Spring 2023 - Moans, Ramps & Chat

[ANYWEATHER]

Well this mornings weather and appearance wouldn't look a lot different to the depths of Winter. 6c/43f overcast and damp. Can't believe in 5 weeks we are into Flaming June

[SunSean]

Hmm, better signals for settled weather appearing for May I'm hearing? That means, give it another 5 days and we'll be looking at all the models predicting accurately, the wettest start to May in a century lol. On a serious note, I really hope we get a run of consistent settled and sunny weather soon, plus we've only had a handful of decent May's in the last couple of decades so we're overdue at least a semi-decent one.

[stainesbloke]

A lovely spring day here finally, currently 18°C with sunshine but the E’ly wind is still very gusty. The can’t be said of my hometown, 7°C and raining, absolutely vile

[lassie23]

I think we are going to bypass spring and head straight into summer in the last two weeks of May.

[kold weather]

6.8c, raining and pretty dark. Today could very easily pass for a February day. No denying this is a pretty dreadful morning and now becoming a pretty dreadful afternoon. At least yesterday was somewhat decent in the end.

[Bristawl Si]

7c and raining. Truly awful for 2nd half of April.

[MP-R]

28 minutes ago, SunSean said:

Hmm, better signals for settled weather appearing for May I'm hearing? That means, give it another 5 days and we'll be looking at all the models predicting accurately, the wettest start to May in a century lol. On a serious note, I really hope we get a run of consistent settled and sunny weather soon, plus we've only had a handful of decent May's in the last couple of decades so we're overdue at least a semi-decent one.

Without a distinct pattern change, I foresee the tussle between warmer air from the south and colder air from the north continuing into May, hopefully with the former gaining the upper hand, but at the expense of it not necessarily being settled. Probably no prolonged Azores High influence until later in the month and into June, although that's not to say we won't have nice spell in May from transient ridges from the SW that end up to the NE. All speculative of course.

[Summer8906]

28 minutes ago, MP-R said:

Without a distinct pattern change, I foresee the tussle between warmer air from the south and colder air from the north continuing into May, hopefully with the former gaining the upper hand, but at the expense of it not necessarily being settled. Probably no prolonged Azores High influence until later in the month and into June, although that's not to say we won't have nice spell in May from transient ridges from the SW that end up to the NE. All speculative of course.

The only thing is that May is clearly a summer-half-year month, while March is clearly of the winter half of the year. Thus I can't see cold air having the same bite as it did in March and thus one would hope that the capability of the cold air to feed huge low pressure systems won't be as great as winter, and consequently the weather won't be so bad as March (which I realise you are not saying, but one poster on the model thread did suggest this as a possibility).

[Summer8906]

1 hour ago, SunSean said:

Hmm, better signals for settled weather appearing for May I'm hearing? That means, give it another 5 days and we'll be looking at all the models predicting accurately, the wettest start to May in a century lol. On a serious note, I really hope we get a run of consistent settled and sunny weather soon, plus we've only had a handful of decent May's in the last couple of decades so we're overdue at least a semi-decent one.

To be fair there have been quite a few above-par Mays recently but 2021 definitely wasn't and 2022 wasn't great either (though seemed less bad due to coincidence of the best spells of weather with the weekends). So we're probably due a better one, or at least one which has more than two or three dry days on the trot.

51 minutes ago, lassie23 said:

I think we are going to bypass spring and head straight into summer in the last two weeks of May.

I hope not, that sounds worryingly like 2012, in which we then began autumn on May 31st! (though to be fair, summer then did have a second coming in late July).

[Methuselah]

Oh, I don't know, chaps: May 1983 was a right stinker; thunderstorms, at only 10C, have never been my cup of tea!

[Summer8906]

There was some unexpected clear skies early this morning, but it's gradually got duller and damper - oppressively dull from around 9am onwards.

Rather unpredictable outlook for mid-late next week. It's showing a SE-ly but the uppers are neither especially cold nor especially warm in the south, so not sure exactly what weather that will produce. Hazy with scattered showers and unremarkable temps, I would guess.

Possible warm interlude at the end of the month but this annoying low latitude jetstream doesn't want to ever leave permanently it seems with far FI (GFS 06z) looking like a variation of the same old pattern we've endured since early March with low pressure either to the south or to the west. Seems to be a constant tendency for low pressure to form at relatively low latitudes in the Atlantic - most annoying. Hoping we don't get to the end of spring without a single period of 5 or more consectutive dry days!

14 minutes ago, Methuselah said:

Oh, I don't know, chaps: May 1983 was a right stinker; thunderstorms, at only 10C, have never been my cup of tea!

Yes, 81/83/86 - the springs from hell, with 1983 and 1986 easily the worst springs of my lifetime for weather. Hoping 2023 doesn't join them.

The second half of spring 1983 was a simply horrendous pattern. Low pressure seemed to stick either to, or just west of, the UK for about 6 or 7 weeks without ever going anywhere. Late March and the first 10 days of April were pretty horrible too, while the first half of March looked like it was cloudy, mild and boring but at least dry.

I think my mind has suppressed many memories of parts of these three: my memories of certain months of these springs are more vague than other springs of the 80s, probably because the constant drab weather put a real downer on the joys of spring.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Summer8906

[A Face like Thunder]

21 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

There was some unexpected clear skies early this morning, but it's gradually got duller and damper - oppressively dull from around 9am onwards.

Rather unpredictable outlook for mid-late next week. It's showing a SE-ly but the uppers are neither especially cold nor especially warm in the south, so not sure exactly what weather that will produce. Hazy with scattered showers and unremarkable temps, I would guess.

