Spring 2018 - Moans, Ramps, Chat etc

[Simo]

This has got to be the dreariest spring I can remember in my lifetime. For over a fortnight (and I live in London!) apart from one sunny day and one warm day when it got up to 16C (respectively 6 and 7 April) it's just been cold, dull and wet day after day with no sign of any improvement and the parks and gardens are still bogs. The last week there's been no sunshine at all, save one brief pale glimpse Tuesday afternoon.

People mentioned the 80s springs and April 2012, but the latter while not great actually had over 140 hours of sunshine (the way this month is going reaching triple figures will be a miracle) and during the former the Aprils were generally not bad, if sometimes on the cold side - certainly don't remember any bad spells anything like as prolonged as this one.

Anyone with more meteorological knowledge have any idea what is causing this stubborn refusal to yield the sun, at least in SE England (apparently the Lakes had much better weather during the period mentioned)?

 

[Ice Man 85]

5 hours ago, cheeky_monkey said:

average should be 11-12c this time of year...have only got above freezing once so far this April

Sounds like heaven. If canada didn't have such hot summers, I'd have moved there long ago

[Sunny76]

7 hours ago, Simo said:

This has got to be the dreariest spring I can remember in my lifetime. For over a fortnight (and I live in London!) apart from one sunny day and one warm day when it got up to 16C (respectively 6 and 7 April) it's just been cold, dull and wet day after day with no sign of any improvement and the parks and gardens are still bogs. The last week there's been no sunshine at all, save one brief pale glimpse Tuesday afternoon.

People mentioned the 80s springs and April 2012, but the latter while not great actually had over 140 hours of sunshine (the way this month is going reaching triple figures will be a miracle) and during the former the Aprils were generally not bad, if sometimes on the cold side - certainly don't remember any bad spells anything like as prolonged as this one.

Anyone with more meteorological knowledge have any idea what is causing this stubborn refusal to yield the sun, at least in SE England (apparently the Lakes had much better weather during the period mentioned)?

 

I think the spring of 1982 was sunnier and warmer than average. We came out of the cold winter by late January, February was milder than average, and temps recovered during the spring. It was quite warm in April.

[Weather-history]

7 hours ago, Simo said:

This has got to be the dreariest spring I can remember in my lifetime. For over a fortnight (and I live in London!) apart from one sunny day and one warm day when it got up to 16C (respectively 6 and 7 April) it's just been cold, dull and wet day after day with no sign of any improvement and the parks and gardens are still bogs. The last week there's been no sunshine at all, save one brief pale glimpse Tuesday afternoon.

People mentioned the 80s springs and April 2012, but the latter while not great actually had over 140 hours of sunshine (the way this month is going reaching triple figures will be a miracle) and during the former the Aprils were generally not bad, if sometimes on the cold side - certainly don't remember any bad spells anything like as prolonged as this one.

Anyone with more meteorological knowledge have any idea what is causing this stubborn refusal to yield the sun, at least in SE England (apparently the Lakes had much better weather during the period mentioned)?

 

Anyone remember the "Spring" of 1996?

That was dull and chilly largely. Winds with an easterly component nagged away almost constantly. It wasn't untll the very end of May, we finally broke out of the pattern. We were pretty close to recording the coldest May on record for the CET but the last few days stopped it.

[weatherguru14]

The standard of weather forecasting in this country is pathetic. Just TWO days ago they had sunshine for the  bulk of the county today and highs of  16 for my location.. But doesn't surprise me its gonna remain cloudy all day now... I will just wait until the day arrives now and take my viewpoint from there. .

[BruenSryan]

9 hours ago, Simo said:

This has got to be the dreariest spring I can remember in my lifetime. For over a fortnight (and I live in London!) apart from one sunny day and one warm day when it got up to 16C (respectively 6 and 7 April) it's just been cold, dull and wet day after day with no sign of any improvement and the parks and gardens are still bogs. The last week there's been no sunshine at all, save one brief pale glimpse Tuesday afternoon.

People mentioned the 80s springs and April 2012, but the latter while not great actually had over 140 hours of sunshine (the way this month is going reaching triple figures will be a miracle) and during the former the Aprils were generally not bad, if sometimes on the cold side - certainly don't remember any bad spells anything like as prolonged as this one.

Anyone with more meteorological knowledge have any idea what is causing this stubborn refusal to yield the sun, at least in SE England (apparently the Lakes had much better weather during the period mentioned)?

 

With the constant wet weather, it didn't feel that sunny here in April 2012. The 80s consisted of some very good Aprils like 1982, 84 and 87 but 83, 86 and 89 were all unsettled and very cold. 81 produced the blizzards in England at the latter part of the month. The highest I saw in April 2012 all month was 13c, no higher than that. 2018 I have not beaten that so far but I will next week. 

The simple reason is the colder than average seas surrounding us courtesy of the beast from the east dumping all that cold air here. It doesn't take that much to warm them up because they are shallow seas but the thing is, we need to get that warmer air first for a start......

Yes Kevin, Spring 1996 was terrible. March was very dull and in Ireland exceptionally wet. April was pretty average whilst May was awfully cold.

Edited April 14, 2018 by BruenSryan

[weatherguru14]

Ok ok ok  the sun is out now  

[Sunny76]

I remember the spring of 1996, following on from the very cold winter of 1995/96. 

Robert Miles’ ‘Children’ was the song I remember being big at the time, and went with the cold weather. It was relentless until late May, and we only had a handful of mild sunny days in between the cold trend. 

Then, the heat arrived in June, and if I recall, there were violent thunderstorms on the 5th or 6th of that month.

