Double Summertime...

[Andy Bown]

Double Summer Time will allow thunderstorms to rumble on until later in the evening...

How?

Weather patterns cannot be affected by human clock changes!

[cheeky_monkey]

dont see the point? Also europe and north america put their clocks forward and back in the spring and autumn..i dont know why everybody just doesnt stick to a standard time all year round.

[Snowyowl9]

Won`t be aple to see the stars at night in summer,and now solar activity is picking up northern lights will be later thought about this last night.

April 2000 it wasn`t until 11.30pm it started.

2 hours ahead from now will be too much of a jolt,I`m only putting it 1 hr ahead for the march/april anyway if it happens.

[Costa Del Fal]

Personally id love the extra hour of light in the evenings but in Winter the plan really doesnt work. Going to school and work when its not even light yet? No thanks. Of course in Scotland it be far worse than down here.

In summer, for many a couple of hours of light are wasted in the morning so to lose less and gain more in the evening would be nice though i can understand the arguments of children not wanting to go to bed when its light. I hated that as a child!

Just the thought of getting up in Winter and it wont be light for another 2 hours or so however is dreadful and really would increase the accident risk. Monday mornings would just become even worse. This country is depressing enough at the best of times. :lol:

To conclude id just say leave it as it is. Weve stuck to it for some time now and generally the majority of us have coped. The position/length of the British Isles doesnt suit everyone unfortunately especially the Scots but its something we just have to deal with.

Edited February 22, 2011 by Blizzards

[Dartmoor_Matt]

Sounds like a great idea to me. Surely now we live in a 24hr age it make sense to have longer in the evenings?

Plus, down here it will be light long into the night. Perfect for BBQs and parties.

[Crepuscular Ray]

Why do England and Scotland have to keep to the same system? Surely it would be better for the Scots to decide their own.

[Mesoscale]

How?

Weather patterns cannot be affected by human clock changes!

No but those evening thunderstorms would last untill it starts cooling down when it gets dark which would be much later then it would be now allowing storms to keep there power.

[Methuselah]

How?

Weather patterns cannot be affected by human clock changes!

Just because what was 7 pm will now become 8 pm...It's only the clock-time that changes, nothing else.

[PB22]

Another point, only important for model watchers really! The 18z GFS would not start coming out until 23:30, the 00z would be at 5:30DBST, 06z at 11:30DBST and 12z 17:30DBST. Means a lot of people could miss the crucial 18z run! :lol:

Seriously though, I share the view that we should get into a time zone and stick with it. BST all year round would suit me. There does seem to be a false view (not here but amongst the general public) that changing the clocks to DBST would give us more hours of daylight, when it wouldn't!

[Andy Bown]

No but those evening thunderstorms would last untill it starts cooling down when it gets dark which would be much later then it would be now allowing storms to keep there power.

But that's rubbish, no offence intended, there will be no more available daylight, sunlight and heating time for generating storms!

What dies out at say 11pm would have died out at 10pm but then what would have developed at say 5pm won't develop until 6pm!

[Essan]

Another point, only important for model watchers really! The 18z GFS would not start coming out until 23:30, the 00z would be at 5:30DBST, 06z at 11:30DBST and 12z 17:30DBST. Means a lot of people could miss the crucial 18z run! :lol:

Seriously though, I share the view that we should get into a time zone and stick with it. BST all year round would suit me. There does seem to be a false view (not here but amongst the general public) that changing the clocks to DBST would give us more hours of daylight, when it wouldn't!

And the 12z charts, for example, would be referring to 14.00 local time - much scope for confusion (and, no doubt, complainse about the MetO getting the timing wrong )

Makes more sense to me for midday on the meridian to occur at 12.00 rather than 14.00. But then, I never did understand humans .... :unsure:

[Snowyowl9]

If they do switch to double time which I doubt they`ll do,the effect on thunderstorms would start later in the day by an hour to normal,as convection will be slower starting.

So take an average day for thunderstorms 2007 1 hour later from 3.45pm to 19.15pm

Or a few days later 19.30 to 22.15pm.

[Bottesford]

Ah yes the models would indeed be later! But at least after the Sunday lie in the 00Z would more likely to be visible!

Maybe we should rename 1400 to midday...

[Weather-history]

Whats a thunderstorm?!

------------------

BST + 1 hr?

That would mean around the summer solstice, the sun won't set until about 10.40pm around here. Not everyone works a 9 to 5 shift, so what about those who work a 6am to 2pm shift? You got the sun still blazing through your west facing bedroom window at 10pm, when you are going to bed.

And in winter time, it will still going dark at 5pm, so how is that exactly going to benefit anyone? Around the winter solstice, the sun is setting around 3.40pm, so it would be 4.40pm instead.

Where's the advantage in that? Outdoor leisure activities are largely determined by the weather and not light levels.

