Spring 2018 - Moans, Ramps, Chat etc

[cheese]

1 hour ago, Ice Man 85 said:

Because they're never satisfied. What we have now is warm BUT it cools off at night. Soon that will be gone. 28/17 is a good bet going from the output. Yuck.

And here, the high was 15C, it's now far too cool to sit outdoors for long and the North Sea muck is rolling back in as I type. Certainly no al fresco dining here today.

Not that I think 15C and sunny is unpleasant but it's not ideal either. Wanting more than that isn't unreasonable, is it?

Edited May 22, 2018 by cheese

[Ice Man 85]

2 minutes ago, cheese said:

And here, the high was 15C, it's now far too cool to sit outdoors for long and the North Sea muck is rolling back in as I type. Certainly no al fresco dining here today.

Not that I think 15C and sunny is unpleasant but it's not ideal either. Wanting more than that isn't unreasonable, is it?

Not at all, how about we swap patterns, you can have the warmth/heat and I'll take 15c. Win/Win. Give me a NW'ly and that will be the case.

[Ice Man 85]

9 minutes ago, stainesbloke said:

I wouldn’t say it’s because people are never satisfied. Hot days lead to warm evenings where al fresco dining in the garden or pub can be enjoyed, without having to put on 20 layers of clothing. But the negative side of that is trying to sleep. Doesn’t bother me much as I love warmth but many in this country seem to have issues with it.

When you hear talk on the MAD thread of african air getting into circulation on top of what already's being modelled, then that says to me "never satisfied". I won't be biased; the winter hardcore are just as bad if not worse. But what we have now; 23/24 by day but cooler nights is where I draw the line between pleasant and too much.

[Frost HoIIow]

34 minutes ago, stainesbloke said:

I wouldn’t say it’s because people are never satisfied. Hot days lead to warm evenings where al fresco dining in the garden or pub can be enjoyed, without having to put on 20 layers of clothing. But the negative side of that is trying to sleep. Doesn’t bother me much as I love warmth but many in this country seem to have issues with it.

Maybe it's genetics? It's like a lot of people from southern Europe really dislike our climate. Possibly people who evolved further north are better adapted to cold and vice versa for more southern folk. Could be complete bull but that's my take on it. 

[cheese]

30 minutes ago, Ice Man 85 said:

When you hear talk on the MAD thread of african air getting into circulation on top of what already's being modelled, then that says to me "never satisfied". I won't be biased; the winter hardcore are just as bad if not worse. But what we have now; 23/24 by day but cooler nights is where I draw the line between pleasant and too much.

Eh, the hottest temps modeled have been around 31C, which yes is certainly hot by UK standards but I wouldn't say it's very excessive. No doubt plenty of people across the country would enjoy that.

Each to their own at the end of the day.

[Ice Man 85]

13 minutes ago, cheese said:

Eh, the hottest temps modeled have been around 31C, which yes is certainly hot by UK standards but I wouldn't say it's very excessive. No doubt plenty of people across the country would enjoy that.

Each to their own at the end of the day.

on paper yeah. Factor in humidity and sun strength and its significantly higher. A lot would draw the line there.

[stainesbloke]

1 hour ago, Frost HoIIow said:

Maybe it's genetics? It's like a lot of people from southern Europe really dislike our climate. Possibly people who evolved further north are better adapted to cold and vice versa for more southern folk. Could be complete bull but that's my take on it. 

Think there’s definitely a case for genetic predisposition to certain climates. In my own case, having Czech parents, my genes would therefore respond well to a continental climate. Which they certainly do. The UK climate leaves me cold much of the time, I can’t stand the grey skies, wind and damp.

[cheese]

10 minutes ago, stainesbloke said:

Think there’s definitely a case for genetic predisposition to certain climates. In my own case, having Czech parents, my genes would therefore respond well to a continental climate. Which they certainly do. The UK climate leaves me cold much of the time, I can’t stand the grey skies, wind and damp.

Hmm.. Prague has similar summer temperatures to London, similar overall sunshine levels* and of course winters are much colder. Rainfall is lower but not significantly so. All of the Czech Republic is warm-summer continental, as opposed to hot-summer continental. The UK is probably more humid though.

