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Scorcher it's been rubbish here the last few days, max temps of 10.2C, 9.7C, 8.0C and 9.6C, little sunshine, showers and a persistent raw wind (apart from yesterday when it was calm). 7 days of April left and we're already on 120% of normal rainfall, just 91 hours of sun and not a single clear day. Spring 2024 is making 2023 look good so far!

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.

B87 We ended up on 1682 hours and similarly, June was responsible for the biggest uplift as it was 62 hours above normal. Strangely, January was the second largest positive anomaly with 103 hours against the average of 61 hours. SunSeanI'd just do the corrections backwards, so the older figures are corrected to match the current automatic recorders!

SunSean If I remember correctly its in the 6-11% range, with an average of around 10% - which was the initial correction applied, but it is a bit more specific now. Basically, the newer Kipp and Zonen automatic sensors have a standard WMO threshold of 120 Wm-2, but the older Campbell stokes manual recorders burned the measuring paper at anywhere from 106-285 Wm-2 (A. Kerr and R. Tabony: 'Comparison of sunshine recorded by Campbell-Stokes and automatic sensors' (Weather, April 2004, vol. 59,90-95).

SunSean I suspect Shoeburyness was closer to 1700 hours going by the metoffice maps. Not a patch on Manston at >1800 hours though:

The maximum today here was 7.7C. The last time any day in the last 10 days of April was colder than that was 25th April 1997 when it reached 7.5C. The date record low maximum is 6.0C in 1981. Not record breaking but certainly notable.

6.5C at the moment here under that rain band. A good 6-7C below average for the time of year.

August and April have very similar daylight hours, so the potential is always there for them to be similar. I would argue the reason is that the Augusts of the 1989-2006 period were abnormally above trend just as Aprils recently have been. There are similar anomalies elsewhere. Here May is on average a sunnier month than June when June has longer days.

richie3846 Yes, 2022 for example didn't have 4 months with 200+hours at Heathrow but was a very sunny year, as was 2020. Years where all four months that average over 200 hours actually manage to reach it are always going to be a rarity.

*Stormforce~beka* same here but only 8.9C at the moment. Looks like even more cloud tomorrow too.

Weather-history Yes, we've had quite a few light showers and pretty limited sunshine. It's cold too at 8.9C.

Addicks Fan 1981 I disagree. If people want to discuss when we might (or if) hit 20/25/30C then its fine. We have such a thread every year.

Today didn't go to plan. The forecast said sunny before clouding over in the afternoon. Instead, it clouded over immediately at half 8 and has been grey all day since. It's now 8.8C and raining with a 20-25mph wind.

Don’t blame cloud seeding for the Dubai floods | Extreme weather | The Guardian WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM Questions have swirled online about the process being behind the historic rainfall – but experts say it’s not the real culprit The authorities are adamant they weren't cloud seeding at the time. I would also doubt it is effective enough to cause 254mm of rain!

I hadn't looked at the models for a couple of days and couldn't believe how poor it looked when I checked this morning. Its just constant easterlies with a trough to the south right out until May. Most days here don't get into double figures. It takes until 3rd May to hit 12C in fact. Not to mention it'll be raw, often wet and with little sunshine. Mild, wet and dull to cold, wet and dull. Not the change I would have asked for!