Longest Wait In Year For 1st 20oc

[I remember Atlantic 252]

ive not made 20oC yet this year 14th may now, always reached 20oC before now, normally in april, i think its been a cool spring cool wind lots of days april and may. I dont think ill make 20oC until whit holiday week 25-29 may

anyone else not made 20oC as far south as here? anyone else think its been a cool spring?

[Terminal Moraine]

It definitely hasn't been a cool spring as evidenced by the mean temperatures so far. March was around 1c above the relevant 30 year average and April approaching 2c above average. There has, however, been a definite shortage of really warm days with the temperature tending to be consistently above average rather than the usual Spring scenario of short spells of warm weather alternating with spells of cold weather; it's this lack of really warm days, coupled with the general cool and windy weather so far in May which has coloured your perception.

With regard to 20c plus days, I've come nowhere near as yet but that's not unusual at this altitude. In the past 45 years there have been 14 Springs when the temperature didn't reach 20c here, the last one being in 1994. Several others have only just exceeded 20c, including 1996, 1999, 2002 and 2005.

A different matter on lower ground though where, locally, only 2 Springs in the last 45 years, 1972 and 1983, failed to reach 20c and 1969 and 1971 reached exactly 20c.

[A.J]

ive not made 20oC yet this year 14th may now, always reached 20oC before now, normally in april, i think its been a cool spring cool wind lots of days april and may. I dont think ill make 20oC until whit holiday week 25-29 may

anyone else not made 20oC as far south as here? anyone else think its been a cool spring?

I think its the same here just down the road from you....a maximum of 19.4C recorded in Penkridge

[Scorcher]

ive not made 20oC yet this year 14th may now, always reached 20oC before now, normally in april, i think its been a cool spring cool wind lots of days april and may. I dont think ill make 20oC until whit holiday week 25-29 may

anyone else not made 20oC as far south as here? anyone else think its been a cool spring?

It's true that 20C has usually been reached at least once by this point in May but it has definitely not been a cool spring. It has actually been a notably warm one so far, but if May continues as it is at the moment I'm sure many will think it has been a cool spring like you do.

[A.J]

It's true that 20C has usually been reached at least once by this point in May but it has definitely not been a cool spring. It has actually been a notably warm one so far, but if May continues as it is at the moment I'm sure many will think it has been a cool spring like you do.

I think the 'cool spring' comment points to the low daily maximums reported throughout the UK...overall, though, it has been a mild spring with no noticable cold spells and relativley mild night-time minimums..Certainly to memory, in previous mays there has normally been at least one 'heatwave' with daily maximums in the 23-26C range, noticable by their abscence so far...

[Polar Continental]

ive not made 20oC yet this year 14th may now, always reached 20oC before now, normally in april, i think its been a cool spring cool wind lots of days april and may. I dont think ill make 20oC until whit holiday week 25-29 may

anyone else not made 20oC as far south as here? anyone else think its been a cool spring?

Since 1994, 20c or more has been achieved here and locally by the end of April on 7 occasions.

A closer look more recently,

In 2005, 20c was achieved by 30th April

In 2006 may 4th

In 2007 April 14th

In 2008 May 5th.

Despite a +2.6c anomaly for April here, the highest temperature of 19.5c on the 20th has also been the highest so far this year. 19.3c was also recorded in near by in Rosliston on the 20th . So locally here 20c, is a little later.

The link below though shows a few stations around the midlands did reach 20c on April 20th.

http://www.rmets.org/weather/front/archive/2009apr.php

Paul

[Weather-history]

anyone else not made 20oC as far south as here? anyone else think its been a cool spring?

Not reaching 20C does not necessarily equates to a cool spring, in the same way, reaching 20C does not necessarily equates to a warm spring.

It got to 20C here in Manchester during April 1996 but spring 1996 was a cool one overall.

And back in 1991, it didn't finally reach 20C until July!

Edited May 14, 2009 by Mr_Data

[picog]

We haven't made 17C yet, let alone 20C! Even the mayflower which seems to be out in lots of places, is only just coming out here. I'd say that's at least a week later than the last few years. Based in south Shropshire.

Edited May 14, 2009 by picog

[SP1986]

Still not made 20.0C either, the highest so far is 19.7C. It could be for the first time certainly since I was born that 20.0C has not been recorded before June. Certainly not filling one with confidence for the rest of the 'season'

[Grimsby Snow Lover]

Still not made 20 degrees here either. Reading some of the comments I would have to agree with some that say it has been a cool spring so far. We have had lots of cloud and easterly winds which are horrible at this time of year. I suppose places in more wester areas might disagree or infact places in Scotland where temperatures have been much warmer at times.

[DR Hosking]

Im in the middle of central England in generally one of the warmest part of the country when it comes to max temps, we have reached 20c once, back on the 15th April, exactly 20.0c. Not got within a degree or two of it since. We have had 25c by now fairly commonly in the last decade, indeed on the 11th May last year we hit 26.2c

Incidently the BBC yesterday were saying the Isle of Skye hit 20.0c yesterday.

Edited May 14, 2009 by DR Hosking

[SP1986]

Incidently the BBC yesterday were saying the Isle of Skye hit 20.0c yesterday.

