Moans, ramps and banter

[In Absence of True Seasons]

The next 48 hours are going to be incredibly dull in my area. Perhaps not a single hour of sunshine recorded. Very poor for May.

[Summer8906]

 In Absence of True Seasons We really need to get this horrible clag-ridden airmass out of the way.

I do gather the weekend will be a bit better, lower-DP airmass moving in which should make it somewhat brighter and we may even get 3 or 4 hours of sunshine per day. Which on recent form is quite good...

It's not often that the replacement of a continental airmass by an Atlantic airmass results in drier and brighter conditions, but this time I think that is what's going to happen!

 

Edited May 2 by Summer8906

[Northwest NI]

Another nice sunny day with temperatures hitting twenty in the afternoon I expect. This is traditionally the Northwest’s best part of summer (May - June). Often we look on in July and August at wonderful weather elsewhere in British Isles as our summer disintegrates towards end of June.

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 Northwest NI Indeed. North West nearly always fares better in April-June, whereas wider Britain (usually) takes the reigns from July onwards. I say usually, because years like 2023 can occur wherein high summer is absolute dross. 

[Summer8906]

 Northwest NI Not sure the weather is particularly wonderful in July or particularly August anywhere in the UK - though I will admit that it is less bad in London and the southeast compared to the west and northwest!

[Northwest NI]

Hazy early morning sunshine. Expected to be very nice later.

 

[Andy Bown]

After the fun comes the gloom. It’s something I have learnt over the years and have passed knowledge onto my nearly 8 year old son this morning. It’s almost always gloomy, foggy and drizzly the morning after a night storm. 

[danm]

53 minutes ago, Northwest NI said:

would you be happy with more than a months rainfall in a 24 hour period if all the other days in the month were warm and dry? Or is it the statistic that, technically, it’s another ”wet month” that annoys you?

I’d be ok with that personally.

Agree. If you have a couple of very intense thunderstorms, it can drop a month's worth of rain in a couple of hours. That doesn't really bother me so long, as you say, the rest of the month is fairly dry. Looking at the number of days in a month that has had rainfall is more instructive as we get into the Summer months. To be fair though, over the last 18 months it has been persistent rain that's been the problem. 

Got woken up at 4am by a fairly brief but very intense thunderstorm! Huge flashes of lighting. It takes a lot to wake me up, so that's saying something. 

[danm]

25 minutes ago, Summer8906 said:

I am actually surprised by that. With the anticyclonic weather forecast after the weekend (if it happens, of course) and lack of cold uppers, I would be expecting around 19C in this area next week and perhaps 21 in London.

The runs this morning all show that at some point next week we have a SE'erly airflow coming off the near continent. Even without particularly high uppers, that'll quite easily allow temperatures in favoured spots to get into the high teens/low 20's. 

The runs this morning for next week look excellent. 

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 Summer8906 It's comparing the lesser of two evils, essentially.

Bread with a few spots of mould is easier to tolerate vs bread that's completely mouldy. 

Sure, the climate of SE England isn't exactly the tropics, Andalusia, or the Aegean, but it's certainly preferable to Cumbria or Glasgow 

Edited May 2 by In Absence of True Seasons

[Northwest NI]

Todays cloud cover….

 

[Summer8906]

 Andy Bown Yes, that seems to be almost always the case.

We were on the edge of a storm last night. Wouldn't say it was dramatic but there was fairly frequent lightning and mostly quiet thunder on and off for about an hour. Probably between 2-3am though didn't check the time.

Mostly only steady rain.

It looked like it was perhaps over the Fareham / Botley area?

Conventional wisdom says that following a storm, fresher and cooler air gets in and there's a rapid clearance. Obviously the synoptics this time don't allow for that. But even if we get a thundery front from the west, it's typically dull and gloomy the day after, rather than a sudden change to fresh and clear air from between west and north.

Other climates, including (IMX) Montreal and Northern Greece, do storm clearances much better. Typical pattern there is thunder, a few hours of steady rain, a temp drop and then a very sharp clearance as blue skies move in.

Edited May 2 by Summer8906

[MP-R]

 danm Looks like I was in one of the driest parts of the country relative to average. Not surprising as we bagged 58mm for the month… the driest month since last August’s 49mm!

 

[SunnyG]

This ludicrous country doesn't seem to be able to go more than 2 days without rain. And not just rain this time. Deluge.

[Summer8906]

 In Absence of True Seasons True - though I wouldn't call it "wonderful" either!

 SunnyG At least there was thunder last night, which makes this batch more interesting. But the pervading damp and gloom following the thundery activity is most definitely not.

The next front, that clears out this muck, cannot come soon enough!

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 SunnyG did you not enjoy your last 48hours of dryness? Some people are never happy

We need rain. However else will our swamp gardens be able to create new species of moss!?

Edited May 2 by In Absence of True Seasons

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 Summer8906 Issue is how long it takes this country to 'recover' from a stormy set up like this. It creates a gloomy, humid hangover for the following 24-48 hours!

When I was in Slovenia last year, there was a huge storm on my final day. Absolutely biblical rain and massive thunder. Last all morning, then was done. By about 2 / 3pm the clouds had started to clear again and giving way to sun, with a fresher feel as the humidity lifted. By evening, it was fully clear again. We just don't get that here, unfortunately. 

Edited May 2 by In Absence of True Seasons

[danm]

 In Absence of True Seasons thing is, that was probably more of a convective t-storm, whereas what we have at the moment is tied up with an area of low pressure and a trailing weather front. 

[SunnyG]

 In Absence of True Seasons Mould and fungi should be on our flag lmao

21 minutes ago, danm said:

whereas what we have at the moment is tied up with an area of low pressure and a trailing weather front. 

You don't say!

[TwisterGirl81]

We had 28.2mm overnight so that’s well over half maybe 3 quarters of our May rainfall I think without checking . I don’t mind as long as we have a 200+ hour sunshine month, next week looks better so hopefully we will all get to enjoy some sunny warmth from next week, we all deserve it  

[Sun Chaser]

 Alderc 2.0 Thank you for recognising our struggle

[In Absence of True Seasons]

 SunnyG Low Pressure is the UK"s middle name by this point

[Northwest NI]

 In Absence of True Seasons The United Fungi

[Sun Chaser]

Surprised it didn't turn out a much darker shade of grey in more places to be honest. One cloudless day (20th) and another mostly sunny one (18th) and the rest was a dull fest. Although you can see some hotspots in the west (like here) where it could be as low as 50% sunshine.

[SunnyG]

 In Absence of True Seasons Low-Pressurians or Low-Pressurons?