Who's Looking Forward To Spring

[Optimus Prime]

Well we've never had an entirely settled spring like we have Summer. I wouldn't class Spring 2007 as all that settled. There was a record breaking cold snap towards the end of May which stands out. But April WAS entirely settled. Very similar to July, September, October and November the previous year. Exceptionally warm with nothingness.

[SP1986]

Heres the questions, if it is not so acceptable to flick a switch in March to say 20C, if it also not acceptable to flick a switch in October and say 0C and snow? My experiences from being on the forum are that whilst in March people tend to still be wintry minded, in the main, it's somehow only acceptable to want snow and cold in october, ie looking for early snow. I have been shot down in flames in October for daring to suggest I would like warmth.

[Rollo]

In my case,looking forward to some lovely warm spring sunshine after the end of next month but till then it is winter and it can snow as much as it wants.

[trickydicky]

I look forward to spring in the sense that I look forward to being able to sit out in summer and walk the dog in just a t-shirt at 10.30 when the suns going down. But if its just gonnna be a seemingly endless train of low pressures mooching in off miserable dank southwesterlies with their attendant drizzle and low cloud then I'd rather we skipped spring, summer and autumn and just cut straight to next winter! I've still got plenty in the tank for this winter though, I would love a cold February, a snowy March and a northerly Easter! After that I'd be ready for spring.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Re. Stephen, I don't mind people flicking a switch to 20C in March in itself, it's the way dissenting views aren't tolerated very well and we often see posts like "we should all be forgetting about snow now and moving on to wanting warm settled weather. You can't cling onto winter!". If the majority consensus was for constant homogeneous warmth but other preferences were respected as well then I wouldn't see a problem.

I haven't experienced this problem as much in October (I also welcome warm spells then as long as they're reasonably sunny to go with it, and don't recall being shot down in flames), but it is true that most members have switched to wanting cold/snow by then. It certainly becomes noticable in winter when the Model Output threads are dominated by cold-tinted value judgements (Stargazer complained about this recently, and I think he has a point), and it's even a problem in summer (e.g. me being shot down in flames for preferring the frequent convective storms of July in Norfolk to the cloudy settled weather of early August).

The bottom line is, I don't think any weather preference should be unacceptable.

[paul tall]

Heres the questions, if it is not so acceptable to flick a switch in March to say 20C, if it also not acceptable to flick a switch in October and say 0C and snow? My experiences from being on the forum are that whilst in March people tend to still be wintry minded, in the main, it's somehow only acceptable to want snow and cold in october, ie looking for early snow. I have been shot down in flames in October for daring to suggest I would like warmth.

Stephen, from 1st April to 31st October people should be looking for the warmest weather possible, then on 1st November it should be a Siberian freeze, -30 would do.

[Summer of 95]

April 2007 = perfect. I can't actually remember a drop of rain falling in Dorset during that, great start to the cricket season with a serious lack of matches cancelled!

March 2005 (I think) was pretty good - remember a trip to London where the temp hit 20 or thereabouts.

April 2007 was as near to a perfect month as I can remember- loads of sunshine, warm days, cool nights and next to no rain. None of those warm sticky nights or annoying buildups of cloud during the day we often seem to get in midsummer.

Another one was March 2003; that I remember being very sunny and dry by day with frosty nights that made up for the lack of snow. The hot spell in April that year was impressive but it only lasted a few days.

Last really good May around here was way back in 1992; although 1998, 2001 and 2004 did have warm sunny spells midmonth. 2008 was very disappointing here- only a few nice days around the 7-11th and then a really dull dreary second half.

[SP1986]

Stephen, from 1st April to 31st October people should be looking for the warmest weather possible, then on 1st November it should be a Siberian freeze, -30 would do.

Believe me I've seen winter comments and cold hoper on as early as August, this does pretty represent that the overwhelming majority of the posters are indeed cold weather fans. There are fewer (far fewer) people that come on in April and discuss the summer, I find anyway.

This is not surprising and there's nothing wrong with really it's just the nature of the forum.

[Alex95]

People don't need to look forward to a specific weather type in Spring. I look for 'good' weather on the models/forecasts, which in Spring would usually be a bright, showery Arctic outbreak or a sunny and warm spell as they are my favourite typed of spring weather.

Oh, and I almost forgot those late April --> May showery, southerly set ups with the first thunder of the year!

Edited January 29, 2010 by alza

[paul tall]

Believe me I've seen winter comments and cold hoper on as early as August, this does pretty represent that the overwhelming majority of the posters are indeed cold weather fans. There are fewer (far fewer) people that come on in April and discuss the summer, I find anyway.

