James1979

Cloudy all day and a whopping 2mm of drizzle yesterday. Cloudy today and drizzlesque. Am I allowed to have drained spirits yet? What utter dross.

We've had day after day of cloud and nothing much else lately after the wetter spell where I am and down into london, a couple of sunny and frosty mornings lately which has been lovely and seasonal. I'm just not a fan of layers of cloud, dry and nowt else sorry. We had a bit more rain than usual in october imby and about 2 years of dry before that and I wont feel guilty for liking the rain like you want me to, I wouldn't wish flooding on anyone at all but I quite like variety in the weather and that includes rain. It also doesn't stop me going out and doing stuff. Not sure how else I can explain that to you tbh, same as people who like tornado shouldn't feel guilty for chasing them. I like active weather, you like dry and hot, so what?

Exactly, it's the nothingness that drains the spirit, rather a good storm than endless mild/cold but not proper cold, dry and cloudy dross. Variety is the best weather outcome, throw it all into the mix!

Makes for interesting reading... not so wet as some may think.

I'm not surprised, pointed out a few times that we are a relative dustbowl (yes it has rained more than usual but given the prevailing dry conditions overall in this area for so long then it feels like a lot more to some people) imby and the immediate areas, same for October too.

I was in Romford for 87 (cant recall depths but was very deep) and Brentwood for 91 (around 12 inches of snow) and it was during my school days for both too so great fun - they still stand out clearly for me as the best snow - as a kid back then I assumed most winters were like those!! Those events and the 87 storm kick started my passion for the weather, really interesting weather times.

1) January - rarely anything other than weatherless (to me) - perma dark, grey lids, mostly dry with boring temps, post Xmas depression, miles from any bank holidays or extra light, just awful. Bonus if there are storms or snow but my part of the country doesn't often deliver 2) November - almost the same as above, except some festive cheer around the corner to get me through 3) December - Same but slightly less bad 4) February - same but getting a little lighter and Spring is within reach, spirits lift a little 5) September - end of summer, not quite true Autumn, normally a benign, nothingness month. Again. Sensible day length though. 6) July - Endless dry days and heatwaves without much in the way of storms anymore to release all that heat and humidity. Always struggling not to break into a sweat everywhere i go and awful sunrise times waking me up too early. 7) March - Often a nothing month, still too chilly to do much outside and too early for proper convection, often too late for meaningful cold. Drab but at least the nights are a lot lighter. 8 October - not too bad, getting to Autumn proper (still not as cool as the old days!) temperature wise, bright colours on the leaves, lots of fruit to collect, still not a bad month to be outside and about and the occasional wind storm if you're lucky. 9) August - end of summer so slightly depressing but still warm and enough light to get out and about. 10) June - best month of summer as generally still not too hot but always warm enough to be outside and may even get a bonus storm once every few years. 11) April - Fantastic month, the weather can do anything, snow, thunder, warmth but not too hot, full of potential, things starting to grow again, light levels perfect. 12) May - best of them all - similar to April (although less chance of snow!) except now there is proper thunderstorm potential and the good part of the year ahead is still there to live with all that potential too. The month I'm most upbeat and optimistic.

Can't even squeeze some rain out here in the relative dust bowl just to make it interesting (see rainfall anomaly charts for Oct and the drier patch in amongst the blues), just what I dread - the endless grey lid, not too cold, not too warm, just nothingness, weather free & totally dire. Even the sun lamp is making no impact.

So is this latest Acqua Alta a sign of the changing climate or part and parcel of the Venetian set up? 5 of the top ten tides in the last 20 years makes for pretty grim reading.

definitely! Anything past 3 days in unknown as far as I'm concerned.

The models at +8760h are looking promising though

The endless dark, compounded by seemingly endless days of a grey lid above. As a child and young adult I enjoyed everything about all seasons including light levels, the 'cosy' dark nights were something to look forward to but since about the age of 30 (40 now) I've come to dread them and it gets worse every year culminating now in a mini melt down around mid January. I can handle it better if there's wind and rain (or heaven forbid some snow) and actual weather going on but the perma grey lid with dry conditions and the same boring temperature all day long and through the night do my head in. I'm not sure if you are born with a form of SAD or if it develops as you get older but I defintely feel it these days. I used a sun lamp and vitamin D for the first time ever last winter and psychological/placebo or otherwise it did seem to help a bit. I think the lack of anything resembling an actual winter these days whilst watching the continent and US freeze every year (same jealousy applied in the summer re storms) grate on me too. Oh for the weather of yesteryear (apply rose tinted specs). Anyway, soon be Christmas.

The 3rd and 4th photos in particular are fantastic with that rainbow popping out almost like a lightning strike-great capture!

Haha not really! Given the progressive warming each year then generally there has to be less chance. I'd adore to see one though.

Never seen one in 40 years. I'll bet on it being the warmest Christmas day since records began, dry, cloudy and boring here.