Spring moans, ramps, chat and banter

[davehsug]

6 hours ago, markyo said:

Completley agree with you regarding the pre-payment scandal,should have been put a stop to long before now. It is disgusting how the energy companies have been acting regarding this. It is just corporate greed to satisfy shareholders that has led to this. Really hope your bill isn't as bad as you fear!

Not really for this thread, but I'm afraid it's a fact, if a rather unpalatable one, that PP meters cost more to service than credit meters, due to all of the extra infrastructure in place, to collect the money & process the payments. If you want PP customers to pay the same as others, then the others will in effect be subsidising PP customers. I don't mind personally, but it's not really a scandal, just the way it is.

[March]

19 hours ago, markyo said:

Here's hoping for a nice and cold Easter,winters last fling before the boredom of summer is upon us. There will be plenty of time in the up coming months for those sleepless nights of heat to torment me so one last goodbye to the good times would be nice!

You live in Sheffield not Seville! 

[knocker]

The torpedo called Sidney

[Nouska]

14 minutes ago, knocker said:

The torpedo called Sidney

[markyo]

Loved the walk in the fog this morning,it was such a lovely blanket of silence. But not for driving in one must admit!

[IanR]

anybody else feel this protracted spell of high pressure is wasted,  its rare thesedays, but we know this will end up a dirty high,    and better use would be made of it later in the year such as late april, may or june when  the sun can do its magic and burn the crud off,   i fear this will be a spell of featureless grim stratus,  and 'meh' temps to please no one,   9c and dull , no thanks

[iand61]

21 minutes ago, IanR said:

anybody else feel this protracted spell of high pressure is wasted,  its rare thesedays, but we know this will end up a dirty high,    and better use would be made of it later in the year such as late april, may or june when  the sun can do its magic and burn the crud off,   i fear this will be a spell of featureless grim stratus,  and 'meh' temps to please no one,   9c and dull , no thanks

Agree that it may end up as a dirty high but you should be in a favourable location for morning cloud to burn off into a decent afternoon.

it certainly won't be wall to wall sunshine and will feel cold and raw under cloud but I'm happy with some dry weather and anything else that makes conditions better is a bonus.

[iand61]

21 minutes ago, IanR said:

anybody else feel this protracted spell of high pressure is wasted,  its rare thesedays, but we know this will end up a dirty high,    and better use would be made of it later in the year such as late april, may or june when  the sun can do its magic and burn the crud off,   i fear this will be a spell of featureless grim stratus,  and 'meh' temps to please no one,   9c and dull , no thanks

Agree that it may end up as a dirty high but you should be in a favourable location for morning cloud to burn off into a decent afternoon.

it certainly won't be wall to wall sunshine and will feel cold and raw under cloud but I'm happy with some dry weather and anything else that makes conditions better is a bonus.

[March Blizzard]

What's with this high pressure domination in March in recent years anyway? It seems like the the past 5 years we have had a spell of protracted high pressure influencing our weather in March, particularly around mid month. 

I know the Atlantic tends to quieten down a bit this time of year, but surely we've seen more high pressure in recent years than the long term average? 

It just rolls in on que, destroying the last chance of any wintry weather, gives us weather purgatory of cloudy 10C days for 10 days or more, then tends to sod off late in the month to give way to pointless northerlies and NW'erlies in April, at a time when it would be far more welcome with the longer days.

I'm thankful it's dry, but that's about the only positive I can put on this current spell. Not liking how hazy it has been, either.

[Weather-history]

On 11 March 2016 at 7:02 PM, Milhouse said:

and the predictions of a white Easter have gone t*ts up. 

Too early to make that kind of assumption.