This is not surprising and there's nothing wrong with really it's just the nature of the forum.

I'm definitely a cold weather fan and particularly a snow fan. But everything in it's place eh? For example I take no pleasure in following a cold outbreak developing in say, May. Or August like you say.

My ideal weather would be more continental, with below average winter months and above average summer months, and spring and autumn could stay as they are. This would also leave the yearly mean temperature as is without breaking the climate.

[Sunlover]

My ideal weather would be more continental, with below average winter months and above average summer months, and spring and autumn could stay as they are. This would also leave the yearly mean temperature as is without breaking the climate.

[reef]

A spring like 1995 would be ideal for me. I prefer swift switcharounds between warm and sunny weather and cold and showery weather. Sunshine is an absolute must, living on the east coast means easterlies are an absolute no-go unless the air flow is sufficiently cold enough to produce the familar sunshine and showers scenario. Late snow is also particularly welcome, I remember when it snowed on my birthday in 1995 briefly on May 11th and it was awesome.

Perhaps my least ideal spring would be one like last year. Boring, homogeneously mild, no real cold or warmth, no snow, frosts, storms, basically 3 months of nothingness. I did like April 2007 but that was more for its unusual nature, several years like that would get quickly annoying.

I wouldnt mind an exceptionally cold spring as a one off, the last one more than 1C below average was 1986. So quite some time ago. It would be rather unpopular on here though.

[Cheese Rice]

I am looking forward to spring/summer, but I still want more snow.

[kold weather]

I'm looking forward but perhaps for a few decent reasons, and this year I'm feeling it more then normal probably thanks to a pretty decent winter for once!

1: Convective showers, esp those great NW flows that bring down some quite amazing convection at times, plus you can still get wintry conditions in those convective showers, esp in March and early April., then there is the chance of plumes in May.

2: Storm season in the US kicks off and whilst I'll not be able to keep up with it as much as I'd like due to uni work its still something of great interest.

3: The first real chance of warm weather. You can get pretty decent temps in Feb from strong SW but they are more often then not dull. By the time yo get to April the number of synoptics able to get temps upto say 16-20C starts to increase quite alot.

4: perhaps my biggest passion outside of the winter period, the hurricane season kicking off at the tail end of spring and by this time you get a good idea of rough figures and possible storm totals in your mind...I suspect its very much the same feeling the likes of Paul S gets in the build-up to the storm season.

Overall though I think I could handle one more potent cold spell but after that I think I'll be just about ready for Spring.

[Derp Patrol]

Personally I want one final cold spell before the milder stuff kicks in. I love Spring, it is my favourite time of the year - blossom, leaves, warmth, sunshine and daylight return. I, like some others I presume, do not like snow in Spring.. it very rarely happens here, and even if it does give a small covering, it is gone my lunch. For me it is useless, i'd much rather have a warm sunny day seeing as it would probably have been <10C since mid November.

Just a quick question, when do easterlies and anticyclonic conditions start to bring warmer weather? because I remember last February and March being pleasant and sunny during the day, and at the moment anticylonic conditions would bring cold days and frosts at night..

Edited January 29, 2010 by robthefool

[Eugene]

You're wrong snowfall is very common in spring due to increased solar input giving convective wintry showers.

On TWO they are talking of seeing signs of spring, WTF, we havent even had any mild weather for more than two days for over 6 weeks and the cold hasnt ended at all, i think ive had one slightly above average day since two weeks ago, there is no sign of spring here at all because we havent had any mild airmasses.

Edited January 29, 2010 by Eugene

[Derp Patrol]

Well down here I VERY rarely get snow after mid March.. by then it's simply too warm with temperatures approaching the low teens.. Anyway what I was trying to say was that snow for me in Spring is of no use, it melts too quickly and by March I really just want some nice warmer weather..

[Don]

After the Winter we've had so far, I would like a cold Spring to follow as it would be unusual and would nicely round off a cold Winter. I wouldn't mind a Spring similar to that of 1996, with a similar Summer to follow as that was certainly reasonable overall and somewhat better than those of 2007 and 2008.

[Spurry]

walk the dog in just a t-shirt

You'd get arrested around here for that

Edited January 29, 2010 by Spurry

[LomondSnowstorm]

It's not that I don't like spring or anything it's just that I really want some more significant snowfall in February. If we get that early-mid February then I'll happily see a more springlike feel to things. However, if it continues with cold and possibly more snow, I'll also be happy. The whole idea of a sudden switch to warmth on the first of March is ludicrous - most springs have at least a week or two of fairly cold weather interspersed with milder weather.

