Colder spring this year with the most late snow seen this decade

[Snowyowl9]

Since March 1st I`ve recorded either wintriness sleet to settling hail/snow falling/settling 21 days...with the rest of winter just 14 days.

Also since March 20th that makes 14/24 with snow/sleet etc thats more days than normal looking at my past records with snow/soft hail etc seen falling between those dates since 1990.

[Northernlights]

Since March 1st I`ve recorded either wintriness sleet to settling hail/snow falling/settling 21 days...with the rest of winter just 14 days.

Also since March 20th that makes 14/24 with snow/sleet etc thats more days than normal looking at my past records with snow/soft hail etc seen falling between those dates since 1990.

This last week has seen the deepest cumulative snow depth on the Cairngorms since 15 years ago, little or no grass growth on the farm,due to a cooler winter and cool early spring, (daffodils still not in flower behind a north facing wall will still be flowering in May) and at least a ground frost nearly every night this month with the temperature hovering just above freezing first thing in the morning. (These light frosts have almost been continuous since late November.) It seems cold compared to the rescent past but 30 or 40 years ago this was the norm cattle not going to grass until May , only 3 years ago we had them out on the 7th of April. I still feel there has been a change in the synoptics since late May 2007 which has given us cooler conditions up here. Last summer we had an open fire nearly every evening it was so cool and wet with one of the poorest growing seasons ever due to the lack of sunshine, unheard of in the last 10 to 15 years when summers have usually been very warm and humid. Significant snow also fell on the mountains on the 23rd of June and the 27th of September 2007. The coming summer will be interesting to watch to see if the cooler conditions continue. A large area of spring cereals remain to be sown up here due to the heavy sleet and snow showers of the last 10 days and it may be the end of the month before the ground is dry enough to sow again.

[Snowyowl9]

This last week has seen the deepest cumulative snow depth on the Cairngorms since 15 years ago, little or no grass growth on the farm,due to a cooler winter and cool early spring, I still feel there has been a change in the synoptics since late May 2007 which has given us cooler conditions up here. The coming summer will be interesting to watch to see if the cooler conditions continue. A large area of spring cereals remain to be sown up here due to the heavy sleet and snow showers of the last 10 days and it may be the end of the month before the ground is dry enough to sow again.

Thats one thing I`ve noticed also the fields are looking bare havn`t even mowed the lawn yet, with less grass to normal well as you say in recent years and it`s wetter ground later, and the trees are later even our cherry tree hasn`t started to blossum yet and with all these cold nights with it close to freezing or maybe just below, it`s not going to happen soon looking at the charts either may even see more of the sleety white stuff as its an east flow coming aswell.

[damianslaw]

Yes in the countryside up here in the north apart from the first spring lambs and the spring flowers it really doesn't look like Spring compared to this point in more recent years.

I was in Mid - Weardale yesterday and I didn't see a single field with cows feeding. I passed numerous farms with cows still stuck in their winter hides with the grass not growing.

I also remember this time last year seeing birds readily collecting twigs from trees, no activity from them yet this year.

[Thundery wintry showers]

In Cleadon there have been 9 days of sleet/snow falling between 1 March and 13 April- quite a high total, beaten on my personal records only by 1995 (10 days up to this point) and 2006 (14 days). Snow cover wise, though, there have only been 2 mornings with snow lying- which is close to the long-term average, but beaten in 1998 (3 days), 2001 (5 days) and 2006 (5 days).

Nonetheless, while it isn't unusual for March to have the deepest snow cover of the season, it's very rare for it to fall in April like it did this year (a couple of inches on 7 April, while January and March had only one day each with 1cm).

I can't speak for what I've seen in Norwich because I don't have Norwich stats to compare to, but certainly the spring has been a lot snowier here than the winter was.

Still, this spring has not been that unusual in the context of the long-term averages, and there were many colder and snowier springs from the 1980s backwards- it's just in the context of recent years, when we're used to spring months with homogeneous warmth and CETs 1.5C above average every month, that it seems unusual.

[damianslaw]

In Cleadon there have been 9 days of sleet/snow falling between 1 March and 13 April- quite a high total, beaten on my personal records only by 1995 (10 days up to this point) and 2006 (14 days). Snow cover wise, though, there have only been 2 mornings with snow lying- which is close to the long-term average, but beaten in 1998 (3 days), 2001 (5 days) and 2006 (5 days).

Nonetheless, while it isn't unusual for March to have the deepest snow cover of the season, it's very rare for it to fall in April like it did this year (a couple of inches on 7 April, while January and March had only one day each with 1cm).

I can't speak for what I've seen in Norwich because I don't have Norwich stats to compare to, but certainly the spring has been a lot snowier here than the winter was.

Still, this spring has not been that unusual in the context of the long-term averages, and there were many colder and snowier springs from the 1980s backwards- it's just in the context of recent years, when we're used to spring months with homogeneous warmth and CETs 1.5C above average every month, that it seems unusual.

