Spring 2023 - Moans, Ramps & Chat

[Sunsetglimmer]

6 minutes ago, matt111 said:

It took me about a couple of weeks but my dad had it too and it took him several weeks to properly get rid of it.

Also a neighbour had it and ended up with a bad chest infection that lasted a few weeks.

Thank you don’t know if I need antibiotics it’s sitting on my chest now heavy coughing pain in chest and night sweats, been about 7 days so far 

[al78]

I was due to lead a local walk tomorrow morning but reccying it this afternoon the ground is sodden with lots of squidgy sections that need proper boots or wellies to negotiate, and the cloudy but dry forecast has now regressed to pouring rain most of the morning and some rain for much of the rest of the day. Rain forecast every day (again) for Horsham next week. I'm not going to get my allotment prepared until May at this rate and I have potatoes ready to plant. According to the HadUKP charts up to the 23rd, SE England has had some rain on 16 out of the prior 17 days and is running at 153% of the monthly average, which explains why the local countryside footpaths are a claggy sodden mess. Can the Scottish Highlands please take its climate back.

[Summer8906]

7 hours ago, RebsAbbo said:

This second half of March feels more like a traditional April, with lots of sunshine & ‘April showers’, just cooler. I still think we are very lucky in this area, we seem to be having more than our fair share of the sunshine. Today is another sun & showers day, with perhaps the showers winning out more, but still can’t complain.

That photo really does look very different to what we've been enduring down south if late.

Looks like typical skies in a northwesterly down here.

Down here, the cloud base has been much lower than that, making the weather generally more dreary. A constant on-shore, moisture-laden wind is doubtless the cause while Yorkshire is downwind from both the Pennines and the Welsh uplands, which must dry the air out quite a bit.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

4 hours ago, reef said:

It looks to be another one of those months where its quite a bit sunnier here than in the south-east. After a pretty good week for it, we're now up to 95 hours of sunshine here. Our 1991-2020 average for March is 123 hours, so there's a reasonable chance we may reach that.

Heathrow on the other hand, 42.6hrs to yesterday, Bournemouth 41.2hrs.

From the March 1981 MWR: "London Weather Centre with 52.9 hours of sunshine had its dullest March since records began in 1929".

MWR_1981_03 | Met Office UA

DIGITAL.NMLA.METOFFICE.GOV.UK

So will Heathrow and Bournemouth manage 10 hours of sunshine until the month's end? I guess Monday will contribute a few hours, but can't see the rest of the week producing much.

Either way, if the models are correct March 2023 will probably IMO be the worst meterological-spring month for many years. Worse than March 2018 (which had the two snowy spells, so was far more interesting). Worse than May 2021 (which had a sunny final week). Worse than March 2013 (which had interesting cold). And worse than April 2012 (which had more northwesterlies, hence sunnier, higher cloud base and interesting convection).

 

Edited March 25, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

5 hours ago, Earthshine said:

Already seeing some leafing here in Exeter, even on small trees.  Quite a bit of blossom near my house too.  Just need some more sunshine to go along with it!  Could potentially reach 17-18°C on Thursday.

Would this kind of setup reach anything close to 17-18C?

 

Wetterzentrale - Top Karten - GFS Europe 12Z

WWW.WETTERZENTRALE.DE

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Wetterkarten GFS Europe 12Z

There's no deep southerly fetch and the upper air doesn't seem particularly warm, also looks decidedly cloudy and windy which will knock temps on the head a bit. I'd have guessed 12-14C.

[Summer8906]

1 hour ago, al78 said:

I was due to lead a local walk tomorrow morning but reccying it this afternoon the ground is sodden with lots of squidgy sections that need proper boots or wellies to negotiate, and the cloudy but dry forecast has now regressed to pouring rain most of the morning and some rain for much of the rest of the day. Rain forecast every day (again) for Horsham next week.

I would be genuinely surprised to see rain on Monday; pressure looks too high. Maybe some isolated showers due to cold uppers?

Agree about the rest of the week; absolutely vile. An almost carbon copy of this week, but one day later. It's not just the rain, it's the damp, humid, high-DP air, the low cloud base and the constant dreary dishwater skies.

