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In Absence of True Seasons I am generally a happy, everything's sunny, naive type person but I agree this spring has been so bad its beginning to get to me too in some ways and I think it's the light levels tbh. Never have I known such a period devoid of sunshine and was happy to take what sun we had at the weekend despite it coming with only 11C. This month up to now is reminding me of May 2022 which was anomalous for its warmth but with an actual lack of warm weather if that makes sense.. the daytime maxima have not warranted such a high CET. that had a northerly at the end too. Is it too naive to think we'll have the summer to follow

I drove over to Huddersfield this morning and it was noticeable how much colder it was there with this NE flow. The Pennines make a big difference in this sort of setup- it was noticeably warmer and brighter west of the Pennines. 13.3C at Rostherne which isn't far below average. Some were suggesting we wouldn't see double figures in this area this week. Only 8.8C at Bingley on the Yorkshire side of the Pennines and 10.2C at Wakefield.

Agree our bank holidays are too concentrated. Our national day should be one though,perhaps we should change it. decent day here, a fair bit of sunshine and most importantly dry

The last two GFS runs are playing with the idea of a waft of very warm/hot air to our south-east as we enter May but with low pressure nearby as always. The 12z shows the risk of the Atlantic sweeping it away and remaining cool whereas the 6z was more of a unstable scenario with warm air aloft on an easterly for a time, but the risk of cloud and rain also and perhaps thunder. Warm air surging northeastwards with already weak pressure in place is a recipe for low pressure so I expect unsettled conditions to persist into early May. Whether it's of the cool and breezy kind or warm and thundery kind is unknown. I wouldn't be surprised if a few hot runs pop up. What with the similarities to 1998 I've talked about I wouldn't be all that surprised if warmer weather arrives soon. Regardless, both low pressure dominated scenarios can be quite convective.

Ground finally dry enough to roll again this evening but the north wind is very cold.

I remember this day, it was very hot and sunny though we did miss the storms here. It was actually a memorable 10-11 day spell of weather generally, from the 17th to the 28th. It was a 3-section rinse and repeat (17th-19th, 20th-24th, 26th-28th) whereby it would heat up, go bang, cool down and then go again. It reminded me fondly of summer 1994 which was renowned for this type of scenario. We just don't seem to get this anymore.

This was the warmest day of the summer here with a max of 29.5C. Unfortunately, the storms all missed us, it turned mostly cloudy in the evening from the cells to the west but we had nothing. The best storms of that summer were on 31st August - those were exceptional in this area. This was seen as a pretty decent summer at the time, but would now be the 5th coldest of all of the summers of the last 20 years. Things have changed a bit, its literally average on every metric compared to the 1991-2020 averages.

SunnyG my bet is on the atlantic low

MP-R yeah there's consistent themes for something significantly warmer and probably drier throughout summer. I'm sure some will say "we heard that all winter" but we mustn't forget what it was that prevented any cold from reaching us in winter...

raz.org.rain I do remember thinking in like Feb ‘at least this spring can’t be as bad as the last one’ A cautionary tale to never tempt fate.

As an ardent warm weather fan I understand the pessimism, I really do. But it's silly to assume that these conditions will continue forever.

CryoraptorA303 June was fairly average. July was hot for 1 day and then warm for another 10 days or so before the summer collapsed entirely.

CryoraptorA303 I’ve lived where I live in Andover since 2015 and can confirm the grass here in the parks and along verges goes brown pretty much every summer - apart from last summer. Definitely not just a London thing.

SunnyG Wasn't it originally going to turn drier and sunnier from mid-March? Then late March, and so on. Now it looks like we be well into May with no dry and sunny spells.

B87 But how? Summer 2015 hadn't been dry, or hot for that matter aside from the two-day heat spike. This must be more of a London thing as nowhere else had brown grass in 2015.

Azazel Continental Europe has the advantage of being... continental.

CryoraptorA303 seasonality would make me happy personally. I’m not even crazy about snow but it is cool around Christmas and in winter time. mellow mists and fog in autumn etc. It really hasn’t been much better here to be fair - it still rains most days only now it’s much colder which makes it even more disgusting. I would honestly rather have the milder SWlies back because at least I didn’t have to have the heating on every morning and night and be wrapped up indoors like I’m on a sledging expedition to Svalbard.

We all know what will win out instead....

Oh, and I found some photos I took in Hyde Park, late July 2015...

Azazel I didn't say I enjoyed it, I said it's been less bad than the last couple of months. That in itself is a positive unless the only thing that will make you happy is the 1976/2018/1995/2003/2006/2022 mega hybrid, in which case you'll always be left wanting more. I saw quite a lot of that in the aftermath of 2022, plenty of people (especially northerners) complaining that June and most of July wasn't warm enough for them. Oh how the last year has vindicated 2022... That poor sod would still be getting downplayed if last summer didn't go how it did.

markyo June and September were both wetter than average for me.

SunnyG I wish I could. My mate relocated to Dijon for work about six years ago - and although that’s not right down south, it still enjoys much better weather than here. Whenever I ask him if he’s thinking of coming back he laughs like a maniac.

B87 Flying, or better still moving, to the Med is the solution imho

CryoraptorA303 I disagree with this because unless you like mild(ish) and absolutely sodden, very few people have enjoyed the last 8 months. Warmies and Coldies alike. I would argue you are in the minority for finding something positive in the absolute ghastly period of weather we find ourselves in.