centered to the east currently, that would bring the best weather to the west, particularly the coast where it would be a scorcher. Mid-month a breakdown from the south west, bringing some thunderstorms, and introducing a more unsettled regime for a week or so before HP builds again towards the end of the month bringing in another settled, sunny spell to see the month out. June Again, June is my second favourite month so it begins with a strong HP cell situated right over the UK, bringing warm easterly winds in from the continent, mixed with above average SST's from a mild winter, north sea cloud shouldn't be much of a problem, so a fresh, still high pressure dominated first half with temperatures in the high-twenties. High pressure moves around to bring some cooler, cloudier days, allowing some Atlantic fronts to get in with the mix giving heavy thundery downpours at times too, before reasserting itself allowing temperatures to soar again under a strong, near-equinox sunshine. July July typically isn't a great month for the UK, so I'm going to stick by the trend, although it's not ideal, July will start off settled, but after a few days the jet stream would move southwards, allowing only the extreme south to get away with some decent weather, for the rest of us it'll be warm with temperatures in the high teens to low twenties, but plenty of thundery activity as unstable air situates itself, giving much needed rain, and unsettled conditions for the first week. After which we see a strong Spanish Plume, giving some sunshine for a day or two, before a heavy thundery breakdown, temperatures nearing the 30's at one point promoting harsh thunderstorms. Towards the end of July as we start to notice the difference in light levels, we start to see high pressure making more of an appearance, although not to the extent of May & June. August The final summer month ideally would start high pressure dominated following on from July, and typically because of the thermal lag effect, this is the hottest time of the year. Therefore I would like to see a HP dominated August with temperatures in the 30's for a time widely, although not prolonged enough to threaten life, just enough to experience what a truly HOT few days is like in the UK. Fresher air in the form of thunderstorms moving through at times, but HP strong enough to reassert and take control always before the Autumn begins on a very unsettled note, although some lovely September sunshine at times, enough to get outdoors. Just my interpretation of my ideal summer, I am a fan of the hot weather (clearly). Although unlikely, it's not impossible. What's yours?

The sky today was exceptionally blue. A great day today. Warm in the sunshine with a refreshing breeze. Lovely placed high, shame it won't be here past the weekend. Would love this type of weather to stick around until September!

Quite a bit cooler than I thought, but still 3 more hours of heating yet, 10.5C currently.

Lovely start to the day! Currently sunny and 7.9C. Probably max out around 14-15C should the sun not disappear like it did yesterday!

June 21st.

Got even duller as the day went on here! Maxed out somewhere between 16 and 17C though, so it was warm.. I'm expecting a good few sunny days this week, and if the forecasts are wrong again for these days, I won't be happy.

Yeah, completely overcast until about 3pm here yesterday and not that warm. 13C here currently but the sun has been replaced by clouds

Probably early April, although going by this pathetic mush we're having lately, it'll probably be January next year...

I think as time goes on as we see the Polar Vortex diminishing, we're likely to see less cold air pumped across the Atlantic, of course with this cold air been one of the main sources of fuel for these intense lows we're seeing, they're likely to become less intense, therefore heralding a pattern change as we go into Spring. I originally thought a colder Spring may of been on the cards, but I think it's rather unfavorable now, although I think the chances of a cooler summer have increased as a result of this.

Just been for a walk and I can tell you it's nothing special haha

Isn't even that bad here to be honest!

Lights just went off that time, doubt the power will be on much longer

Very gusty here, lights keep dimming.

No telling, depends if there's a squall line associated with the trough of showers which will run through later, wait and see I guess, but with it being so unstable, it's not out of the question

Hmm, I dunno, Met Office warning says down to lower levels for a time too.

Graphics showed white over us yeah!

Weather man on BBC just said heavy snow later for US!