That will be their highest temperature of the year then

[Scorcher]

Alright there haven't been any hot spells yet but I fail to see how this has been a 'cool' spring in any way, particularly when I think back to April. Maxima were consistently in the 'warm' category with barely a single day that could be considered cool compared to the average. It's surely not fair to judge the whole spring on the last few days, although I accept that the last few days have felt very cool in the easterly wind.

[Tucco]

Alright there haven't been any hot spells yet but I fail to see how this has been a 'cool' spring in any way, particularly when I think back to April. Maxima were consistently in the 'warm' category with barely a single day that could be considered cool compared to the average. It's surely not fair to judge the whole spring on the last few days, although I accept that the last few days have felt very cool in the easterly wind.

Spring temperatures have been above average though little in the way of real warmth as others have said. Here May so far is 0.6C below average according to nearby Meto site with the persistent strong winds making it feel cool.

Had one day above 15C so far this spring on the 20th of April.

Average for May so far 7.3C

Mark

Teesdale,Co Durham

Edited May 14, 2009 by Tucco

[SP1986]

I think in reality, it's been a mild spring, nothing too warm, nothing especially cold. A major lack of frosts since February is the biggest headline I think - yes we've had occasional frost around the country, but here at least there hasn't been an air frost since the back tail of February which is quite astounding. Here we would expect our last frost about end of March into early April, but much earlier this year.

Today its one of those humid type of days with a vapour type of rainfall (wouldnt even call it drizzle), leaving a dewy appearance on most surfaces.

[Cookie]

16oC so far this year's and this months max.

mind you this is most likely the best weather we will get this summer. I know its only may but this is what happened last year.

[reef]

I wondered how long it would be before the cries of it being a cool spring came. It has been anything but a cool spring, in fact it has been almost homogenously mild since mid-February now.

Its not just been min temps either, average max temps from Hadley (though admittedly 61-90 but you get the picture):

March: 11.0C (+1.9C)

April: 14.6C (+2.8C)

May: 15.0C (+0.2C)

Even if May finished below average as it is now at 11.0C, Spring would still be the joint 21st warmest.

As for reaching 20C, so far here its nothing notable yet. However if we get past the 22nd then it will be the latest date to reach 20C since 1988. We'll be waiting a long time to beat that year though, as it took until 19th June.

Highest temp this year so far is 17.9C, so not even close yet.

Edited May 14, 2009 by reef

[snowingman]

Our average 20C per year is about 5. Usually don't see 20C until late July!! highest so far this year is a meagre 16.1C, with only 4 days over 14C!!

so it is a nonsense - this spring has been bloomin cold and miserable.. only starts to warm up around mid June in N Ireland

you live a charmed life- you English ones

[noggin]

I haven't been monitoring the temperature number-wise, but myself and my family, neighbours and acquaintances have all commented on how cool it has been this month.

We are still mostly in coats here when we go out.

Most days, the heating is still on for a few hours, early and late, because there is no Sun shining through the windows to heat the house up. (Either that, or I ought to clean the windows more often!)

Yep, definitely cool here.

[Costa Del Fal]

We got above 20c ages ago!!!

Our highest so far is approx 21c.

[Derp Patrol]

It hasn't been a 'warm' Spring. Certainly, many places have had cool Springs, up untill 2 weeks ago down here it has been nice, but not really 'warm' March was just full of 14-16C max temps.. not really warm, and April was the same with constant 16C+ temps, but so far we have only reached 20C a few times.. we reached it yesterday I think and maybe today aswell.. but it certainly doesn't feel warm.

I would be very surprised if we didn't see 25C by the end of May down here.. usually we get some good warmth by the end of May.

[reef]

It hasn't been a 'warm' Spring. Certainly, many places have had cool Springs, up untill 2 weeks ago down here it has been nice, but not really 'warm' March was just full of 14-16C max temps.. not really warm, and April was the same with constant 16C+ temps, but so far we have only reached 20C a few times.. we reached it yesterday I think and maybe today aswell.. but it certainly doesn't feel warm.

I would be very surprised if we didn't see 25C by the end of May down here.. usually we get some good warmth by the end of May.

Temperatures of 14-16C in March and constant 16+C in April are warm though. The average maximums for March and April are around 9-11C and 12-13C even in the south. With regards to this month, temperatures have been close to average, its just that we havent had a below average May since 1996 so people have forgotten what a normal one is like and expect it to be an early start to summer.

As I said above, we havent had any extreme temperatures (cold nor warm) but on average this spring has generally been consistently mild. That goes for maxima and minima.

[Snowyowl9]

Warmest day so far was April at 16.9c and april felt quite warm besides a few chillier feeling days,this month is turning out feeling much cooler yet though.

[Scorcher]

Temperatures of 14-16C in March and constant 16+C in April are warm though. The average maximums for March and April are around 9-11C and 12-13C even in the south. With regards to this month, temperatures have been close to average, its just that we havent had a below average May since 1996 so people have forgotten what a normal one is like and expect it to be an early start to summer.

I agree completely, this is exactly what I've been trying to say. We had so many days here in April that were 16C+ and that is warm in April, no matter what way you look at it.

[GRHinPorts]

I guess this discussion is really all about whether you like a little bit of extra warmth all the time or whether you like to see extremely high maximums.

Personally I have enjoyed this Spring a great deal and would consider it ("homogenously") warm.