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Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
Posted

After a run of gloomy days, this afternoon is the first one of the season when it feels we are leaving peak winter darkness. Bright skies today mean it is positively light right now at 4.35pm, a signal the tide is now firmly turning after 3 months of dark. 

  • Like 2
Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London
Posted (edited)

Coming out of the trough, daylight and sun angle are increasing at a much faster rate from now on.  Sun angle reaches 20 degrees tomorrow in London.  Usually think of about Burns day as the turning point.

Edited by CJS_25
  • Like 4
  • Insightful 1
Posted
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder, snow, heat, sunshine...
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
Posted

 CJS_25

The sun's so strong (on the rare occasions on which it appears) that I barely need to put my heating on! 🌞

  • Like 3
  • Insightful 1
Posted
  • Location: Summerseat, SE Lancashire (145m ASL)
  • Location: Summerseat, SE Lancashire (145m ASL)
Posted

For me, Spells of anticyclonic gloom have defined the period from last week of October to now and I see another UK high being hinted at.  Chances are that will have lots of cloud, it’s that bit early in the year for the sun to burn off cloud.

SAD is really hitting for me at the moment, even the cold spell ended up misty and gloomy here.

The last two days have been a real tonic.  Despite the storm, they have been the sunniest days for a long time and I’ve even sat outside comfortably in a sheltered spot.  Not much warmth in the sun yet, but that changes quickly over the next 3 weeks or so.  
 

Time to spot signs of spring - Robins and Blackbirds are more vocal than since mid summer now…

 

  • Like 2
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Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
Posted

 Maz There is a saying 'winter's back breaks middle of February', around Valentine's Day is when I feel we move out of mid winter state weatherwise, however mother nature and daylight wise its about now the tide turns. The rate of daylight length strengthens markedly hereon, along with sun strength. In about 3 weeks time the early stirrings of Spring beckon and the sun begins to have a bit of heat in it. The next 3 weeks therefore mark the transition point nature wise from mid winter to late winter, but not weatherwise yet - seasonal lag affect... I've seen snowdrops out, which is an indicator moving out of mid winter nature wise. 

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Posted
  • Location: Wednesbury
  • Weather Preferences: Seasonal weather (i.e nothing that deviates too much from the norm)
  • Location: Wednesbury
Posted

I'm noticing the sun setting in a more west to south westerly direction as opposed to south west now and once that happens the increase in daylength from day to day seems to change more quickly. To me this marks a major turning point and is the opposite to what we see in late July (.i.e. when the sunsets become more west to north west as opposed to north west). 

  • Like 3
Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
Posted (edited)

A key milestone reached today here, from here on all sunsets will be later than the 3 month period Dark Sunday i.e. when the clocks go back to 29 Jan. Its a turning point. Today's clear skies meant a late dusk, indeed not until 5.30pm it went fully dark.. it marks the end of the core 3 month dark period of the year, I think the chinese have it right celebrating new year around now..

Edited by damianslaw
  • Like 6
Posted
  • Location: North Leeds
  • Location: North Leeds
Posted

The sun definitely felt stronger and was higher in the sky today, especially compared to a few weeks ago. 

  • Like 1
Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Warm-by-day sunny thundery summers , short cold snowy winters.
  • Location: Hampshire
Posted (edited)

First sighting of the sun pre-8am this morning. Also street lights didn't switch on until a little after 5pm.

 

 

Edited by Summer8906
Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Warm-by-day sunny thundery summers , short cold snowy winters.
  • Location: Hampshire
Posted (edited)

 damianslaw I do wonder why the term "astronomical winter" is defined as Dec 21-March 21.

Surely astronomical winter should be the three months when the days are shortest. If we factor in mornings as well as evenings, that is around Nov 6 to Feb 6 and even that is thus coming to an end very shortly.

It seems nonsense to call a day when the sunset is beyond 6pm and sunrise only shortly after 6am "astronomical winter" (e.g. March 15) while a day when sunset is at 3.59pm and sunrise about 8am (e.g. Dec 15) not "astronomical winter".

 

Edited by Summer8906
  • Like 1
  • Insightful 1
Posted
  • Location: Norwich
  • Weather Preferences: Summer: sunny and 20-25C. Winter: crisp and sunny or snowy
  • Location: Norwich
Posted (edited)

 Summer8906 There's another term 'solar winter' which I only found out about fairly recently, which covers early November-early February.

Also, this might be unpopular on this forum but I think the astronomical seasons are more accurate than the meteorological ones, because of thermal lag. In winter, for example, late January/early February tends to be colder than December. Even March can often feel more wintry than December, so I think the spring equinox is a good starting point for spring!

