Bottesford

Yeah I guess that Ely flow was so strong that cloud covered the whole country. Well except the short period of deep cold we had which tended to clear things a little.<br />Its pretty cloudy here this week too - but we're getting enough sun through to warm things up and the humidity is keeping things nicely pleasant into the evening.

Yes I suspect places further west have done worse for spring growth. During the easterly it was probably sunnier than it was here but temperatures were very low. Now its warmed up you loose the sunshine whereas we gain it. Saying that I'm often on the boundary line just here but gladly _just_ on the right side of it.

Things definitely in bloom here! Nottingham Uni campus (across the road from my office).

Suits me - May-July is when you want the best of the weather anyway when daylight is at its maximum. By mid August the rot starts to kick in anyway (not literally but the loss of precious light begins). No science behind my reasoning but it does 'feel' like it'll be ok this year. Had a similar feeling in 2006 too. If nothing else weather patterns are feeling more normal for the time of year with that god awful northern blocking much reduced - at last!

Tulips been out 2 weeks here although they looks pained to be doing so. The look of everything now is stunning compared to two weeks ago - it all looks so happy!

Not convinced by the cool, wet summer theories despite them being our default of late. More hope than evidence though- just hope if our good stuff is limited again then it makes itself felt late June!

Yes are long overdue a hot spell and would be lovely to see again. So long as it was on the back of generally warm, dry & most importantly sunny summer - not just an isolated joyful spell in a sea of vileness...

Mostly sunny with a strong wind. Feeling nice and warm at 18.1c by far the warmest so far this year.

The air tonight feels so soft and pleasant! A cycle ride which two weeks ago would need hat, gloves and twelve thousand kilojoules of energy was tonight not far off a t-shirt job where you could just effortlessly rode home. Have come home to a house where I didn't set the heating yet you can walk in and feel comfortable. Finally the easier season is upon us!

Good few daffs around here although some look fair stunted. Even some trees blossoming now although it looks a half hearted effort. I think this time next week things will look rather different!

Lets hope it locks in till August eh. If a wet, cool period like that from April to Oct can last then surely this one can too. So long as we don't get all our nice weather in April though!

Nevermind getting over 20c - we might finally beat 12c! Looking good and will be wonderful to finally throttle back the heating and be free to enjoy the outdoors properly again. The weather news is pleasing everyone I tell about it - nice to finally give out some good news!

I've had a few frosts but in general temperatures have been bottoming out around 0 to 1c and maxing 6-8c. One or two recent days did make it towards -1c but that relies on the wind dropping a bit and cloud staying away. 2.3c last night and total cloud cover this morning.

Agree the sunshine has been lovely and I don't really want heaps of rain from the Atlantic again - just this constant strong wind that has gone on forever is driving me crackers. I'm tending to find reasons not to cycle to places as fighting this wind uphill everytime I approach home saps the joy out of it completely. I don't want to loose the sun of course - although it hasn't been all sunny here anyway. Mostly its clear at night, first thing in the morning and just before sunset. The daytimes (especially 10-2pm) have been fairly cloudy this week with just short periods of sun. In this location a westerly is just as likely to be sunny as this easterly has been - assuming we're not talking constant frontal rain of course - a more showery regime would be great and much more akin to April.

I would agree - hot weather (usually from southerlies or south-easterlies) has only a short sea track and wouldn't be modified so much. The low SSTs would make any Atlantic weather feel cooler - but perhaps have less energy (and thus rain) in them than usual. This could be a good thing for reducing the likelihood of long periods of wet weather at least during late spring/early summer.

So sick of easterlies - a Scandi high with a brisk easterly is the last thing I want to see in the charts at the moment. Ready to feel some humidity and mildness from the Atlantic. This constant dry & cold wind is so drying - ok good for waterlogged areas but terrible for your skin. The missus is really suffering in it (allergies, sore eyes etc) as you're stuck in dry centrally heated air when in & piercing dry, cold winds when out. The garden is now pretty dry too and could do with a soak. I'm longing to feel some humidity, dampness and especially mildness from a good SWly - it's been months since the last one. I know many on here curse it but it is our prevailing wind direction and we've grown up with it around us a lot!

Last summer did have some warmer days after mid July but with a year max of 26.8c there were absolutely no hot days at all (really 'hot' is 28c or above). August did save the summer and in the garden things actually got growing again. Sadly it was too late for long season crops (peppers) which then didn't start ripening till late Sept by which time sunlight is scant.

Yes we do need some rain but not saving itself up for my bbq day like it did last year on two occasions! Occassional thunderstorms in late evenings/nights Sunday-Thursday would be spot on.

Certainly too long away for any predictions but we are at least overdue something better than recent summers. I know the last 6 haven't all been bad but the good bits have been few and fair between with sunshine especially being in short supply. Warmth has often come from high night minima rather than hot sunny weather. For the sake of farmers, gardeners and everyone who doesn't want their food & beer prices to rise - lets hope we get a sunny, warm one with some rain but drier rather than wetter for a change!

I bet with the wind having been from the east the map would be somewhat different for 2013 so far!

Oh lets hope so - just sick of this howling cold wind now. It's great being so sunny and my plants on window ledges are loving it - but its only any good to look at from a protected environment as it is just too cold. A much needed change now on the cards at last.

Good - hope it carries on into summer this time too! Perhaps we'll have a more tradition spring - cold to start, then mixed, then warm. Last year was just the wrong way round.

A week last Fri - very wet sleety rain that was ruddy freezing. Been snow since then.

Yeah there have been a few decent spells from time to time and it would be a lie to say we've had no hot weather at all (I mean even during last years dire summer we did get a few evenings to sit out - mostly in August) but all hot spells have been quite short lived and certainly not especially hot either. 2006 had vast numbers of days 30c+ whereas since then we've probably only hit 30c a handful of times. 2008 (27.6c), 2009 (29.7c) and 2012 (26.8c) didn't hit it at all and the others only just did on only one day each (and tbh I'm a little dubious about some of my figures (32c in May 2010??). Now it doesn't have to be 30c+ to make for good summer hot weather (mid-high 20s is fine) but it'd be nice to see again - in much the same way we didn't 'need' -9c in December 2010 but still it was interesting! But really I want to see high average temperatures for consistency and the top two average maximums in my records (started April 2006) are: July 2006 (27.8c) and June 2006 (23.6c). But ultimately I want a sunny & dry summer above just a hot one - but hopefully the three can come along together again for the first time in 7 years. And preferably in late June especially!

Ah understand... since I don't do a physical job and I live in a very cool house high humidity doesn't cause me an issue. Sleeping in high humidity has never been a problem since I moved here - partly as we've had so little hot weather (moved in July 2008) and partly having a sky light above my bed means you've always got a nice gentle breeze coming in. If anything the hot nights are great here since you're free to open that skylight and enjoy a good nights rest with fresh air instead of recycled CO2 as most of the time. But I can completely understand those who struggle with it - but living in the UK count yourselves lucky hot/humid weather is so very rare compared to everything else... Wonder how roofers in warmer countries cope?