danm

B87 strange why they don’t publish the true, corrected values…..

B87 thanks! Why does the Met Office not publicly display the corrected values? Or do they up to a certain year?

B87 an ok thanks. The thing is, on the met office and metociel pages they seem to have the raw sunshine totals, not the corrected values. Where do we see the corrected values?

Heathrow was 3 hours shy of the 1991-2020 average. I think we can probably call it an average year for sunshine!

B87 btw where do you get your annual and monthly stats from?

TwisterGirl81 5% either side of average is “about” average I suppose.

B87 I’m actually surprised we had 7 months out of 12 with above average sunshine in London last year.

To highlight Spring sometimes resulting in better weather in the west compared to the east (often due to the increased likelihood of northern blocking at this time of year, and easterly winds that favour the west more than the east), I checked the average sunshine totals for April versus July. In April, many western areas average a very similar amount of sunshine to the south and east: By mid Summer, the south and east averages significantly more sunshine than the north and west: You can also see this for Spring as a whole compared to Summer as a whole: This is largely down to high pressure being far more frequently centred to the north/NW or west of the UK during Spring than at any other time of year, which will always favours sheltered western and NW'ern areas. Add in a late season SSW that increases the chances of northern blocking even more, and this pattern probably becomes even more accentuated.

Yep that' possible. I was more referring to the month so far, which to date has run a little above average.

Maybe, but you did say that it's only been warm because of the mean so far this month, but we've actually run a little above average for max temps over the first 23 days of the month. Yes, that will likely drop a little as we get to the end of the month, so maybe finishing marginally below average.

You're right. It's no coincidence that the NW has their driest, sunniest weather between April and June, just ask @damianslaw.

Not sure you are correct with this. The average max temperature at Heathrow for the first 23 days of April 2024 is 15.2c against an average for the month of 15c. It's been chilly recently, but I reckon we could get into the high teens again next week. Here are the maxes so far in London this month. It's been dull and wet at times, but apart from the last week, it hasn't been cold:

Precisely, just posted this in the moans thread. This time of year always has a greater likelihood of northern blocking, but a late season SSW simply locks in a pattern of high latitude blocking for far longer than we’d otherwise expect, which more often than not results in the UK being a trough magnet or keeping us under cool northerly or easterly winds. It happened last year too. Until this works its way through the trop, we’re unlikely to get anything substantially warm and dry until mid May at the earliest.

In Absence of True Seasons it’s cold everywhere at the moment: Barring the last week or so, this Spring has definitely been warmer than last year but it’s been equally wet or even wetter. I place part of the blame for last year and this year down to two late season SSW’s, which enhance what is an already strong seasonal likelihood of northern blocking. The Uk as a result becomes a trough magnet, with higher pressure at northern latitudes stopping our traditional pattern of low pressure to the NW and high pressure to the SE from setting up. Even without a SSW, northern blocking is common at this time of year, but I think the SSW has locked this pattern in far longer than it otherwise would, just as it did last year.

Addicks Fan 1981 not to mention a general preponderance for northern blocking at this time of year, with or without a SSW. Any area of high pressure that comes our way can quite easily get sucked west or north of the UK due to a rapidly shrinking PV.

Daniel* you're right, it is unusual, it doesn't happen often at all. But Spring is one of those seasons where it can happen more than any other.

Daniel* it may well be a record for the date, but single digit maximas happen even in May at times. Yes, it's well below average, but my point is in Spring, we often get wild temperature fluctuations. April 2018 went from 28.5c at Heathrow on the 19th to a high of 8c on the 29th:

Low daytime maximas such as this are not that uncommon in April. It's significantly below average, but at a time of year when wild swings in weather is common, extremes of both cold and warm can happen.

SW Ireland doing well today. Lots of sunshine and 18c in Cork.

The forecast today was for some light showers, even though the main rain band was to stay further west. It's actually stayed completely dry, and there have even been a few, brief glimpses of milky sunshine. A chilly day, but at least it's been useable and dry, with light winds.

Been very fortunate to stay just to the east of the rain band so far today. It’s been quite dull, with only brief glimpses of milky sunshine. Bone dry though.

It’s at least stayed bone dry here so far today. Very dull though.