Spring 2023 - Moans, Ramps & Chat

[Nick L]

Today was a very spring 2023 kinda day. Grey, gloomy, breezy, chilly, depressing.

[stainesbloke]

3 hours ago, RJBingham said:

BBC weather just stated you have to go back to 1986 to find a year when 18c hasn't been broken in England by this date, but just a bog stand spring, according to some 

Hope we don’t get a summer like 1986

[alexisj9]

Surprisingly, after reading comment in here today, it was really quite a nice usable day here, with sun until this evening. Cold in the shade, with another biting wind though. 

[Sunny76]

36 minutes ago, stainesbloke said:

Hope we don’t get a summer like 1986

If it’s a toss up between having to endure a vile 1986, or a post 2015 warmer summer, I’ll take the latter. 
 

86 was a horrible cold cloudy nightmare. I hated that year for its weather. 

[Sunny76]

3 hours ago, RJBingham said:

BBC weather just stated you have to go back to 1986 to find a year when 18c hasn't been broken in England by this date, but just a bog stand spring, according to some 

The mind does boggle.

[matty40s]

 

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Hasn't been too bad today, though certainly not spectacular. Around 12 Celsius and the sun was out here and there, though still mostly cloudy. Having the same temps every day for the last few weeks is rather tedious now though. Be nice when we finally have temps upwards of 14 Celsius.

Edited April 26, 2023 by Weather Enthusiast91

[matt111]

Felt better than I though it would today although still had a cool breeze and was a bit of a gloomfest for most of the day. 

4 hours ago, RJBingham said:

BBC weather just stated you have to go back to 1986 to find a year when 18c hasn't been broken in England by this date, but just a bog stand spring, according to some 

Yes I saw this earlier. It hasn't really felt like a normal spring with the real lack of anything resembling warmth even if the average temperatures suggest otherwise. 

Edited April 26, 2023 by matt111

[Guest]

Another lovely breezy, chilly, gloom fest! 

[In Absence of True Seasons]

18 hours ago, danm said:

Early signals for the Summer seem positive, so we just have to hope things align for us to have a good Summer.

How do they seem positive? The setup seems similar to 2021 which was a summer without much reliable or consistent sunny / warm weather outside of a couple of heat blasts.

[weatherguru14]

June and July 2021 was very good for the northern part of the UK. the south was stuck under a low that was stationed over northern France and didn't go anywhere. Made a change from the south getting better weather and the north trapped under the jet stream

[ANYWEATHER]

6 minutes ago, In Absence of True Seasons said:

How do they seem positive? The setup seems similar to 2021 which was a summer without much reliable or consistent sunny / warm weather outside of a couple of heat blasts.

Far too early to call anything related to summer weather 

[In Absence of True Seasons]

18 hours ago, matt111 said:

To me it’s the fact we been completely devoid of any properly sunny days that feel pleasant enough to spend time outside. Yes we’ve had sun at times here but it’s never lasted a whole day and every time it’s been a one day wonder before being followed by days of cloud. Yesterday almost managed a whole day of sun but it did cloud over for a short time during the afternoon and of course it didn’t feel that warm with the cold breeze. 

This is it, 100%. Yes the temperatures haven't been *that* cold for April (although definitely below average alot of days for the south). Its just the sheer lack of sunny days. 

Outside of the 2 days on the Easter weekend, there have been, I think maybe 2  full sunny days in my area this entire month. Which imo is dire. The other days have just seen a few hours of sun max (usually in the morning or evening). 

The South of this country just cannot seem to maintain clear skies anymore and it sucks. I've notice this trend in recent years. Even during some.of the heatwaves we've had, it's been 30c with thick cloud. 

The amount of days over the past few years I go to work to a clear sky but by 10am it's completely gone, is unbelievable.

[kold weather]

4 minutes ago, weatherguru14 said:

June and July 2021 was very good for the northern part of the UK. the south was stuck under a low that was stationed over northern France and didn't go anywhere. Made a change from the south getting better weather and the north trapped under the jet stream

Yeah, down south it was truly a poor summer, however for a large part of the country it was by most metrics a decent summer, perhaps not top tier but good for sure 

[Scorcher]

It's becoming more and more difficult statistically to justify the claim that this is a poor April (especially in my local area).

Maybe it has been better here than other areas but we've had a good few people in the NW relentlessly moaning as well.

Here we are only 10 hours behind the monthly average for sunshine now with 4 days of the month still to go- there is a decent chance the month will end up above average for sunshine.

Temperature-wise it's been average to slightly above as well so struggling to see why people are so annoyed about this month. Not the best but not the worst by any means.