 

Edited March 25, 2023 by Summer8906

[Weather Enthusiast91]

1 hour ago, Sunsetglimmer said:

Thank you don’t know if I need antibiotics it’s sitting on my chest now heavy coughing pain in chest and night sweats, been about 7 days so far 

I am sorry to hear that. It seems like everybody has been ill at some point this winter, even those who normally escape it. Seeing as all the infections seemed to have come at once this winter, hopefully next winter won't be so bad.

I hope you get better soon. Constant coughing can be darn right miserable.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Weather Enthusiast91

[RebsAbbo]

36 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

That photo really does look very different to what we've been enduring down south if late.

Looks like typical skies in a northwesterly down here.

Down here, the cloud base has been much lower than that, making the weather generally more dreary. A constant on-shore, moisture-laden wind is doubtless the cause while Yorkshire is downwind from both the Pennines and the Welsh uplands, which must dry the air out quite a bit.

Funny you should say that, as today has changed from a SWly to a NWly….

[NEVES SCREAMER]

No real spring like days on the horizon. Funny how mid January to end of Feb was dominated by spring like high pressure. Mild. Dry. Occasionally warm. Now we have no end to low pressure zooming in . Wind. Rain. Temps around 12c/13c. Quite depressing really after 5 months of darkness.

[al78]

23 minutes ago, NEVES SCREAMER said:

No real spring like days on the horizon. Funny how mid January to end of Feb was dominated by spring like high pressure. Mild. Dry. Occasionally warm. Now we have no end to low pressure zooming in . Wind. Rain. Temps around 12c/13c. Quite depressing really after 5 months of darkness.

Clocks go forward tomorrow morning. The weather down here in the SE is more reminiscent of when the clocks go back. Autumn was quite wet but today is the first time in a long while I have cancelled a guided walk due to the weather and ground conditions.

[Earthshine]

2 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

Would this kind of setup reach anything close to 17-18C?

 

Wetterzentrale - Top Karten - GFS Europe 12Z

WWW.WETTERZENTRALE.DE

---

Wetterkarten GFS Europe 12Z

There's no deep southerly fetch and the upper air doesn't seem particularly warm, also looks decidedly cloudy and windy which will knock temps on the head a bit. I'd have guessed 12-14C.

I was looking at some outdated charts, my bad!

[al78]

2 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

I would be genuinely surprised to see rain on Monday; pressure looks too high. Maybe some isolated showers due to cold uppers?

Agree about the rest of the week; absolutely vile. An almost carbon copy of this week, but one day later. It's not just the rain, it's the damp, humid, high-DP air, the low cloud base and the constant dreary dishwater skies.

 

Just checked the MO site again. Monday and Tuesday forecast seems to have improved with Monday looking a decent day (shame I have no chance of getting on my allotment). Wednesday onward is a switch back to autumn.

[Cheshire Freeze]

Will be interesting to see whether the EC seasonal and GLOSEA hang on to the UK HP scenario for summer in their April update. CFS seems to be backing off June being settled now, with it looking a bit more troughy

[Cheshire Freeze]

8 hours ago, matt111 said:

I had a couple of fairly bad colds this winter. It seemed there was quite a lot of nasty things like that going around this year. 

Talking of sun, the last couple of days has been the sunniest period this month here, which isn't really saying much considering almost the whole month had been cloudy beforehand.

October it struck me. Had to have a day off work. 2-3 days of feeling utterly awful with shivers, sweats and no appetite then 2 weeks to get rid of the cough.

[matt111]

38 minutes ago, CreweCold said:

October it struck me. Had to have a day off work. 2-3 days of feeling utterly awful with shivers, sweats and no appetite then 2 weeks to get rid of the cough.

YEs that's similar to what I had, especially the first time in Mid-December. 

[alexisj9]

There's rain, like we've had a lot of recently, and there's RAIN. I've got to go out in this heavy stuff in a minute too.

[BlueHedgehog074]

Definitely noticed the difference this morning from the clocks bouncing forward an hour, but then it could also be because it’s cloudy, cool and damp this morning. It looks like once again, Autumn has taken Spring away - it may return for a brief time tomorrow and part of Tuesday. But this just isn’t funny anymore, Autumn. 