Agree with your last paragraph. This spring so far is probably feeling a lot colder to many than it probably would be had it come on the back of a cold or even just average winter. After such a mild winter, it feels like Spring has been delayed but in earnest we are just having a traditional spring so far akin to those of the past and not to those of recent years. Its interesting to compare this spring with that of 2006 which up to this point had been a colder spring yet because this came on the back of an average winter the cold didn't feel so pronounced. However Mr Data has put up a thread showing that the period 15th March to now has been the coldest since since 1996 (note this excludes the first two weeks of spring which when factored means that 2001 along with 2006 was colder than 2008 ). 1996 up to this point did feel from what I remember a decidedly chilly first half to spring even after the relatively cold winter. So in this context the past 3 weeks rather than spring as a whole have been quite cold and wintry than normal.

[Thundery wintry showers]

March 1996 was the kind of month that would have practically everyone on here complaining- including me- as in the Tyne & Wear area it had an average maximum of around 6C and there were only 30 hours of sunshine in the whole month. In most other regions it wasn't as extreme as that, but the CET was over 1C below average and the sunshine was at 70% of normal over England and Wales. For cool cloudy easterly weather that month takes some beating, and apart from one event around the 12th it wasn't even particularly snowy either- Marches 1995, 2001 and 2006 were widely much snowier despite being less cold.

[Optimus Prime]

By night it's been a pretty cold spring.

Mean minimum, March came in 0.8c below average and Aprils currently 1.1c below.

As for mean temperatures 2006 was much colder to this point. The average March 1st - April the 13th was just 5.4c in 2006 which is 1.4c below average (71-000) In fact upto this point in April alone 2006 was colder at 6.6c (it's currently 6.9c)

Spring so far this year is running at 6.4c (-0.4) to April 13th

2007 7.9c (+1.1c)

2006 5.4c (-1.4c)

2005 7.6c (+0.8c)

2004 7.2c (+0.4)

2003 7.3c (+0.5)

2002 7.9c (+1.1c)

2001 6.1 (-0.7c)

2000 7.0c (+0.2c)

The 2000-2007 average is 7.1c so we're running 0.7c below what is normally experienced by this stage in recent years.

Compared this to the really cold springs;

1st March - April 13th

1996 5.0c (-1.8c)

1986 4.6c (-2.2c)

1970 3.8c (-3.0c)

1962 4.0c (-2.8c)

1919 4.6c (-2.2c)

1785 2.6c (-4.2c)

[The PIT]

Yes not a particular cold spring but it's nice to see some Snow around.

As grass not growing well sad to say that it is and our lawn needs cutting badly but it's too wet. Other poeple have cut theres though. I guess I just don't like taking chunks out of the lawn. I don't think spring is behind normaly it's just drawn out slightly.

[Weather-history]

Compared this to the really cold springs;

1st March - April 13th

1996 5.0c (-1.8c)

1986 4.6c (-2.2c)

1970 3.8c (-3.0c)

1962 4.0c (-2.8c)

1919 4.6c (-2.2c)

1785 2.6c (-4.2c)

1837 2.4C (-4.4C)

[Timmytour]

Yes not a particular cold spring but it's nice to see some Snow around.

As grass not growing well sad to say that it is and our lawn needs cutting badly but it's too wet. Other poeple have cut theres though. I guess I just don't like taking chunks out of the lawn. I don't think spring is behind normaly it's just drawn out slightly.

Cut my lawn twice in February. Have never done it so early.

Mind you I haven't needed to cut it since...

[Rich_Clements]

Would it be fair to say there is a North South devide regards late flowering plants etc. daffs been out for ages here I noticed a field yesterday with the yellow flowers already out (Rape Seed??) It all seems to be happnening in a normal time frame around these parts. Although I like the colder weather I'm really looking forward to a bit of heat now.

[LadyPakal]

A lot of daffodils here are still just in bud, hawthorn leaves are just starting to expand from their buds, the trees are bare altho' there is bud burst on most of them. Grass doesn't seem a any longer than it was after it's last haircut last year. The fruiting cherry is in bud burst as well - no sign of flowers as yet. Blackthorn is still flowering altho' it is at the end of its flowering season. Bluebells are just greenery at the moment.

A definite North-South divide as far as I can tell.

Edited April 14, 2008 by LadyPakal

[bluecon]

Late spring here in the southernmost part of Canada. Snow flurries yesterday and only a couple warm days so far.

[Snowyowl9]

2006 hasn`t been anywhere quite as good as this spring for seeing snow between the dates of March 20th to now with only with just 6 days here and a brief covering on april 9th.

And 2000 saw less days with snow falling also between those dates even though there was much more snowfall like 9inches to this year same goes for april 1998.

It`s been quite impressive really even 1996 had 13 days(1.5inches max) thats 1 day less to this time(2inches this time) with snow/sleet falling settling from march 15th to april 15th.

[Marduk]

In Stockholm April has been this far quite normal, around 4'c in avg, and some days with tmax around 10'c and a little snow dump at the 9th with temps just above 0'c all day. And what it seems no warmth is on the way, after a extremely lousy winter the temps are just a little more warmer than in January. Normally it differs around 10'c in daytemp between Jan and Apr, but this far 2008, 4'c. Lousy!