[Summer Sun]

It's officially the warmest day of the year so far with Northolt recording 19.5c

[MP-R]

15 hours ago, Simo said:

This has got to be the dreariest spring I can remember in my lifetime. For over a fortnight (and I live in London!) apart from one sunny day and one warm day when it got up to 16C (respectively 6 and 7 April) it's just been cold, dull and wet day after day with no sign of any improvement and the parks and gardens are still bogs. The last week there's been no sunshine at all, save one brief pale glimpse Tuesday afternoon.

People mentioned the 80s springs and April 2012, but the latter while not great actually had over 140 hours of sunshine (the way this month is going reaching triple figures will be a miracle) and during the former the Aprils were generally not bad, if sometimes on the cold side - certainly don't remember any bad spells anything like as prolonged as this one.

Anyone with more meteorological knowledge have any idea what is causing this stubborn refusal to yield the sun, at least in SE England (apparently the Lakes had much better weather during the period mentioned)?

 

Indeed, April 2012 was closer to the norm in terms of sunshine than this one so far (although the coming week will I'm sure change the month's sunshine fortunes), given a lot of the time the weather was convective. I can't account for other parts of the country but here, the middle two weeks of that month were very much sunshine and showers, sometimes erring on the side of sunshine. It was a few days in the first week and likewise in the final week that brought proper soakings and days of dull weather, the final weekend and opening days of May being particularly horrible.

[Sunny76]

My flat still feels cold, despite the fact it feels warm outside. 

[Wildswimmer Pete]

I'll take it back.  Mostly sunny, 15C and I've been sunbathing topless so happy.

[markyo]

3 minutes ago, Wildswimmer Pete said:

I'll take it back.  Mostly sunny, 15C and I've been sunbathing topless so happy.

Topless sunbathing in Liverpool....what ever next!

[Ǝssex Ǝasterly]

1 minute ago, markyo said:

Topless sunbathing in Liverpool....what ever next!

Skinny dipping down dagenham docks 

[Wildswimmer Pete]

2 minutes ago, markyo said:

Topless sunbathing in Liverpool....what ever next!

Not Liverpool, Runcorn.  We're in the Liverpool City Area but not the city itself.

[Radiating Dendrite]

Made it to 18.7c today - lovely 

[Sunny76]

It’s very nice today, but I’m looking forward to the low 20s temps of next week. That’s warm enough for me not to wear a jacket. 

[stainesbloke]

Thankfully, the vile cloudy, cold and damp filth of recent weeks has been banished at last. 19C reached here on a beautiful April day.

[Nick L]

Bloody lovely day today, followed by some convective downpours this evening.

[Simo]

Much better here, both in London and in Huddersfield where I was for the afternoon, maybe only a few actual degrees warmer but it's amazing what a difference a bit of sunshine can make!

After last year's spring anything is possible - a good few more weeks of this and even just one May heatwave will make this spring at least salvageable, similar to the second half of summer 2016 and the first couple of weeks of September that year.

BTW how do I change my username to the one I signed up with? I signed up in April 2011 (I've been mostly a lurker) but my post count was reset last night to zero and and my username is simply showing the first four letters of my email address (which I used to sign back in, naturally assuming that the site would automatically recall my actual username).

 

Edited April 14, 2018 by Simo

[Simo]

20 hours ago, Ice Man 85 said:

Sounds like heaven. If canada didn't have such hot summers, I'd have moved there long ago

Depends what parts of Canada you're talking about, but I think Toronto (which I think is the hottest Canadian city in the summer) has summers comparable to Budapest, or Vienna during a good summer (2015 excepted). Pretty bearable I'd say - for me, the long winters would be more of a deterrent, and I'm pretty sure the big cities would have AC.

Edited April 14, 2018 by Simo

[Simo]

13 hours ago, Weather-history said:

Anyone remember the "Spring" of 1996?

That was dull and chilly largely. Winds with an easterly component nagged away almost constantly. It wasn't untll the very end of May, we finally broke out of the pattern. We were pretty close to recording the coldest May on record for the CET but the last few days stopped it.

Yes that was pretty dismal, as was 1986 (April wasn't so bad because although very cold we had some fine sunny weather during the first half in the Lakes) but my point is I don't remember such as an extended sunless spell as the one hopefully just ended, not just in spring but in any season (save maybe a few Novembers, 1985 in particular). 

[Summer Sun]

1 hour ago, Simo said:

BTW how do I change my username to the one I signed up with? I signed up in April 2011 (I've been mostly a lurker) but my post count was reset last night to zero and and my username is simply showing the first four letters of my email address (which I used to sign back in, naturally assuming that the site would automatically recall my actual username).

 

Pop a message in the help section thread is called something like need help on the site or fourm and one of the team will help you

[Daniel*]

2 hours ago, Simo said:

Much better here, both in London and in Huddersfield where I was for the afternoon, maybe only a few actual degrees warmer but it's amazing what a difference a bit of sunshine can make!

After last year's spring anything is possible - a good few more weeks of this and even just one May heatwave will make this spring at least salvageable, similar to the second half of summer 2016 and the first couple of weeks of September that year.

BTW how do I change my username to the one I signed up with? I signed up in April 2011 (I've been mostly a lurker) but my post count was reset last night to zero and and my username is simply showing the first four letters of my email address (which I used to sign back in, naturally assuming that the site would automatically recall my actual username).

 

Hi,

 click under your name and then account settings > overview > display name.

Edited April 14, 2018 by Daniel*

[B87]

1996 had an awful spring, but the summer that followed was sunny with average temperatures.

1983 had the longest wait for the first 70F day ever, with it not occurring until 31st May! Summer 1983 had a terrible June, the 2nd hottest July on record, and a decent August (a bit like 2013).

Edited April 15, 2018 by B87