Late Springs
Entry posted by Thundery wintry showers
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So, how late does spring normally arrive in this country? And what do we mean by "spring"? Personally I am happy to accept and follow the meteorological definition (1st March to 31st May) and think in terms of spring as meaning increasing daylight and sunshine hours and plant growth. I can certainly see a case for arguing that wintry weather persisting largely without a break well into March (as per 1996, 2001 and 2006) might be realistically considered as a "late spring".
But no, let's try the Net-Weather Definition. For it to be "spring" it must meet the following criteria:
[list]
[*]it must be warm and settled, with temperatures regularly in the teens,
[*]there must be no more snow or frost for the rest of the season.
[/list]
By this definition, when did Spring arrive across the UK as a whole since 1990? Answers below:
1990- 29th April
1991- early May
1992- mid May
1993- we didn't have a spring that year
1994- 28th April
1995- 20th May (or, if the period around 20 May wasn't settled enough, perhaps we didn't have a spring that year either)
1996- 30th May (OK, no real spring that year either!)
1997- 24th May (yes, a 1-week spring- now what were March & April 1997 like again? Doesn't matter, it snowed in May!)
1998- 30th April
1999- 25th April
2000- 30th April
2001- 30th April
2002- 25th March
2003- 14th April
2004- 30th March
2005- we didn't have a spring that year
2006- 15th April (or if you count late May 2006 as "wintry", maybe this year also failed to feature Spring?)
2007- 1st April
2008- 5th May
2009- 12th March
So by this measure many people are probably going to have to wait quite some time for "Spring"!
But no, let's try the Net-Weather Definition. For it to be "spring" it must meet the following criteria:
[list]
[*]it must be warm and settled, with temperatures regularly in the teens,
[*]there must be no more snow or frost for the rest of the season.
[/list]
By this definition, when did Spring arrive across the UK as a whole since 1990? Answers below:
1990- 29th April
1991- early May
1992- mid May
1993- we didn't have a spring that year
1994- 28th April
1995- 20th May (or, if the period around 20 May wasn't settled enough, perhaps we didn't have a spring that year either)
1996- 30th May (OK, no real spring that year either!)
1997- 24th May (yes, a 1-week spring- now what were March & April 1997 like again? Doesn't matter, it snowed in May!)
1998- 30th April
1999- 25th April
2000- 30th April
2001- 30th April
2002- 25th March
2003- 14th April
2004- 30th March
2005- we didn't have a spring that year
2006- 15th April (or if you count late May 2006 as "wintry", maybe this year also failed to feature Spring?)
2007- 1st April
2008- 5th May
2009- 12th March
So by this measure many people are probably going to have to wait quite some time for "Spring"!
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