Edited by Catherine91
  • Like 2
  • Insightful 2
Posted
  • Location: Hanley, Stoke-on-trent
  • Location: Hanley, Stoke-on-trent
Posted

A good reference to me tends to be the start of inland daytime convection. I ususally notice this in the 3rd/4th week of February.

  • Thanks 1
Posted
  • Location: Shepton Mallet Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Seasonal
  • Location: Shepton Mallet Somerset
Posted

Not looking forward to be being woken up at stupid o clock with birds twittering, and daylight streaming in through the windows.

  • Like 3
Posted
  • Location: Crewe, Cheshire
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, storms and other extremes
  • Location: Crewe, Cheshire
Posted

 Don Corleone yeah it’s grim. May-July is a slog for me in that regard but come mid-late July my mentality is different as I know that each passing day sees the light starting to ebb away more and more quickly.

I quite like September and March…light wise they strike a decent balance.

  • Like 1
Posted
  • Location: West Yorkshire
  • Location: West Yorkshire
Posted

 Cheshire Freeze I prefer the lighter days overall, but I dislike the darkness of winter more than the cold overall. Assuming all else remained the same, I'd happily sacrifice an hour of light at each end of the day in summer for an extra hour at each end of the day in winter.

Posted
  • Location: colchester,essex,40m asl.
  • Weather Preferences: Very Hot,Very cold.scared of thunder and lightning.
  • Location: colchester,essex,40m asl.
Posted

Got loads and loads of hair off the pony today. 

Shedding his winter coat already...

True sign that the days are getting longer.

 

Posted
  • Location: Kings Norton, West Midlands (170m asl)
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms, Cold & Snowy
  • Location: Kings Norton, West Midlands (170m asl)
Posted (edited)

Similar to what others have said - I define the start of Spring when I spot the first rash of cumulus humilis. Typically towards the end of February. I don't really have an defined meteorological identifier for the other seasons which is why I find the transition to Spring the most interesting phase. 

Light when I finish work now. Had enough light to repot some indoor plants in the garden after 5pm. 

Edited by Cirrusly Snowy
Posted
  • Location: Leeds
  • Weather Preferences: snow, heat, thunderstorms
  • Location: Leeds
Posted (edited)

 WYorksWeather yeah, it's the darkness of British winters that most people hate. The short days combined with the lack of sunshine creates a thoroughly grim, depressing atmosphere for at least 3 months of the year. 

Being woken up by sunlight at 4:30am can be annoying, but I'll take that any day over going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark.

Edited by cheese
  • Like 1
Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Warm-by-day sunny thundery summers , short cold snowy winters.
  • Location: Hampshire
Posted (edited)
17 hours ago, Catherine91 said:

Even March can often feel more wintry than December, so I think the spring equinox is a good starting point for spring!

Perhaps though March is usually even less wintry than December IMX - only the Marches of 2013 and 2018 being at all wintry in recent years.

March has stronger sunshine, far more daylight and can achieve the low 20s Celsius (even theoretically the mid-20s at the end) - add to that the state of nature and March to me seems very much less wintry than December in just about all respects.

Edited by Summer8906
Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Warm-by-day sunny thundery summers , short cold snowy winters.
  • Location: Hampshire
Posted (edited)

 *Stormforce~beka* Hasn't it occurred from time to time? I recall 1990, 2005, 2012 and 2021 certainly; further back there was 1965, 1968 and 1977;  and I think there may have been others too (possibly late March 1999, end of March 2004, maybe 2003 or 2007?). There's Feb 2019, as well. Certainly more frequently than 20C in December (never!) anyway...

Edited by Summer8906
  • Like 1
Posted
  • Location: on a canal , probably near Northampton...
  • Weather Preferences: extremes n snow
  • Location: on a canal , probably near Northampton...
Posted (edited)

Just shy of 5pm and still light enough to cruise....the pub does look welcoming though...

20250131_165602.jpg

Edited by matty40s
Posted
  • Location: Leeds
  • Weather Preferences: snow, heat, thunderstorms
  • Location: Leeds
Posted (edited)

 *Stormforce~beka* In Leeds we achieved 20C in March 2 years in a row in 2021 & 2022. It was our first time reaching 20C in March since 2012. 

Before 2012 you have to go back to 1990 to find another March that reached/exceeded 20C here, so it seems like 20C in March has become more common.

Edited by cheese
Posted
  • Location: Winchester, Hampshire ~ Southern Central!
  • Location: Winchester, Hampshire ~ Southern Central!
Posted

 cheese I don't think i've ever had 20 til April!

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