[stainesbloke]

48 minutes ago, IanR said:

anybody else feel this protracted spell of high pressure is wasted,  its rare thesedays, but we know this will end up a dirty high,    and better use would be made of it later in the year such as late april, may or june when  the sun can do its magic and burn the crud off,   i fear this will be a spell of featureless grim stratus,  and 'meh' temps to please no one,   9c and dull , no thanks

I don't feel that it's 'wasted'; anything is better than the near constant howling winds and rain we've endured pretty much since November. It'll be disappointing if it is a cloudy high but I'm just glad that awful wind has gone and that it's dry. It feels like a novelty to see high pressure sat over the UK for more than 10 minutes. Hopefully a lot more of that to come this year. 

[jethro]

I guess it depends upon location, it was a lovely day here yesterday and this morning I've woken to sunshine and clear blue sky, not a cloud in sight. I'm just over the moon to be rid of the rain and wind, it feels like it's been relentless for months on end. Personally, I'm happy to have a long lived high pressure spell, it would be nice if it carried on like today but if it clouds over, turns a bit chillier, well it's better than bleeding wind and rain.

[Frosty_wsm]

2 hours ago, IanR said:

anybody else feel this protracted spell of high pressure is wasted,  its rare thesedays, but we know this will end up a dirty high,    and better use would be made of it later in the year such as late april, may or june when  the sun can do its magic and burn the crud off,   i fear this will be a spell of featureless grim stratus,  and 'meh' temps to please no one,   9c and dull , no thanks

What you call dull I call brilliant, I hope this settled spell lasts for a long time, sunny again out there right now like it was yesterday too which makes it feel very pleasant  but sunny or cloudy I'm happy it's dry and settled meaning I can get out to do what I want to do which isn't really an option when it's wet and windy! 

[Polar Maritime]

A grand Spring morning here today, The fog has just about burnt off now leaving blue sky's and bright sunshine which feels warm. Great weather to be out clearing the garden, The dogs lapping it up on the lawn..

 

Edited March 13, 2016 by Polar Maritime

[Froze were the Days]

It's becoming more and more of a feature now into March that we see mid latitude blocking - high pressure over or close to the UK...almost set your watch by it in fact. Amazing when the last few winters has seen very little of these type synoptics until you get to March and onwards.

[Costa Del Fal]

On 6 March 2016 at 4:47 PM, shotski said:

The Spring equinox is not until the 22nd March or there abouts. It's still very much winter for me 

Ahh cannot get rid of the quote above.

 

Anyway, an absolutely glorious day here. Wall to wall sunshine and I'm having lunch outside in the sunshine I between cutting the lawns out the front and back.  Cannot beat the first warm spring days of the year. And it feels like it ha arrived on time this year.

[Costa Del Fal]

5 hours ago, March Blizzard said:

What's with this high pressure domination in March in recent years anyway? It seems like the the past 5 years we have had a spell of protracted high pressure influencing our weather in March, particularly around mid month. 

I know the Atlantic tends to quieten down a bit this time of year, but surely we've seen more high pressure in recent years than the long term average? 

It just rolls in on que, destroying the last chance of any wintry weather, gives us weather purgatory of cloudy 10C days for 10 days or more, then tends to sod off late in the month to give way to pointless northerlies and NW'erlies in April, at a time when it would be far more welcome with the longer days.

I'm thankful it's dry, but that's about the only positive I can put on this current spell. Not liking how hazy it has been, either.

I thInk April has become just as high pressure dominated if not more. Hope when you said about more high pressure than average you meant around March/April only. Lol. Goes missing in all other months except maybe September/early October too lol.

its a glorious day today and tomorrow looks as great though admittedly it looks like getting cloudier through the week though maybe improving next weekend again?  I always notice symbol forecasts are too pessimistic with cloud amounts though. Often a forecast with loads of 'white cloud' or 'light cloud' symbols means there will be sunny spells or at least bright.

[March Blizzard]

12 minutes ago, Costa Del Fal said:

I thInk April has become just as high pressure dominated if not more. Hope when you said about more high pressure than average you meant around March/April only. Lol. Goes missing in all other months except maybe September/early October too lol.

its a glorious day today and tomorrow looks as great though admittedly it looks like getting cloudier through the week though maybe improving next weekend again?  I always notice symbol forecasts are too pessimistic with cloud amounts though. Often a forecast with loads of 'white cloud' or 'light cloud' symbols means there will be sunny spells or at least bright.