*and winters in the Czech Republic are actually duller than most of the UK. Central Europe is notoriously very cloudy in winter as it is often stuck under areas of high pressure, and inversions form.

Edited May 22, 2018 by cheese

[cheese]

The cloud cleared later than yesterday, but it's also warmer - a pleasant 19C with sunshine and fair weather cumulus. 

[Summer Sun]

32.9c or higher on Monday would make it the hottest late May Bank Holiday on record

Looks unlikely but you never know

[cheeky_monkey]

31c here today..if we get any higher it will be a new record for 23rd May.

[weatherguru14]

Can't complain with this weather again  :). not so great tomorrow though

[markyo]

Friday will be a great relief,working in London today,hot,humid and smelly,thankfully Fridays much fresher conditions will make up for it Looking forward not to having a bloody headache for once!

[damianslaw]

Here in the Lake District I always tend to think of May as a summer month, on average it is far sunnier and drier than August, often sunnier and much drier than July. The combination of light and sunshine are the two factors that make it feel summery especially once we get to the latter stages of the month. Its only the temps that lag way behind the means we see in July and August, but often it is the mins which make the difference then, maxima in the low 20's is very common in May, indeed mid 20's often occur when under high pressure, July and August often deliver similar maxima, its just minima tends to be much higher in the mid teens.

November has the same effect, low light levels, low sunshine levels, high rainfall totals make it wintry feeling month, yet temps hold up much higher than Jan and Feb again thanks to often very mild minima, though under a northerly or high pressure especially by end of the month we can easily see low single digit figure maxima, on a par with Jan and Feb when temps don't tend to be much lower.

[Evening thunder]

Well here come the downgrades. In fact it's been downgrading gradually for days, more and more cloud, and lower temps. Sunday and Monday only 20C on the Met Office for here now, and an onshore breeze when it looked like being offshore before.

In fact on the ECM the circulation is now turned more westerly and we've lost the 10C 850's at early as t+72 down here.. might manage one very warm afternoon but probably not!
A bit better further east, but downgrades most affecting here of course.

Also this month here is not a patch on what Scandinavia is getting. Why is is always so much easier for even them to get high temps etc as soon as May arrives, even if we're under similar uppers? GFS has been showing at least mid-high 20's at times for parts of Sweden/Norway for weeks it seems (even into Lapland at times) and I've seen up to 32/33C shown there.

Really does feel like everywhere else really does get it better, basically all the time (apart from maybe Iceland..).

[weatherguru14]

Its been   very nice here apart from  the NE wind. But over all  sunny and warmish... What I don't get though is the BBC when they show  weather charts with warm air over the North Sea..Its not gonna be warm  is it?.

Edited May 25, 2018 by weatherguru14

[weatherguru14]

one  question to the experts.. when are  most of us going to lose this horrible east to north east wind??

[Mountain Snow]

Long live the east wind! Perfect for us out west, dry and sunny day after day, warm but not too hot and humid. 

The east wind brought us snow and ice days in march and now warm sunshine in may, lovely stuff! 

[weatherguru14]

Its not bad today though   another good day in prospect

[stainesbloke]

On 22/05/2018 at 22:37, cheese said:

Hmm.. Prague has similar summer temperatures to London, similar overall sunshine levels* and of course winters are much colder. Rainfall is lower but not significantly so. All of the Czech Republic is warm-summer continental, as opposed to hot-summer continental. The UK is probably more humid though.

*and winters in the Czech Republic are actually duller than most of the UK. Central Europe is notoriously very cloudy in winter as it is often stuck under areas of high pressure, and inversions form.

Yes, but Prague has seasons. It might often be dull in winter but it’s often snowing and not lashing with rain and gales. In the warmer months, it is warmer and sunnier than the UK and rainfall tends to come from thunderstorms, not drizzle, with much less low cloud/clag/etc that ruins so many a day here. I’m moving to Prague in November, for at least a year, hopefully much longer. So, it’ll be interesting to compare climates and see how I feel physically.