I can only imagine what this thread would be like with a repeat of April 2012, 2000 or 2004.

 

[In Absence of True Seasons]

17 hours ago, Downburst said:

Might I suggest if you can to get out and about and you won't really notice the weather as much? That certainly helps me. If I have things to do unless it's a soaking wet day I wont notice the weather. If it helps to also know the very average weather is exactly the best environment for native flora and fauna and this helps me on occasion if it's still 10oC and I see a bumble bee with all the fur moving around. 

Appreciate the sentiments mate, and I get what you're trying to say. However for my personally, my mood and overall energy levels are really affected to sunlight and so when its consistently overcast and lacking in sun (like it has been for the most part this Spring, off the back of a long winter), I start to really notice it. I can't pretend like its not 11c and cloudy every single day, because how my body and brain feels as a result reminds of it lol. 

Interesting re the bumblebees. Our garden has been basically devoid of insects this year thus far, no bees or butterflies yet, which are usually in full-force by mid April (particularly last year with the wonderful warm spring we had). The blue-tits that usually come to the 2 birdboxes we have, are absent this year as well....very telling.

[In Absence of True Seasons]

14 hours ago, RJBingham said:

BBC weather just stated you have to go back to 1986 to find a year when 18c hasn't been broken in England by this date, but just a bog stand spring, according to some 

Precisely. Sums it up in a nutshell. 

[In Absence of True Seasons]

13 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

The 2020s have certainly turned me into a "grumpy old man", I think. But I think the 2020s would be enough to turn a 25-year-old into a "grumpy old man"......

As someone still in their 20s, I feel this 

[Guest]

This is my attempt at being glass half full…
 

I’ve had a look through the models this morning and they certainly appear generally less bad apart from the GEM Ops which is a massive cold outlier. Certainly no real warmth but at least the vast majority of the really cold solutions and outliers seem have been dropped with the one mentioned exception above. 

 

[richie3846]

50 minutes ago, Scorcher said:

It's becoming more and more difficult statistically to justify the claim that this is a poor April (especially in my local area).

Maybe it has been better here than other areas but we've had a good few people in the NW relentlessly moaning as well.

Here we are only 10 hours behind the monthly average for sunshine now with 4 days of the month still to go- there is a decent chance the month will end up above average for sunshine.

Temperature-wise it's been average to slightly above as well so struggling to see why people are so annoyed about this month. Not the best but not the worst by any means.

I can only imagine what this thread would be like with a repeat of April 2012, 2000 or 2004.

 

I feel what has been reflected here in this thread, over the last week or so, is the psychological biases that create our perceptions of the world. What the statistics and proven facts say, don't necessarily match our conscious views of the world. Conscious awareness is not the same as reality itself, though for each individual, their own impression of reality will be real for them. Because each of us naturally has different elements of reality that we pay more attention to, our impressions, thoughts and feelings, and also memories, will be heavily influenced by our biases. So for those who feel this is a poor spring, then that is their reality, it's real for them. Those who've found it useable and tolerable, their impression is also real for them. 

Much of this impression of reality comes from what we do in our lives. For myself, I work intermittently outdoors, in and out all day, so I experience more of the reality of the weather than say, someone who is mainly indoors, but wants to have the best weather when they do have the opportunity to go out. I can imagine for those with limited outdoor time, if it's raining or cold or grey, that's gonna be a bummer. For myself, what the weather does becomes more irrelevant with the passage of time, because I experience so much of it directly, and therefore the emphasis is on what protection to use when I am exposed to the elements. It matters not for me, because I'm outside so much, I'm no longer seeking my 'ideal' weather. 

 On this very topic, I've noticed something very clearly about this particular psychology. The people I work with, they also are rarely affected by the ebb and the flow of the weather. It's rarely mentioned, because we have to get on with our jobs if it's sunny, cold, hot, windy, wet, the lot. Of course many of us enjoy pleasant settled weather when it comes. Our customers however, many of which live an indoor life, often have a completely different view on the weather, and are often extremely disgruntled by it, even if it's actually useable and ok. It's like their impression of reality is completely skewed by the fact that they aren't really experiencing the range of weather we enjoy, and are merely looking out the window, scared of the rain, and waiting for some warm sunny weather. This effect I've also noted about the temperature. Many of our customers will open their doors when I arrive, and be ushering the kids inside, incase the 'cold' kills them or something, or makes them ill, and then will be stood there saying how cold it is on the doorstep, looking out as if there there extreme dangers present just outside their front door. Meanwhile I'm stood the other side of their door, feeling comfortable, as I have the ideal number of clothes on for the conditions, thoroughly enjoying the fresh air and freedom of the great outdoors. And often it's not even cold when the indoor folk are behaving like it's utterly freezing. Often the temperatures are in double figures when people behave like this. 