Yeah. It's weird. It's become/becoming increasingly common Mar-May, but less so at any other times. Not sure how accurate I am, but it certainly seems that way.

But yeah, Today is much better than the past two. Has pollution been moderate/high lately? Seemed it here with a lot of haze.

If the nights were clear and cold, it would be almost perfect for me! 

[I remember Atlantic 252]

3 hours ago, Costa Del Fal said:

I thInk April has become just as high pressure dominated if not more. Hope when you said about more high pressure than average you meant around March/April only. Lol. Goes missing in all other months except maybe September/early October too lol.

its a glorious day today and tomorrow looks as great though admittedly it looks like getting cloudier through the week though maybe improving next weekend again?  I always notice symbol forecasts are too pessimistic with cloud amounts though. Often a forecast with loads of 'white cloud' or 'light cloud' symbols means there will be sunny spells or at least bright.

been monitoring GFS for weekend and 12Z is 'orrid 

And I hope it's wrong!

[Weather-history]

High pressure around March and April is not that unusual, they are on average the driest months of the year. Spring is on average the driest season of the year. 

[MP-R]

Last few years have been quite predictable - stormy first third to March, very settled middle third, generally unsettled final third, then a settled April before a naff May. I wonder how this year will compare. We've now got that high pressure that would bring wonderfully crisp weather in winter or warmth/heat in summer. Unfortunately, it's March and it's bringing neither.

[Frost HoIIow]

3 hours ago, March Blizzard said:

Yeah. It's weird. It's become/becoming increasingly common Mar-May, but less so at any other times. Not sure how accurate I am, but it certainly seems that way.

But yeah, Today is much better than the past two. Has pollution been moderate/high lately? Seemed it here with a lot of haze.

If the nights were clear and cold, it would be almost perfect for me! 

I thought the same as I could smell like factory fumes and can see the haze. Seems like we have moderate to high air pollution today depending on where one is in the country. http://aqicn.org/map/unitedkingdom

 

[IanR]

3 hours ago, MP-R said:

Last few years have been quite predictable - stormy first third to March, very settled middle third, generally unsettled final third, then a settled April before a naff May. I wonder how this year will compare. We've now got that high pressure that would bring wonderfully crisp weather in winter or warmth/heat in summer. Unfortunately, it's March and it's bringing neither.

this is exactly my point, to be fair though today has been good , very springlike in the warming sun, with just a hint of haze for the sultry effect , although its been far from sultry,   i fear the rest of the week will be cruddy and cool 

[Frost HoIIow]

What I noticed about late Spring & Summer last year was after any sunny start to a day it quickly clouded over because of convection & magically cleared about an hour or 2 before sun set! that is a disappointing aspect to the climate here. I have worked in California and for weeks on end in Summer you hardly saw a cloud despite very strong sunshine all that way south. It's a shame we cannot get those sorts of synoptics often here, Summer 1995 was great though had many a sunny day... all day. Here in NW England that Summer beats 2003 and 2006 for longevity of heat.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

1 minute ago, Frost HoIIow said:

What I noticed about late Spring & Summer last year was after any sunny start to a day it quickly clouded over because of convection & magically cleared about an hour or 2 before sun set! that is a disappointing aspect to the climate here. I have worked in California and for weeks on end in Summer you hardly saw a cloud despite very strong sunshine all that way south. It's a shame we cannot get those sorts of synoptics often here, Summer 1995 was great though had many a sunny day... all day. Here in NW England that Summer beats 2003 and 2006 for longevity of heat.

yes, Feb is usually sunniest month of the year if you get high pressure, Mar onwards convective skies, nuisance though not storms

noticed on mr D's timelapse convective skies now with strong March sun