[cheese]

3 hours ago, stainesbloke said:

Yes, but Prague has seasons. It might often be dull in winter but it’s often snowing and not lashing with rain and gales. In the warmer months, it is warmer and sunnier than the UK and rainfall tends to come from thunderstorms, not drizzle, with much less low cloud/clag/etc that ruins so many a day here. I’m moving to Prague in November, for at least a year, hopefully much longer. So, it’ll be interesting to compare climates and see how I feel physically.

Prague certainly gets more snow than any lowland UK location but it still doesn't get that much and temperatures are increasing much like in the UK so snow is becoming less and less common. Typically in a Prague winter you're looking at bare ground with grey skies, similar to the UK. 

Summers are sunnier and warmer than most of the UK, for sure - though I don't think a Prague summer is much better than a London summer (slightly sunnier but similar temperatures). I don't think you get much drizzle in London in summer either.

Edited May 26, 2018 by cheese

[cheeky_monkey]

On 25/05/2018 at 00:52, Evening thunder said:

Well here come the downgrades. In fact it's been downgrading gradually for days, more and more cloud, and lower temps. Sunday and Monday only 20C on the Met Office for here now, and an onshore breeze when it looked like being offshore before.

In fact on the ECM the circulation is now turned more westerly and we've lost the 10C 850's at early as t+72 down here.. might manage one very warm afternoon but probably not!
A bit better further east, but downgrades most affecting here of course.

Also this month here is not a patch on what Scandinavia is getting. Why is is always so much easier for even them to get high temps etc as soon as May arrives, even if we're under similar uppers? GFS has been showing at least mid-high 20's at times for parts of Sweden/Norway for weeks it seems (even into Lap
land at times) and I've seen up to 32/33C shown there.
Really does feel like everywhere else really does get it better, basically all the time (apart from maybe Iceland..).

Thats because Scandinavia has a much larger landmass and heats up quicker in spring and summer and cools more quickly in Autumn and winter...these changes in temps are not tempered by a huge body of water surrounding it like the UK..This is esp true of Sweden and Finland which are shielded by the mountains of Norway.

[cheese]

4 minutes ago, cheeky_monkey said:

Thats because Scandinavia has a much larger landmass and heats up quicker in spring and summer and cools more quickly in Autumn and winter...these changes in temps are not tempered by a huge body of water surrounding it like the UK..This is esp true of Sweden and Finland which are shielded by the mountains of Norway.

Indeed - though pretty much all of Scandinavia is cooler than the UK in May on average, and they still get snow occasionally in May. Places like Stockholm become warmer between June and August, but then become rapidly cooler in September. They certainly aren't capable of getting 30C in October like we are.

[Evening thunder]

I know about the climate and Geography of Scandinavia, but it still can feel annoying when you've just had an apparent big downgrade.

It still looks like a very notable month for them though. Cities like Stockholm and Oslo have similar summer averages to central/SE England (and the record maxima aren't any higher, 36C and 35C, (for the entire countries it's 38.0C for Sweden and 35.6C for Norway)).

In May the records are 29C for Stockholm and 30C for Oslo.
It seems to have been pushing mid-high 20's much of the time recently, varying in distribution slightly as the high drifts around. Oslo is forecast mid-high 20's continuing for the next 10 days (May average maxima 16.5C). GFS (which seems to underestimate at least for the UK) going for around 28C in some areas most days, with the odd 30/31C).

Thankfully though, it seems my moan was a bit premature with a warmer airmass and offshore flow staying for at least part of this week, meaning some warmth and thunderstorm potential. It doesn't look too bad after that too. I'd be happy with that.

[Relativistic]

18 hours ago, cheese said:

Indeed - though pretty much all of Scandinavia is cooler than the UK in May on average, and they still get snow occasionally in May. Places like Stockholm become warmer between June and August, but then become rapidly cooler in September. They certainly aren't capable of getting 30C in October like we are.

We've never actually recorded 30C in October. It's just about at the very limit of what's possible, and would certainly have to occur within the first few days.