summer blizzard

SqueakheartLW Current warmth is surface level and looks likely to be replaced.

Without defining what we consider dissapointing we can't really say. A lot of these type of questions are anecdotal and depend on subjective assessment. If we look at 2013, 2018 and 2022 as producing the 'proper summers' then actually spring 2013 was persistently poor, spring 2018 was essentially a flip and spring 2022 was mild and dry but i had to look it up which suggests the weather experienced was somewhat forgettable. What we know of March and April is that they will both come in fairly warm and wet so a more objective assessment would be to look at comparable years. March above 7.7C and April above 9C yields... 2022 2019 2017 2014 1997 1961 1948 1945 1779 1734 March and April above 100m yields.. 2001 1818 When we take out subjective anecdotal evidence, those are our best matches.

10APR2024: Nino3: 0.6, Nino3.4: 0.9, Nino4: 0.7

Is this hail or is this snow because it looks and feels like snow.

Sun Chaser Sadly I think its easier this time of year. April 09 was a cloudy and humid month here. March 17 and 24 were both unexceptionable. All have very warm CET's such that people probably won't question them in a few decades. July 22 is another example, for Yorkshire and Manchester barely more than a 2 day wonder.

In our hunt for an anticyclone it's worth saying that the Euro0z had 1020mb+ over the whole UK from days 7-10.

Before anybody gets overly excited it's worth remembering that the AO values are normally close to neutral in summer and that +/-1 months are rare. The polar vortex is net easterly regardless of what happens until late August.

Summer8906 I would hesitate to put 2022 on that list. The others produced nationwide summers, while by the time your as far north as even Leeds and Manchester, July 2022 was mediocre outside a handful of days. The two week spell was restricted to the south unlike the others. August 2022 was worthy of course but an individual month.

May 2020 was delightful and the trees here in full leaf.

03APR2024: Nino3: 1.0, Nino3.4: 1.2, Nino4: 0.9

raz.org.rain Sub-surface anomalies are pretty nuts currently so as soon as they surface we are going to see a stonking fall. We are likely go beyond -0.5 between July and September based on pacing from 1954, 2007 and 2010 which are good matches overall (a little ahead generally). 1959, 1966, 1984, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2016 and 2020 finished Q2 neutral after Nino events finished. 1998, 2016 and 2020 did move to La Nina by the end of Q3.

I think that any comparisons with 2007 thus far are likely to be coincidental (and not really true in weather type). In 2007 the Nino collapsed after January and SST's were already negative by April. In Feb-April the low -AAM suggested by the collapsing SST's (strong trades and possible atmospheric coupling) actually does tend to produce a somewhat anticyclonic response (for reasons beyond me). Our Nino is still hanging on with a WWB progressing over the next week or two likely to mean that our first collapse attempt won't occur until at least May (although sub-surface SST's are -5).

B87 A lot of synoptics from April 21 would result in a different temperature profile. April was still early enough that a slight inversion was present. The 1st-4th would likely feature a high durinal range and temperatures close to average. The 5th-12th would be quite cool but potentially damp with a stronger sun to spark showers. The 13th-19th would feature a west-east split but generally products temperatures close to or above average. The 20th-26th would draw mostly south easterlies and be warm. The 27th-30th would be cool and damp or even wet. So the first 12 days may be on the cool side but the 13th-26th would be warmer than average securing a warm month.

I suppose the bigger question then is what percentage of April's have a second half cooler than the first. Much like March there's certainly nothing forecast in terms of anticyclonic weather that would make it worthy.

Excited though we are getting, years like 2007 and 2020 did go off the boil so I think we should avoid being too bullish.

damianslaw It may be a local bias however while growth was advanced, most trees appear to have stalled. It is the grass and flowers that are proceeding at pace.

One interesting observation this spring is that as a result of the depressed sunshine and to a lesser degree maxima, while they got a very early start in late Feb, the majority of trees are still barely budding. It's the grass and flowers that seem quite happy. I was looking through my photos and contrasted to this day in 2020 when i had a full park of blossom, it was quite stark.

20MAR2024: Nino3: 1.0, Nino3.4: 1.3, Nino4: 0.9 27MAR2024: Nino3: 0.9, Nino3.4: 1.0, Nino4: 0.8 March ONI fell to +1.2.

Rolling CET for April-March rose to 11.23C.

BruenSryan Interesting, the rain never jumped out. March in particular seemed cold and dry with occasional snow but perhaps I missed a few fronts across the south. April is clearly wet for April but below 100mm which is why I will have deemed it forgettable.

Addicks Fan 1981 Best matches are 1954, 2007, 2010 however there are no good recent PDO matches given that we in an exceptional -PDO cycle currently.

raz.org.rain That was 1988.

32.9C on July 5th.

2006 only had a wet March and May and even then, only the second half of March. Summer 2006 was really just the culmination of a dry period starting in November 2004. I don't remember much of late 2017 but I'm not really sure that March and April were even regarded as wet. 2013 was not really a wet period. Jan may have been regarded as wet but here in West Yorkshire I went 20 days without precipitation in February. March was not that wet and neither was the spring or June. It's interesting that both September 2013 and 2006 both ushered in wet periods for the next year. I tend to believe there's no real link between the spring weather and summer. The most convincing theory I read was plumes in spring are more indicative.

I suspect that mid-April to mid-May will be our most settled period (followed by the second half of June before summer is done). 20C - 25th April 25C - 5th May 30C and 90F - 25th June.