Spring 2023 - Moans, Ramps & Chat

[danm]

A nice sunny morning here, but cloud is expected later on...

Matt H all but confirming that the late season SSW in the mod thread is likely at least partly to blame for this poor Spring. 

[Mark Parsons]

This easterly is 2 months late or is it 2 months early The first 20°c of the year and its in nw Scotland

[ANYWEATHER]

10 hours ago, chris888 said:

early may on latest gfs 

Only two weeks away ……What could go wrong

[mountain shadow]

Any sunshine due soon?

Was meant to be wall to wall sunshine by now.

[Sunny76]

I just thought of a sick joke.

What if Scotland doesn’t eventually gain independence from England, and the summers get better up north lol.

Us southerners stuck with mild dreary winters, and cloudy summers, with no where else to move to

[danm]

14 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

I just thought of a sick joke.

What if Scotland doesn’t eventually gain independence from England, and the summers get better up north lol.

Us southerners stuck with mild dreary winters, and cloudy summers, with no where else to move to

It's actually not as uncommon as people think for the NW of Scotland and some other sheltered NW'ern areas of the UK to get warmer, sunnier weather at this time of year than areas further south and east. I say "at times" as there are plenty of occasions where the S/SE will have the best weather at this time of year, however a flip to the NW getting the better weather is probably most likely to happen in April and May than any other time of year. The Atlantic is at its weakest now, northern blocking can become more prevalent and as a result high pressure systems meander up towards the NW of the UK giving those areas the warmest weather, with the east and south more susceptible to cooler easterly winds or low pressure systems from the south west.

April and May tend to be the driest months in Scotland for this very reason. 

Edited April 18, 2023 by danm

[alexisj9]

39 minutes ago, Mark Parsons said:

This easterly is 2 months late or is it 2 months early The first 20°c of the year and its in nw Scotland

It's not late at all, it's happened when it wanted to, 

[alexisj9]

28 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

I just thought of a sick joke.

What if Scotland doesn’t eventually gain independence from England, and the summers get better up north lol.

Us southerners stuck with mild dreary winters, and cloudy summers, with no where else to move to

I don't see the joke tbh. Lots move to Scotland now, even though the weather is normally cooler wetter and duller.

[Sunny76]

13 minutes ago, alexisj9 said:

I don't see the joke tbh. Lots move to Scotland now, even though the weather is normally cooler wetter and duller.

I was actually being sarcastic, but well never mind lol.

Scotland is a nice part of the world. Plenty of nice open countryside. The only downside for me is the cooler summers and more rain, but they get more guaranteed snowfall, even in a milder winter.

[Guest]

41 minutes ago, danm said:

It's actually not as uncommon as people think for the NW of Scotland and some other sheltered NW'ern areas of the UK to get warmer, sunnier weather at this time of year than areas further south and east. I say "at times" as there are plenty of occasions where the S/SE will have the best weather at this time of year, however a flip to the NW getting the better weather is probably most likely to happen in April and May than any other time of year. The Atlantic is at its weakest now, northern blocking can become more prevalent and as a result high pressure systems meander up towards the NW of the UK giving those areas the warmest weather, with the east and south more susceptible to cooler easterly winds or low pressure systems from the south west.

April and May tend to be the driest months in Scotland for this very reason. 

The Western Isles climate is miserable and one of the dullest in the world with only 1100hrs hours of sun. However May is the sunniest month and April the third sunniest of the year there. Beautiful place but wouldn’t touch the climate with a barge pole. 

[danm]

5 minutes ago, Alderc said:

The Western Isles climate is miserable and one of the dullest in the world with only 1100hrs hours of sun. However May is the sunniest month and April the third sunniest of the year there. Beautiful place but wouldn’t touch the climate with a barge pole. 

Agree. Wettest, dullest part of the UK. Beautiful though. 

[Steve C]

15 hours ago, Eugene said:

Big downgrade for the warmies this week from what the models were showing a week ago, down from 20C to low teens and feeling chilly in easterly wind this week.

"Warmies"??  Seeing you've been a member here for more than 15 years, you're obviously not a child though...

It's a strange description for those that make up >95% of the population, whatever.

[Sunny76]

16 minutes ago, Alderc said:

The Western Isles climate is miserable and one of the dullest in the world with only 1100hrs hours of sun. However May is the sunniest month and April the third sunniest of the year there. Beautiful place but wouldn’t touch the climate with a barge pole. 

No, I don’t think I could live there. Way too much dull weather for my liking.