[Summer of 95]

Personally I want one final cold spell before the milder stuff kicks in. I love Spring, it is my favourite time of the year - blossom, leaves, warmth, sunshine and daylight return. I, like some others I presume, do not like snow in Spring.. it very rarely happens here, and even if it does give a small covering, it is gone my lunch. For me it is useless, i'd much rather have a warm sunny day seeing as it would probably have been <10C since mid November.

Just a quick question, when do easterlies and anticyclonic conditions start to bring warmer weather? because I remember last February and March being pleasant and sunny during the day, and at the moment anticylonic conditions would bring cold days and frosts at night..

It depends on the airmass and wind direction- there were a few days nudging 20C from an anticyclonic/southerly setup in mid-February in 1998; while May 1991 I remember being very anticyclonic but cold and cloudy much of the time. The trouble I find with easterlies in the warmer months is the way they often blow in cloud from the North Sea which covers most places except Cornwall, west Wales and west Scotland, and even in June struggles to burn off during the day. Ideally we need the anticyclone to sit right over us, giving the clearest skies and no wind- this can easily give 20C+ in April as we saw in 2007. In Feb/Mar it's more lkely to give cold crisp days and frosty nights, though as we saw in 2003 it can get warm in the sunshine by late March.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Anticyclonic conditions start bringing warm weather in March, although in February an anticyclone can give rise to warm days and cold nights in some circumstances.

There is no fixed time at which easterlies start to become warm- it depends on how warm/cold the continent is at the time, and if the air is sourced from a long way north, easterlies can be cold even in early to mid May. The main issue with the warmer easterlies is like Summer of 95 mentions- lots of low cloud can be picked up from the North Sea giving rather dull weather.

Sunshine wise I think a high to the east of Britain (bringing southerlies) is about as reliable as a high over the top of Britain, and also tends to be warmer. High pressure to the south tends to mean sunshine for the south but plenty of cloud for central and northern districts via a moist tropical maritime westerly regime, and high pressure to the north leads to the easterlies described above.

The 12th-15th February 1998 had the high centred to the southeast so most of the southern half of England and Wales had plenty of unusually warm sunshine, and parts of northern England (especially the northeast) joined in at times, most notably on the 13th when the Tyneside area, and also Carlisle, had a sunny day. However, most of Scotland, together with parts of Cumbria and north Lancashire, kept a moist SW flow and saw virtually no sun at all, and it was exceptionally wet over the western Highlands of Scotland.

[Derp Patrol]

It depends on the airmass and wind direction- there were a few days nudging 20C from an anticyclonic/southerly setup in mid-February in 1998; while May 1991 I remember being very anticyclonic but cold and cloudy much of the time. The trouble I find with easterlies in the warmer months is the way they often blow in cloud from the North Sea which covers most places except Cornwall, west Wales and west Scotland, and even in June struggles to burn off during the day. Ideally we need the anticyclone to sit right over us, giving the clearest skies and no wind- this can easily give 20C+ in April as we saw in 2007. In Feb/Mar it's more lkely to give cold crisp days and frosty nights, though as we saw in 2003 it can get warm in the sunshine by late March.

Anticyclonic conditions start bringing warm weather in March, although in February an anticyclone can give rise to warm days and cold nights in some circumstances.

There is no fixed time at which easterlies start to become warm- it depends on how warm/cold the continent is at the time, and if the air is sourced from a long way north, easterlies can be cold even in early to mid May. The main issue with the warmer easterlies is like Summer of 95 mentions- lots of low cloud can be picked up from the North Sea giving rather dull weather.

Sunshine wise I think a high to the east of Britain (bringing southerlies) is about as reliable as a high over the top of Britain, and also tends to be warmer. High pressure to the south tends to mean sunshine for the south but plenty of cloud for central and northern districts via a moist tropical maritime westerly regime, and high pressure to the north leads to the easterlies described above.

The 12th-15th February 1998 had the high centred to the southeast so most of the southern half of England and Wales had plenty of unusually warm sunshine, and parts of northern England (especially the northeast) joined in at times, most notably on the 13th when the Tyneside area, and also Carlisle, had a sunny day. However, most of Scotland, together with parts of Cumbria and north Lancashire, kept a moist SW flow and saw virtually no sun at all, and it was exceptionally wet over the western Highlands of Scotland.

Ahh ok. Thanks guys, much appreciated

[Downpour]

Stephen, from 1st April to 31st October people should be looking for the warmest weather possible, then on 1st November it should be a Siberian freeze, -30 would do.

No chance. Warmest weather possible? 35 degrees in London is just about the worst the weather can get unless it's saturday, and the kids are at the grandparents.

[paul tall]

Yeah but I live in the North East where the warmest weather you can possibly get is about 18.6º.