Mornings would be darker, I think I said that the sun won't rise post 8am for about a quarter of the year if we go to BST all year for this neck of the woods. More people will be going to work in the dark, so how are accident rates going to be cut?

Cricket grounds who have installed floodlights won't be happy! Day-night cricket is a big attraction. Somewhere like Chester=Le-Street might as well give up on day-night cricket in the summer.

Why do England and Scotland have to keep to the same system? Surely it would be better for the Scots to decide their own.

A far too simplistic approach to something that isn't

For a start, time-zones are longitude based not latitude based.

No country as small as the UK has a time-zone

What about those people of Cumbria and Northumberland? The change in light level doesn't suddenly change at the Borders.

[Wynn D Woo]

Mornings would be darker, I think I said that the sun won't rise post 8am for about a quarter of the year if we go to BST all year for this neck of the woods.

The best argument for change - huge amounts of useful daylight are wasted in the summer with the sun well up before 6am.

I agree with Crepuscular Ray that if Scotland sees it as such a problem then let them go to their own time zone - so what if other countries dont split on a lat basis the whole lot is based on man made creations anyway.

[Methuselah]

The best argument for change - huge amounts of useful daylight are wasted in the summer with the sun well up before 6am.

I agree with Crepuscular Ray that if Scotland sees it as such a problem then let them go to their own time zone - so what if other countries dont split on a lat basis the whole lot is based on man made creations anyway.

Agree with that, WS...

[Snowyowl9]

The best argument for change - huge amounts of useful daylight are wasted in the summer with the sun well up before 6am.

Easy solution to that get up earlier :lol:

It doesn`t get completly dark in summer anyway with clear skies not if your facing the north.

[PersianPaladin]

This is a stupid idea, and whoever lobbied for this should be given a thorough slapping.

[M'Lady]

PP, we can't just go around slapping people for having stupid ideas. If we could no-one would ever get anything else done.

I can see the merits of double summertime for some areas of the UK, and I can see why it would be ridiculous for others. I would prefer it if we had one time all year round though as it takes my body clock a long time to adjust to the hour change.

[Weather-history]

.

I agree with Crepuscular Ray that if Scotland sees it as such a problem then let them go to their own time zone - so what if other countries dont split on a lat basis the whole lot is based on man made creations anyway.

How do you answer the far north of England problem?

Stranraer sunrise: 8.30am (GMT)

Hexham, Northumberland: sunrise 9.30am (BST)

There seems to be an assumption that its just an England and Scotland thing. Its more than that.

The best argument for change - huge amounts of useful daylight are wasted in the summer with the sun well up before 6am.

.

Get up earlier then.....

[johnholmes]

This is a stupid idea, and whoever lobbied for this should be given a thorough slapping.

it has to be said PP that for a fair number on here some of your suggestions would put you in that position!

like M'lady suggests there are pros and cons on each side. That may be the reason that there is no easy answer for the whole country, north-south or east-west.

Edited February 24, 2011 by johnholmes

[Weather-history]

like M'lady suggests there are pros and cons on each side. That may be the reason that there is no easy answer for the whole country, north-south or east-west.

Agree John, there are some who see it as Scotland and England thing but not as simple as that and to suggest Scotland have a separate time-zone is being very simplistic because I suspect that the further north you go in England and perhaps Wales the more reluctant people are going to go BST all year.

Not sure how the Northern Irish members feel about this.

[Essan]

The only reason daylight hours are 'wasted' in summer is because most humans require 7-8 hours sleep and there are less than 7-8 hours of darkness in midsummer due to our latitude.

Changing the clocks won't make any difference. In order to benefit from any perceived 'extra' hour of daylight in the evening then one would need to either get up an hour later in the morning or have an hour's less sleep with resultant long term health issues.

The only beneficiaries I can see will be the unemployed.

[Dartmoor_Matt]

The only reason daylight hours are 'wasted' in summer is because most humans require 7-8 hours sleep and there are less than 7-8 hours of darkness in midsummer due to our latitude.

Changing the clocks won't make any difference. In order to benefit from any perceived 'extra' hour of daylight in the evening then one would need to either get up an hour later in the morning or have an hour's less sleep with resultant long term health issues.

The only beneficiaries I can see will be the unemployed.

Would be great on the two days when you don't have to go to work a week though ...

Plus, I reckon 6 hrs is a passable amount of sleep

[Essan]

Outdoor leisure activities are largely determined by the weather and not light levels.

Good point.

I remember hearing it argued that a shift to alpha time would benefit cricket, due to many matches being stopped in the early evening due to poor light. But this is down to cloud cover, not the sun setting. So a wholly false argument.

Would be great on the two days when you don't have to go to work a week though ...

Plus, I reckon 6 hrs is a passable amount of sleep

I work six days a week And get up around the same time on the 7th day.

For most people, 7 to 8 hours sleep is recommended. Many may get by on less, but those who don't wil not suddent find they need less sleep just because it lighter when they go to bed and darker when they get up.