I've even noticed this behaviour with my cats. If it's drizzling lightly they won't even dare go out, yet if they are out when it starts raining, if it's not too heavy, they'll stay out and get wet. 

 

[Sunny76]

1 hour ago, In Absence of True Seasons said:

This is it, 100%. Yes the temperatures haven't been *that* cold for April (although definitely below average alot of days for the south). Its just the sheer lack of sunny days. 

Outside of the 2 days on the Easter weekend, there have been, I think maybe 2  full sunny days in my area this entire month. Which imo is dire. The other days have just seen a few hours of sun max (usually in the morning or evening). 

The South of this country just cannot seem to maintain clear skies anymore and it sucks. I've notice this trend in recent years. Even during some.of the heatwaves we've had, it's been 30c with thick cloud. 

The amount of days over the past few years I go to work to a clear sky but by 10am it's completely gone, is unbelievable.

Yeah, since 2019 it does appear that the summers have become cloudier. Apart from 2022, as that was sunny for longer periods during warm or hot sunny periods.

2019/20 and 21 were cloud fest summers. If it’s cloudy and warm, for me that’s not a good summer. 
 

Would take cool and sunny over cloudy and warm, if I can’t get hot and sunny. 

[ANYWEATHER]

1 hour ago, Scorcher said:

It's becoming more and more difficult statistically to justify the claim that this is a poor April (especially in my local area).

Maybe it has been better here than other areas but we've had a good few people in the NW relentlessly moaning as well.

Here we are only 10 hours behind the monthly average for sunshine now with 4 days of the month still to go- there is a decent chance the month will end up above average for sunshine.

Temperature-wise it's been average to slightly above as well so struggling to see why people are so annoyed about this month. Not the best but not the worst by any means.

I can only imagine what this thread would be like with a repeat of April 2012, 2000 or 2004.

 

Perhaps in your back garden it’s been better but in mine I’ve recorded and will be 5 inches of rainfall today after the afternoon / evening rain. You have been one of the lucky ones. It’s been generally cloudy even when it’s not raining and decidedly cold on the whole. But that’s the weather and that’s why we are talking about it!!!

[kold weather]

2 hours ago, Scorcher said:

It's becoming more and more difficult statistically to justify the claim that this is a poor April (especially in my local area).

Maybe it has been better here than other areas but we've had a good few people in the NW relentlessly moaning as well.

Here we are only 10 hours behind the monthly average for sunshine now with 4 days of the month still to go- there is a decent chance the month will end up above average for sunshine.

Temperature-wise it's been average to slightly above as well so struggling to see why people are so annoyed about this month. Not the best but not the worst by any means.

I can only imagine what this thread would be like with a repeat of April 2012, 2000 or 2004.

 

I dont think it's been a terrible April statistically speaking, pretty close to average, perhaps a little worse than normal the further south you go.

I just think the combo of monotonous temperatures with little variation, relatively low max monthly temp particularly again further south and a really dreadful March is probably making it look worse than it is, particularly when things still are struggling to improve and we are knocking on May's door.

I suppose we've also had quite a downturn in April precipitation in the last 5-10 years which also probably makes a modestly wet month seem far worse than it is on the precipitation front.

[Scorcher]

57 minutes ago, kold weather said:

I dont think it's been a terrible April statistically speaking, pretty close to average, perhaps a little worse than normal the further south you go.

I just think the combo of monotonous temperatures with little variation, relatively low max monthly temp particularly again further south and a really dreadful March is probably making it look worse than it is, particularly when things still are struggling to improve and we are knocking on May's door.

I suppose we've also had quite a downturn in April precipitation in the last 5-10 years which also probably makes a modestly wet month seem far worse than it is on the precipitation front.

Yes I forgot to even mention rain which needless to say is also below average here...although will probably end up close to average with a bit of rain coming tonight and over the weekend.

[Sunny76]

1 hour ago, kold weather said:

I dont think it's been a terrible April statistically speaking, pretty close to average, perhaps a little worse than normal the further south you go.

I just think the combo of monotonous temperatures with little variation, relatively low max monthly temp particularly again further south and a really dreadful March is probably making it look worse than it is, particularly when things still are struggling to improve and we are knocking on May's door.

I suppose we've also had quite a downturn in April precipitation in the last 5-10 years which also probably makes a modestly wet month seem far worse than it is on the precipitation front.

There’s no defending it. This April has been hideous.