I mean don’t get me wrong, some of the sunshine and heavy showers during last few days were interesting, along with the snow earlier in the month. Additionally, the wet conditions have kinda helped to reduce some issues with things becoming too dry. So not quite the worst month ever, though even a few days of some sunny, warm/very mild weather wouldn’t hurt now. Especially as it has still currently been a very grey month overall. So please Autumn have a heart and return Spring soon. Would be greatly appreciated.

[Azazel]

Noticed a big patch of fungus growing on the playing fields which I’ve not seen before.

[Summer8906]

8 hours ago, CreweCold said:

Will be interesting to see whether the EC seasonal and GLOSEA hang on to the UK HP scenario for summer in their April update. CFS seems to be backing off June being settled now, with it looking a bit more troughy

Any indications for late April/May?

We really need some of the spring/summer months to be good. And given August is disappointing perhaps three years in four, and early April is looking somewhat changeable (albeit likely less bad than March), this really means second half of April, May, June and July is our realistic window for good weather.

Edited March 26, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

2 hours ago, DiagonalRedLine said:

Definitely noticed the difference this morning from the clocks bouncing forward an hour, but then it could also be because it’s cloudy, cool and damp this morning. It looks like once again, Autumn has taken Spring away - it may return for a brief time tomorrow and part of Tuesday. But this just isn’t funny anymore, Autumn. 

I mean don’t get me wrong, some of the sunshine and heavy showers during last few days were interesting, along with the snow earlier in the month. Additionally, the wet conditions have kinda helped to reduce some issues with things becoming too dry. So not quite the worst month ever, though even a few days of some sunny, warm/very mild weather wouldn’t hurt now. Especially as it has still currently been a very grey month overall. So please Autumn have a heart and return Spring soon. Would be greatly appreciated.

Exactly, we're now on BST yet the prevailing weather of the second half of March has been typical of conditions around the switch to GMT.

It's cold rain today, for one day, which at least makes it seem like "poor spring weather" rather than autumn weather. We've lost the SW-lies for a day or two and have gained northerlies; oddly today actually seems more seasonal, in a way.

There's been very little convective rainfall down here. Friday had a few showers, but precious little sunshine in between, but mostly it's been periods of persistent frontal rain separated by damp, dull, windy conditions with occasional drizzle and intermittent light rain. Due to this, I'd actually rate March 2023 as a worse, and less spring-like month, than April 2012. At this location, the worst March since 1981, certainly, and probably the worst spring month since April 1986.

Edited March 26, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

12 hours ago, NEVES SCREAMER said:

No real spring like days on the horizon. Funny how mid January to end of Feb was dominated by spring like high pressure. Mild. Dry. Occasionally warm. Now we have no end to low pressure zooming in . Wind. Rain. Temps around 12c/13c. Quite depressing really after 5 months of darkness.

I'd have preferred this bad weather in Feb to be honest.

It's nice having good weather in Feb, but there's only so much you can enjoy if it's going dark at 5.30pm and nature is still spartan and wintry.

A "nightmare" year for me would be where all the settled weather is used up on mild, dry, cloudy weather in Jan-Feb-Nov-Dec and the remainder is constantly unsettled. I haven't experienced a year as bad as that, though one or two came quite close. A subject for another thread, I guess!

 

Edited March 26, 2023 by Summer8906

[Bricriu]

Is there anyone left here who would like to see another snowfall before next winter. Step forward and be brave, you are not alone!

[joggs]

What's everyone's thoughts on where we could be headed this spring?.

Using your knowledge, longer-term sigs ect? 

[summer blizzard]

7 minutes ago, joggs said:

What's everyone's thoughts on where we could be headed this spring?.

Using your knowledge, longer-term sigs ect? 

May to be the most settled month of the spring/summer period so look for 20th April-10th June.

[al78]

Today not looking as wet although it is soggy outside. Will go to the allotment this afternoon. This is what the footpaths near Warninglid (Sussex) looked like in places yesterday afternoon and is one reason I cancelled the walk.