South East, London and East Anglia regional discussion - 8th February onwards

[Blazerblue]

Yep the easterly wind is back. Bet when its needed in the summer to cool things down, it disappears only to return in autumn!

[Delka]

Down to -1.7c overnight, currently near wall to wall sunshine and 9.9c, think that “cold wind” everyone’s talking about had decided to leave dereham out again today, only a slight breeze and i wouldn’t say it’s a cold one either, very pleasant spring day yet again! long may this weather continue 

[Snipper]

10 minutes ago, Blazerblue said:

Yep the easterly wind is back. Bet when its needed in the summer to cool things down, it disappears only to return in autumn!

Wind not too bad here although getting a little bit stronger but not much. If it get too strong and cold I’ll go and hide in the greenhouse. Lots of jobs on the go. Clearing last of broccoli prior to rotavating  one of my vegetable patches.  Dug one of my compost bins out and spread it about so I can refill with lawn rakeings and chopped up broccoli stalks. Amazing how much green stuff you can loose into compost bins. 
 

Should be exhausted by lunch time. 

Edited April 22, 2021 by Snipper

[Jimmyh]

Truly exceptional dry spell this been a good while since we had any noticeable rain. It is one gigantic high pressure over us 

[suffolk lady]

seems this dry weather is causing lots of activity, builder next door playing with laying paving slabs, snipper going crazy gardening, my hubby busy making plant stand and me and trusty henry getting the hoovering done. Shame temps are down or we could b out under sunshades lazing on lounges saying its to hot to move.  

[classylady]

Glorious day but the wind making it a bit chilly! Have been on a lovely walk enjoying all the wonderful nature around. 

[Snipper]

2 hours ago, suffolk lady said:

seems this dry weather is causing lots of activity, builder next door playing with laying paving slabs, snipper going crazy gardening, my hubby busy making plant stand and me and trusty henry getting the hoovering done. Shame temps are down or we could b out under sunshades lazing on lounges saying its to hot to move.  

Snipper is always very reserved (unless pushed). Think Mrs Snipper has forgotten when I went crazy. But when I did, and do now occasionally it it is more than nice apparently. Hopefully she isn’t lying.!

Lunch was bacon sandwiches. My home cured and smoked bacon. So easy.

Now supping one of my home brews. Nice and hoppy and quite strong. Trouble is with a nice evening like now it is just nice to walk round my weedy patch checking what needs sorting. Beer in one hand and secateurs in the other. Then there might be chatting to neighbours over the wall. 
 

Pity  some cannot enjoy a bit of private garden. 
 

 

[Neilsouth]

Last year's lockdown was nice and warm, but this year! What a load of horse dung, it just goes on and on with the relentless cold winds from the north sea. It's like we are stick in permanent early winter without the snow. Depressing

[suffolk lady]

sounds like you and mrs snipper are having a self sufficiency life style snipper, quick reply to neilsouth  dont despair everything comes to those who wait we need the cold to appreciate the warm life is like scales it all balances out in the end. so ends tonight's bit of philosophy.

[Blazerblue]

Another hard frost (lost count of Aprils frost mornings) and sunny blue skies. 

[magicpatch]

Morning all,
Very similar to yesterday (as expected), the morning haze is slowly burning back, currently around 3c outside. Temperatures expected to creep up to around 14/15c today depending on what site you visit but the friendly Easterly breeze is expected to strengthen throughout the morning, could be fairly gusty if the MO is right by early afternoon, leaving us feeling at around 11/12c in the breeze by mid-afternoon! 

[Blessed Weather]

This April could well be heading for the record books for parts of our Region. Analysis by met company WeatherQuest (based in Norwich) shows that up until the 20th April it has been the 2nd coldest and 2nd driest on record in East Anglia.

As of today, the 23rd, there's been an air frost somewhere in the East on 17 nights. Here's last night's minimums:

• -4.7°C Santon Downham
• -3.3°C Houghton Hall
• -3.2°C Woburn
• -2.8°C Writtle 
• -2.7°C Monks Wood
• -2.5°C Marham
• -2.1°C Cambridge

The long term average for the last air frost of Spring in the East is the 21st of April, so this year we've past that date and are still going. The following chart shows the average date pictorially and highlights the variances by location with (for example) London and coastal areas seeing their last air frost earlier than a location such as Santon Downham (the yellow spot in the centre of EA).

Charts & stats courtesy of WeatherQuest/Dan Holley. Twitter @danholley_

[suffolk lady]

we had frost again this morning lawn was white at 7-30am, now bright sunshine blue sky and a fresh chilly breezefor st georges day

[Snipper]

As last year was fairly wet does anyone know the current state of aquifers / ground water supplies?

[m1chaels]

There was mention on the radio of the models showing a heat wave 30+ for early MAy - any sign of this in the real world?

[magicpatch]

It's a bright (and breezier) morning here in South London / Surrey / Croydon (whatever area you want to plop us in!), Wind has veered back to ENE/E so it's got a nipper feel to things, it's similar to Thursday which became rather chilly in the late afternoon! Forecasts suggest the breeze and gusts will pick up as the day moves on too! Garden sensor (in the shade, out of the breeze) is showing 10c at present. 

[Daniel*]

14 hours ago, m1chaels said:

There was mention on the radio of the models showing a heat wave 30+ for early MAy - any sign of this in the real world?

No it looks cool for early May.

[Atmogenic]

Although this isn't the best picture, i've never seen the ground THIS bad before in my life. 

 

 

 

Then 20-30 mins later when going back home, the bluebells are fully out creating a magical type theme in the woodlands

 

Edited April 24, 2021 by Atmogenic

[SenlacJack]

On 20/04/2021 at 13:56, LightningLover said:

Been foggy here all day so far here! Temperature about 11c

This time of year it's quite common here on this part of the coast.  Just a couple of miles inland it's clear blue skies though only a degree or 2 warmer.

[Blazerblue]

Cloudy day here, few tiny spits n spots of rain in the breeze just now whilst out walking the dogs. 

[suffolk lady]

Grey gloomy and cold here missing the nice blue skies which we had for the last few days. Seeing folk walk past with coats and hats on that says it all really.

[Snipper]

This very dry weather with a chilly feel makes it very difficult to decide when to sow or plant tender stuff outside. Having a cloche or some other cover might make all the difference.  
 

My greenhouse is crammed. So potting on stuff into slightly larger pots helps to keep them looking good before hopefully planting out. Trouble is potting on causes all sorts of stress. Plenty of light is also needed but not so much that it scorches everything. I have painted the outside of my greenhouse on the south side with some shading really helps.  
 

The most annoying thing is all those self sown seeds  (like tomatoes), will be brilliant. Big problem is we all want stuff to be early. Be more relaxed and most things catch up. Being patient seems to be the watch word of life nowadays. 

Edited April 25, 2021 by Snipper

[Freeze]

Reached 14c pure blue skies, but a strong NE wind spoiling it. 

[alexisj9]

Some shocking reporting here lol.

 

[Blessed Weather]

Looks like staying near enough bone dry for the eastern coastal strip through the rest of April. What a disappointing month with frosts galore, persistently cool (except out of the breeze) and no rain to fuel the spring growth of plants.

GFS rainfall accumulation, rest of April:

Then all change, with the outlook for the first week of May looking very disappointing with cool and dry swapped out for cool and very wet if GFS is correct.

GFS rainfall accumulation to 6th May: