The Lockdown Spring of 2020

[danm]

Seeing as we're going through a dull spell of weather, why not reminisce about the wonderful Spring of 2020 (weather-wise only!). During a very tough period for everyone, it was good to at least have lots of warm and sunny weather to lift the spirits. 

As a whole, Spring 2020 was much sunnier than average...

...drier than average for almost all of us...

...and warmer than average...

 

Whilst the last third or so of March became very sunny, the real warmth kicked in around the first full working week of April. Here in the big smoke we had a week of temperatures between 20c and 25c, which is very warm for early April. There were plenty of other days in the month that had temperatures between the high teens and 24c.

May 2020 was pretty exceptional. The temperature here peaked at 27.8c on the 20th, but that entire period from about the 17th of May to 2nd June had temperatures hovering between 20c and 28c, with crystal clear blue skies. 

London maxima stats:

 

2020 has to be the best Spring I can remember from a weather perspective. We've had individual months from other Springs that were great, but this year it was consistently good pretty much from start to finish, barring the odd day here and there. 

Edited March 14 by danm

[Harry233]

It was a cracking spell of weather and did make lockdown slightly bearable. I don’t recall much in March 2020 though, it was pretty average I think there was a spell of mild, sunny weather literally just before lockdown but other than that it was a typical March. April 2020 was a brilliant month, warm, sunny and dry with only the odd showery and cooler day. It was the sunniest April on record locally for me but then that was beat by April 2021. While April 2020 was warm there wasn’t any exceptionally or prolonged heat for me, I didn’t even hit 20.C but most days were around 17-18.C so it was glorious. May 2020 was another fantastic month although I do think May 2018 was slightly better, there was a good warm spell in the first week but there was a northerly blast just after which did bring some notably cold weather for a few days, after the 18th though the weather was generally very warm, dry and sunny with many days getting into the low 20’s, reaching 25.C on a few days towards then end of the month.

Definitely the best spring I can remember, will probably not see another one like it for some time.

[rwtwm]

My recollection of the March is that it was pretty dismal up until the day lockdown was announced. From then on it was blue skies every day!

That was the end of a notably wet spell too, so like now we were desperate for high pressure. (I've just gone and checked the Met Office look back, and it was the wettest Feb, and 5th wettest month full stop)

[danm]

 rwtwm Yes fair point, the first half/two thirds or so of March was pretty bland, it was really from around the time lockdown was announced that it became much better. 

[Emz by the Thames]

The good weather helped people cope with isolation better I think. Although we lived in a flat, the government kept allotments open and we spent almost every day there. I think our WFH was about 7 weeks and we really did not want to go back to the office because of the lovely weather.

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Oh it was divine! We are lucky to have a garden. I made up a nature themed hope education curriculum and me and the kids did home learning in the garden and then in the afternoon we went for nature walks with magnifying glasses and sketch books taking picnics for me. Despite the wider reason and tradjity for me it was perfection. Slow living, no need to be anywhere, no rushing, lovely weather, just enjoying each others company. I was blessed. VERY blessed!

[lassie23]

The lock down was festering awesome

[Metwatch]

Posted the month by month breakdown a few months ago below, but yes still by far one of my favourite seasons to date alongside summer 2018.

[Summer8906]

It's a shame we didn't have spring 2023's weather in 2020 and spring 2020's weather in 2023...

[damianslaw]

Yes uncanny how the change to dry and sunny coincided exactly with the lockdown day of 23 March. I remember the 22nd Mothers Day I think it was being warm, dry and sunny, sitting outside.

The slight lifting of restriction, meeting another person outside happened on 14 May and the weather held through to about mid June. However late June saw a change to very wet.

 

[Frigid]

Hard to believe that this was four years ago, time really flew by. My recollections of Spring 2020 were mainly positive. The end of March 2020 was blue skies for days, something that I hadn't seen since Summer 2019. April was a mild, but pleasant month with many sunny days and cool night temperatures. It was very dry and sunny, only beaten a year later which I believe is the sunniest April on record. May was a great month, except the final few days where it got a bit too warm for my liking. The mid month cool spell was very potent and brought some sharp frosts, something I've not observed this late into the season. All of this gave way to a very boring summer and autumn. 

[Azazel]

Take me back

Honestly bring furloughed for 2 and a half months was probably the best period of my adult life.

Alright, there was the niggling fear of deadly virus in the air, but it was glorious otherwise.

I remember all my mates had been furloughed and I was still working until my boss called one day and said ‘I’m really sorry mate, but I’m gonna have to furlough you’ - I was like ‘oh no. Anyway’ and spent the next 10 weeks sunbathing.

My partner is a nurse so she worked throughout and I didn’t have my son then so it was just me and my dog. Every day getting up at midday, lazing around in my pants, firing up the bbq and having a few beers without any guilt whatsoever. I even managed to make an album!

It really was the best time on a completely selfish level

[Arctic Hare]

From a purely weather/nature point of view it was superb. Sitting out in the garden, clear blue skies all day. The next day, sitting out in the garden, clear blue skies all day. The next day... I'm not sure I can ever remember a sequence like it. With the vast reduction in flights, not even contrails to break up the blue. Ravens and even a red kite coming close to my house, pretty much unheard of in normal times. Deer openly grazing at midday in the nearby fields. The daily exercise walk, never needing to carry an umbrella or wear a coat.

Obviously not a period I ever want to repeat in terms of the restrictions. But in weather terms, bring it on this spring! Given we currently seem to be trying to out-dull the Faroes and Lima, the change would seem even more startling than it did in 2020!

[SollyOlly]

 Frigid Yes, I was just discussing this with my wife the other night! Seems mad that it's four years ago...but otoh, it was an odd, 'magical' time (I mean absolutely no disrespect AT ALL to people who lost loved ones). Everything was just so odd, peaceful. Somebody (was it Beka?) mentions slow living...yes. I worked my garden, it never looked so good, I cooked endless (hopefully interesting) meals, I really concentrated on spending time with my family...none of this is to say that I don't recognise the impact on the younger generation, my own daughters included.

Weather wise, as others have said, it also seemed ironic that with the 'worst of times', we got the 'best of times' weather wise. Glorious sun, but not too hot. I did so many jobs around the house that I had been putting off for 10 years or more! What an extraordinary time, all told...again, as somebody said, all with the backdrop of a deadly fear. With my health conditions, if I'd have contracted Covid then, I might well have been very unwell indeed. At least we got some wonderful sunshine, in spite of all of the awfulness around.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

28th April was wet, I do remember that

[Weather Enthusiast91]

So uncanny how the best of the weather conincided with the lockdown. From the beginning to the end of the lockdown the weather was warm and sunny. Before the lockdown as well as once lockdown restrictions started easing in early June the weather began taking a turn for the worse. It's as if our climate was deliberately trolling us.

This was frustrating and I personally would have preferred to have spring 2020 synoptics during the summer when restrictions had been lifted, so we could all have enjoyed it more.

Edited March 14 by Weather Enthusiast91

[damianslaw]

 Weather Enthusiast91 A similiar scenario occured to an extent with the 2021 winter lockdown, overall there was alot of cold sunny weather here at least and decent snowfall amounts for walking, also dry from Boxing Day onwards and right through April... yes it was cold, but very dry... had it happened a year earlier we would have endured a very wet stormy spell indeed up until late March, with a very wet February. Uncanny how very dry periods occured during both lockdowns, making going outside much more pleasant than had we seen lengthy wet spells. Typically the easing of restrictions in May coincided with a very wet miserable May. Its almost as if the weather gods were with us, no other comparable dry periods to compare with really, perhaps spring 17 and Jan-May 18 a close match. 

Edited March 14 by damianslaw

[Summer8906]

I have to admit I disliked the whole period with a passion. The fine weather counted for nothing as you couldn't do anything with it. You were stuck at home for months which was incredibly difficult to deal with, after a lifetime of going out daily to school or work. Horrendous for mental health.

A period which I hope we will not have to suffer again for a long, long time, and weather wise, a tragic waste of a sunny season. As I said, if only we could have had those synoptics in 2023 instead...

Edited March 15 by Summer8906

[danm]

 Summer8906 yep for me too, the only positive was the weather. Sure, it was nice for life to slow down a little for a while, but I didn't want that becoming the norm. Alas it had to for quite some time for obvious reasons!

[BlueSkies_do_I_see]

It was an incredibly difficult period for everyone. I remember we were at one point allowed out (like our pet dogs are) for one hour of exercise a day.

I had young children at the time. I live near a busy residential through road. It was almost empty of traffic..  so empty that we all felt safe to let the kids cycle along the road behind us (one on a bike trailer).  At one point there were more bikes than cars. I had to take these small "wins" as a way to get through this time. My mental health would have been many times worse if I had not been able to enjoy my cycling during this period, due to inclement weather.

I had to remind myself that when the world seemed to be falling apart, some things remained grounded , the sun in the sky, the buds on the trees, bird song in the woods, within cycling distance of our home. That's how I got through it. As someone else has said, I thank those weather gods for allowing this.

Edited March 15 by BlueSkies_do_I_see

[matty40s]

We managed to escape Barcelona at the end of Feb just as the first mainland Spain case was announced....in Barcelona!!

I travelled the Blackpool route once every 2 weeks throughout to help Mum with shopping, the motorways were an absolute pleasure, never got stopped once!! 

We are in the middle of the countryside, and it was amazing being able to hear birds and nature. The A5 was silent, the West Coast Mainline silent, very few planes...(flightradar24 was in its element).

Having the canal and towpath as our exercise during that warm spell was heaven sent, although all the local villagers had the same idea....back into hedge to let people pass became an art!

Taking the boat out for a pumpout(sewage removal) once a month was very scary, didnt know whether we would get reported or not!

[Emz by the Thames]

They just mentioned the lovely weather during the 2020 lockdown in the Big Brother house! Clearly still a talking point!

[Billy Hicks]

I was in a lucky situation during this time where most of my friends and family remained very sociable, so I spent much of this time travelling on mostly empty tube trains to visit people and having long walks with pals across quiet parts of central London, chuckling at how bizarre everything had got. There was a park near my flat at the time I spent sunbathing in that incredible weather, and a local Tesco which had many of its products on heavy discount as no one other than me was buying them, so I was regularly paying for food and drink approximately what they would have cost in the 1980s!

With an huge amount of hindsight it was a good Spring, but of course at the time I was regularly worried my furlough would come to an end and I’d lose my job (which luckily I never did), anyone I knew was suddenly going to become unwell and/or die (they didn’t) or just lockdowns now being life forever and nothing was ever going to reopen again. I am really glad the season was as sunny as it was as it would have all been too immensely depressing otherwise, and my personal least favourite week of that era was in February 2021, when temperatures were below freezing for a few days so we couldn’t even leave home if we wanted to, and there seemed to be absolutely no end in sight at the time.

April 2021 being a cold one was also rather annoying as for a month during that time we could only eat or drink outdoors!

[A Face like Thunder]

On the patio every day. getting my ancient bike out of storage and it worked (more or less) to give me my daily exercise, walking round admiring the blossom in the sun, 8pm Thursdays on the doorstep applauding the NHS in the evening sun, waving at the dustmen (sorry, not pc) as they did their early morning rounds in the sun, sitting outdoors with the others in the close to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, getting my hair cut on the patio, on line meetings, dance lessons and even church services. A completely different and (in my case) unique world which I shall always remember. And, no disrespect to those with different views, thank goodness the start of lockdown coincided with the great weather. I hate to think what would have happened with peoples' mental health, including my own,  if we had had the usual dross in March and April, with the better weather reserved for later in the year when our levels of permissible activity (outside of Downing Street) were already being extended.  

[damianslaw]

The 22 March, the day before the first lockdown announcement, was Mother's Day, and I remember it being a very mild almost warm day, marking the start of the long very warm spell. Sitting outside was comfortable in the warming sunshine and light winds, but there was an eerie oddness to the day and expectations of what was to come, many speculations a lockdown was looming imminently.

The first week was quite bizarre, remember passing people I knew in the street with a wide berth in the glorious sunshine.