Possible warm interlude at the end of the month but this annoying low latitude jetstream doesn't want to ever leave permanently it seems with far FI (GFS 06z) looking like a variation of the same old pattern we've endured since early March with low pressure either to the south or to the west. Seems to be a constant tendency for low pressure to form at relatively low latitudes in the Atlantic - most annoying. Hoping we don't get to the end of spring without a single period of 5 or more consectutive dry days!

Yes, 81/83/86 - the springs from hell, with 1983 and 1986 easily the worst springs of my lifetime for weather. Hoping 2023 doesn't join them.

The second half of spring 1983 was a simply horrendous pattern. Low pressure seemed to stick either to, or just west of, the UK for about 6 or 7 weeks without ever going anywhere. Late March and the first 10 days of April were pretty horrible too, while the first half of March looked like it was cloudy, mild and boring but at least dry.

I think my mind has suppressed many memories of parts of these three: my memories of certain months of these springs are more vague than other springs of the 80s, probably because the constant drab weather put a real downer on the joys of spring.

I wouldn't disagree. The night of 31st May / 1st June 1983 produced a humdinger of a thunderstorm on the Hants / Surrey borders and the last week of May 1986 produced no sunshine whatsoever.

[Methuselah]

I recall getting ready to watch the 1983 FA Cup Final whilst a super-duper 9C storm raged outside. And, to make matters worse, Man Ure won the replay! 

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Is it me or is nature a little later than usual this year? I have been noticing that there haven't been as many daffodils and crocuses as there normally would be at this time of the year - same with cherry blossom trees. Even in areas where there is usually an abundance, but not this year it seems.

[cheeky_monkey]

1 hour ago, Methuselah said:

Oh, I don't know, chaps: May 1983 was a right stinker; thunderstorms, at only 10C, have never been my cup of tea!

i had pneumonia in May 1983..so as you say it was a stinker 

[matt111]

5 minutes ago, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

Is it me or is nature a little later than usual this year? I have been noticing that there haven't been as many daffodils and crocuses as there normally would be at this time of the year - same with cherry blossom trees. Even in areas where there is usually an abundance, but not this year it seems.

There have been loads of daffodils here this year so although one noticeable thing about them is they’re mostly still in bloom at the moment when they’ve normally gone by now.  A lot of trees here have blossom on them now but it’s only really been in the last week or so which is quite late. 

[matt111]

1 hour ago, Methuselah said:

Oh, I don't know, chaps: May 1983 was a right stinker; thunderstorms, at only 10C, have never been my cup of tea!

I guess the thunderstorms at least made it somewhat interesting even if the temperature was exceptionally poor. 

[baddie]

People may hate this April because it didnt reach 25c, but look on the bright side, March was a disappoinment because it seen double the average rainfall and half the average sunshine but this month is average for temperature and just above for sunshine and way less wet than March. I would beg for average sunshine this April after March only saw just over 50%

Edited April 21, 2023 by baddie

[*Stormforce~beka*]

4 hours ago, lassie23 said:

I think we are going to bypass spring and head straight into summer in the last two weeks of May.

Correct I said this the other day. There is going to be no Spring. It's into the furnace we go!

[*Stormforce~beka*]

2 hours ago, Weather Enthusiast91 said:

Is it me or is nature a little later than usual this year? I have been noticing that there haven't been as many daffodils and crocuses as there normally would be at this time of the year - same with cherry blossom trees. Even in areas where there is usually an abundance, but not this year it seems.

I said this to my mother in law and she called me an out right liar because the South is always ahead of the north. She said she doesn't believe it.

[Weather Enthusiast91]

11 minutes ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

I said this to my mother in law and she called me an out right liar because the South is always ahead of the north. She said she doesn't believe it.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. 

[kold weather]

19 minutes ago, baddie said:

People may hate this April because it didnt reach 25c, but look on the bright side, March was a disappoinment because it seen double the average rainfall and half the average sunshine but this month is average for temperature and just above for sunshine and way less wet than March. I would beg for average sunshine this April after March only saw just over 50%

I don't think its been a terrible month, its just after a legitimately awful March this April has still felt quite lackluster, and temperatures maybe a little above normal even but that is due to a near constant run of 13-16c temperatures even in the south, which these days is pretty modest. 

I think many were hoping for a few more days like we saw yesterday, those types of days have been pretty lacking this spring so far, hence why even the south is still well short of 20c, whilst in the last 10-20 years down here a 20c has been pretty common by this point in spring.

[Andrew Hurcomb]

After yesterdays sunny day, even though it only got to 14.6 C here today has been back to the winter weather. Raining most of the time, still raining now at 18.33pm and a top temp of 10.2 C. November weather.Top temp so far this April in Hereford, 15.2 C.

I wondered if it would make 18 C degrees here this April. I am now wondering if it will make 16 C. Roll on summer if this is the best spring can offer.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Andrew Hurcomb

[Guest]

Not quite sure how it actually stayed dry (although cold) today. 

[MP-R]

7 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

The only thing is that May is clearly a summer-half-year month, while March is clearly of the winter half of the year. Thus I can't see cold air having the same bite as it did in March and thus one would hope that the capability of the cold air to feed huge low pressure systems won't be as great as winter, and consequently the weather won't be so bad as March (which I realise you are not saying, but one poster on the model thread did suggest this as a possibility).

Was this supposed to respond to somebody else? I haven’t mentioned March…