[alexisj9]

31 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

I was actually being sarcastic, but well never mind lol.

Scotland is a nice part of the world. Plenty of nice open countryside. The only downside for me is the cooler summers and more rain, but they get more guaranteed snowfall, even in a milder winter.

Sorry I'm always misunderstanding things.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

No, I don’t think I could live there. Way too much dull weather for my liking.

Too much dull weather down here let alone up there. 
 

Guy I work with who’s based in Washington DC is moving back to his home town in Arizona for the primary it’s too wet and not sunny enough. Lol Washington has over 2,500hrs of sun per year. Could only dream of that here. 

[SunnyG]

This is shaping up to be as grim a year as 2013. The dismal weather had me change jobs then. This time I predict I'll change countries. There's only so much gloom a person can stand. Portugal maybe?

[Sunny76]

14 minutes ago, Alderc said:

Too much dull weather down here let alone up there. 
 

Guy I work with who’s based in Washington DC is moving back to his home town in Arizona for the primary it’s too wet and not sunny enough. Lol Washington has over 2,500hrs of sun per year. Could only dream of that here. 

Yeah but it’s far worse up there. They don’t have nicer summers than us.

[Sunny76]

17 minutes ago, Alderc said:

Too much dull weather down here let alone up there. 
 

Guy I work with who’s based in Washington DC is moving back to his home town in Arizona for the primary it’s too wet and not sunny enough. Lol Washington has over 2,500hrs of sun per year. Could only dream of that here. 

Yeah but Atlantic USA is probably much cloudier and it’s relative after a while. 

[Snowy L]

5 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

Yeah but it’s far worse up there. They don’t have nicer summers than us.

Quick glance is similar temperatures but far less rain during summer. Only 3/4 rain days per month during summer opposed to 8/9 here. So pretty much the worse place to be in USA for summer beats the UK.

[In Absence of True Seasons]

16 minutes ago, Alderc said:

Too much dull weather down here let alone up there. 
 

Guy I work with who’s based in Washington DC is moving back to his home town in Arizona for the primary it’s too wet and not sunny enough. Lol Washington has over 2,500hrs of sun per year. Could only dream of that here. 

North Americans genuinely have no idea how good they have it from a 'sunshine hours' perspective compared to most of Northern Europe. Even the more wet Midwest and East Coast states get average hours of sun per year on-par with Southern Europe lol. 

It's easier to get the latitude of much of North America as well, tbf. I think that the Northern part of the USA is 'further up' in the 'minds eye' of alot of people, than it actually is. New York is about the same latitude as Madrid, for perspective. London around the same as Vancouver, and much of Northern England and Scotland is on a similar latitude to areas deep into Alberta and British Colombia. 

[In Absence of True Seasons]

11 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

Yeah but it’s far worse up there. They don’t have nicer summers than us.

Washington DC gets on average like 2,500 annual sun hours. That's about 1,000 more than most of England (we average about 1,400-1,600 annual sun hours). 

Washington is dull by USA standards (comparing it to, say California or Utah for instance), but its markedly less dull than England, and other comparable Northern Europe locales. Undeniably. 

[In Absence of True Seasons]

2 hours ago, danm said:

A nice sunny morning here, but cloud is expected later on... 

Started off fairly bright, but rather chilly. Descended into another cool, cloudfest. 10.5c and the endless grey blanket. 

Yesterday was a decent day - genuinely felt like proper Spring. But unfortunately, we just don't seem to be able to have those days consecutively atm. Slim pickings. 

[Methuselah]

4 hours ago, alexisj9 said:

Nice and sunny here this morning, wonder how long for.

Well, according to the NW Homepage, it's 12C with unbroken sunshine, here. It may well be only 12C, but any sunshine is in someone's imagination! 

[danm]

43 minutes ago, Snowy L said:

Quick glance is similar temperatures but far less rain during summer. Only 3/4 rain days per month during summer opposed to 8/9 here. So pretty much the worse place to be in USA for summer beats the UK.

Surely the worst part of the US for summer weather would be the Pacific NW, not the NE? 

[Snowy L]

4 minutes ago, danm said:

Surely the worst part of the US for summer weather would be the Pacific NW, not the NE? 

My bad only just noticed the thread was about DC. My stats are about Seattle Washington state so point stands worst part of USA is better than the UK average.

Seattle has 2200 sunshine hours per year and 3 or 4 rain days per summer month. Far better than UK average.

Edited April 18, 2023 by Snowy L