What Did You Think of Spring 2023?

[BlueHedgehog074]

Despite how it started, found it quite an amusing sort of season in the end. What looked like never ending cool and unsettled conditions here at the start had a switch that was suddenly flipped as mid May approached. And the last 2 weeks has generally seen consistent dry and at times, sunny conditions (which still continues). In fact, personally for me, May was the best part of the season. Saved Spring from being a true disaster in terms of warm and bright conditions.

April was an okay ish month and, despite the lack of warm or very warm spells, it had some reasonable variety. A few sunny, bright, days with one or two showery/thundery outbreaks. While there has for me been some much better Aprils, there has also been some (much) worse. The odd warmer spell still with one or two extra brighter days, plus the odd squally cold front, could have made it a better month.

March was probably one of the worst I have experienced in a while - several days where the sun was asleep. Chilly, cloudy conditions raiding most of the time. I did appreciate the snow that the start of the month brought. That of which I really enjoyed. 3 days of snow (with some rain mixed in). 

Overall, if not for how May turned out, this could have been a real stinker of a Spring (personally). I think I would class it as a reasonable Spring in the end. Had some of everything, bar perhaps for some a scorching hot spell!

What did you think? 

[B87]

March, April and the first 12 days of May were atrocious. The remainder of May was what I expect from spring, but there was no warmth at all. Only 8 days surpassed 20c for the entire season, with a rather pathetic max of 22.7c.

[Sunny76]

Worst spring in the solar system. Hated it with a passion lol.

The second half of May was nice, but it still doesn’t make up for the all the crap that came in March and April. And it was still cold most of the time.

[In Absence of True Seasons]

The latter half of May was acceptable, but mostly the sort of weather I'd have expected in my part of the world by mid April or so. 

The Bank Holiday weekend just gone was decent - a taste of the Spring warmth we should've had alot more of, and which other parts of the country indeed did have. However in true British fashion, after just 2/3 days of fine weather, its back to the cool, cloudy nonsense once more. 

Overall - I actually preferred Spring 2021 to 2023, because we had an incredibly sunny April which made the days feel Spring-like and very usable, despite it being cold. Then, whilst May 2021 was dull, the start of June shifted drastically and we had a heatwave nearly a week long, which there is not even the slightest sign of seeing anything close to in the SE this June.

[sunny_vale]

I went for a bit pants. March was quite depressing for me. I don't expect a great deal from it, but do need just a handful of days with some sun and mid-teen temps to get me out of a post-winter lull. I love winter but by end of Feb, that's when any form of SAD starts to kick in if the weather doesn't start to improve at least a bit.  April was 'meh' - not horrific but disappointing, like a less cold but duller and wetter version of 2021. The weather since that last weekend of April I have been happy with overall, particularly the latter parts of May - nonetheless not enough to quite bring the rest of spring up to what I'd regard as good. 

[Sun Chaser]

First 10 weeks were pretty poor, especially March which was horrific and one of my least favourite months of all time. April was very mixed, it had good moments but still the worst since 2016. Warmed up right at the end, the first half of May was okay but there was this kind of overarching feeling that we would never be able to tap into any kind of sunny weather. Then a flip came around the second weekend of May, since then it has been stunning with crystal clear skies basically every day.

So overall it was a bit pants, a very slow spring gradually improving across the season. Too wet for my liking but I have really enjoyed this May so that at least saves it from being properly horrendous!

[MisfitDog3]

I have had no problems with the spring at all. It just reminded me of what many of the springs I remember from the 70's and 80's were like. Cool and damp. It is obvious the most of the plantlife enjoyed it as well. Very verdant growth and almost psychedelic greens up in the woods and fields around us. Nature not put under strain for once and a low fire risk.......until the last week or so, when the continual dry weather and strong easterly wind means we have a return to heath and forest fires! Not good for the wildlife or plantlife. 

I am not a fan of heat and find very hot weather about as obstructive to getting on with daily life as 3ft snow drifts. If every spring could be like the one we have just encountered I would be delighted! 

[lassie23]

I loved it 

[Sunny76]

4 minutes ago, lassie23 said:

I loved it 

You said that while laughing. 

[damianslaw]

Definately a season that improved markedly as it moved on.

March was poor overall, very wet and dull with little early spring cheer. However I enjoyed the cold snowy spell in the second week.

April - very non-descript and average. A couple of good days Good Friday and Easter Saturday though.

May - began poor, but the last two thirds excellent, predominantly dry, sunny and warm enough.

