MP-R

LetItSnow! Yep… at 10-15C onto those uppers and you’ve got your surface temp. Lo and behold, 15-20C is looking standard Whats more unusual is the synoptic setup rather than the temperatures coming with it.

If we're talking April-style unsettled, then I'd go for the warmer option without hesitation. I hate cold outside of winter. If we mean, grey windy southwesterlies however, then I'd go for the cold and sunny option. At least in a typical unsettled April spell, there is also often sunshine and convective showers with vibrant skyscapes. That with decent temperatures is excellent and good for plant growth. Getting sunshine all day and a temp below 10 degrees in April is a rare feat in this part of the world and always has been, so I'm not even sure I could choose that option out of pure realism.

A spell of sun will speed things along. There’s a definite shade of green appearing but the trees are not there yet here.

Just for a change… it’s raining again. I was quite surprised to get a lightning notification at 3am this morning as I wasn’t expecting anything. Both yesterday and today have been positively un-thundery.

stainesbloke Rubbish innit. Wouldn't mind the lack of cold if it were predominantly dry with sunshine i.e. strong Euro High extending into the UK, but the winter just gone has been an absolute joke really.

Summer8906 Episodic is the word. Like I said, weekends were disappointing but Tues-Fri was typically nice. I enjoyed a nice sunny day in Dartmouth on Monday 07th, Salcombe on Tues/Weds 15th/16th and Ilfracombe on Tuesday 22nd. Conversely, the Bank Holiday weekends was pants (after a thundery start) and the final week was autumnal.

Summer8906 Possibly... although 2 out of 3 trips were the south coast of Devon and both were sunny throughout so maybe it was worse further east.

Summer8906 Ah ok. Had a lot of fine weather in August... lots of beach trips. All during the week though as the weekends were not great.

Summer8906 Were you away in August?

Don The main place I've been cold of late is in my own house when I've not had the heating on because it's not been cold enough ironically I've lived in a coat for most of the winter but more because of the wind and rain, not because it's been cold. I missed the only truly lengthy cold spell in January being in South America.

reef The warmer nights thing is more relevant to summer, July last year being a classic case. Below average daytime maxima and well above average minima. Autumn and winter however has been well and truly above average in both respects.

Don Does anyone really think it’s been freezing cold for 18 months..? No. Didn’t think so.

B87 That really is dire for the southeast! At least I skimmed 100 hours in both January and March (only just though).

danm The BBC in general is more pessimistic than reality lol… hence why I’ve not bothered with it for the last 4 years. The fewer people that follow it the better. At least as weather nuts we know where to look to get serious forecasts.

dr weather And I’ve just got a soaking from the first downpour of the day here! Sky looked very thundery but alas no thunder.

Been a largely sunny morning with big cumulus clouds slowly growing. Going very dark to the southwest though so the first showers of the day probably not far away.

Can see the cbs to the south very clearly now.

The longer this garbage goes on for into the spring, the better I would want autumn to be, even after a bbq summer. If April ends up being dull and wet too, all eyes on October to lengthen the sunny warm conditions. I just prefer it when the sun is summer strength in April, not autumn strength in October.

Some brilliant cloudscapes the last few days. I don’t mind this sort of unsettled. Nice big anvil spreading to my west.

damianslaw Although I don't personally remember June 1998, I would say June 2008 was considerably better... the month had a fair bit of sunny weather varying from warm to occasionally hot to cool. Overall dry though, bar a few days. A lot of July 2008 I would say was worse than 1998, but the hot spell later in the month beat anything 1998 delivered. The Augusts are the most different for sure. raz.org.rain Funnily enough I did catch the iphone weather app with an 18C and 19C for the end of next week before it downgraded to mid teens. Not that they're accurate at all, but maybe whatever feeds the app is on to something.

Summer8906 That Bank Holiday really was dire. 2008 was almost as bad just not quite as cold, and at least the Saturday was ok. Summer8906 It was a very dull day and cool to boot (also my birthday as it happens). It then rained overnight before clearing to give a bright sunny fresh day on the 24th.

Bristawl Si Indeed. Had some good flashes of lightning and loud thunder though. Sun creeping out again now.

Thunder again here and very heavy rain.

Sparkiee storm Heard a lot of that tracking just to my west. If only it was a more southwesterly flow, I'd have had a more direct hit! Still... 2nd thunder day this month.

Harry233 You did pretty well then. Perhaps the south was more at the mercy of the southerly tracking jet. Here are my rainfall figures for May, June and July, and then August by comparison.