[lassie23]

9 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

You said that while laughing. 

Okay it was dog biscuits lol

[Methuselah]

It was far from the best spring I've lived through but was also far from the worst.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Horrific. Not quite the worst in the solar system as actually seen the sun the past week ...

[BlueHedgehog074]

2 hours ago, In Absence of True Seasons said:

Overall - I actually preferred Spring 2021 to 2023, because we had an incredibly sunny April which made the days feel Spring-like and very usable, despite it being cold. 

Didn’t mind April 2021 either. Certainly chilly at times, but the amount of sunshine made it quite enjoyable. Some snow showers earlier in the month as well, which was interesting to see. I think I would chose it over the 2023 April considering the latter was pretty cloudy at times.

1 hour ago, MisfitDog3 said:

I have had no problems with the spring at all. It just reminded me of what many of the springs I remember from the 70's and 80's were like. Cool and damp. It is obvious the most of the plantlife enjoyed it as well. Very verdant growth and almost psychedelic greens up in the woods and fields around us. Nature not put under strain for once and a low fire risk.......until the last week or so, when the continual dry weather and strong easterly wind means we have a return to heath and forest fires! Not good for the wildlife or plantlife. 

I am not a fan of heat and find very hot weather about as obstructive to getting on with daily life as 3ft snow drifts. If every spring could be like the one we have just encountered I would be delighted! 

You could certainly argue one of the pluses to this Spring is the landscape has been looking particularly green and lush this year making it feel particularly delightful when out and about on walks. As much as I would love for the current dry, mostly bright, weather to continue, I would also become concerned that things start becoming too brown and the plants begin to struggle (even if it’s not the height of Summer yet). Not sure I’d be keen on a repeat of last year. Just got a bit too dry and hot during a couple of instances. A spell of heavy rain, or a thunderstorm or two, for this very late Spring/early Summer period would be ideal. At least just some brief top-ups of wet weather to prevent nature getting too parched. 

Edited June 1, 2023 by DiagonalRedLine

[simshady]

Excellent. Nice and cool most of the time.

[matt111]

Not the best to put it lightly. The last couple of weeks were quite nice here but that hardly makes up for the rest of the season which was mostly cloudy with only the occasional sunnier day. Also nothing particularly noteworthy temperature wise with it feeling rather cool for the most part. 

[lassie23]

I was hoping for some snow especially in Smarch but got smizzle instead.

[stainesbloke]

Here it was a pretty crap spring. It rained nearly every day in March and April and was very dull and cool generally. May started off similarly but thankfully became sunnier, albeit showery, and we even had a couple of decent thunderstorms. The last 10 days or so were beautiful, chilly at night but sunny by day and feeling warm in the sun  

Edited June 1, 2023 by stainesbloke

[cheeky_monkey]

Spring here was excellent..very dry with a nice warming trend through the season to the point May was unseasonably hot and sunny for the most part...with some big storms thrown in during the closing week 

Edited June 1, 2023 by cheeky_monkey

[Weather-history]

Pretty forgettable.  

[Don]

Apart from the 9th-11th March, not a lot!

[Neilsouth]

One of the worst Springs I can remember for Kent 

[BlueHedgehog074]

6 hours ago, cheeky_monkey said:

Spring here was excellent..very dry with a nice warming trend through the season to the point May was unseasonably hot and sunny for the most part...with some big storms thrown in during the closing week 

You’re the one that must have stole our Spring…  

Seems like, at the moment, this has been a Spring many wouldn’t be keen to remember, although it is interesting the various views we all have as to what makes a season great in each of our eyes. The way how the cool, cloudy and wet weather (while varying on location), for example, having made this an ideal Spring for a few. 

[B87]

9 hours ago, DiagonalRedLine said:

You could certainly argue one of the pluses to this Spring is the landscape has been looking particularly green and lush this year making it feel particularly delightful when out and about on walks. 

The trees took ages to leaf out this year due to the extremely dull conditions. There were still a few trees in the leaf out process in the middle of May! Usually everything is green by the end of April here.

[BlueHedgehog074]

9 hours ago, B87 said:

The trees took ages to leaf out this year due to the extremely dull conditions. There were still a few trees in the leaf out process in the middle of May! Usually everything is green by the end of April here.

I guess that was the only issue about that. It was nice to see how green and lush the plant life got, but there’s no doubt it was slow in parts. Here it was similar with quite a fair number of trees still bare at the beginning of May.