UK Springtime musings

[Sandstorm]

I have no use for this product, please feel free to take it and use it if the weather is any better where you live this spring.

[assfly]

That bad eh?

[ScarfaceClaw]

UK needs spf negative numbers at the moment.

[GogLais]

Desparate. I have a patio to grout, a shed to stain, copings to refix and a rotten sill to repair. Forecast fine for Wednesday but bugger it, I’m off to the hills.

[Paddington Bear]

Have been caught in five hailstorms in a month. Worst sustained weather I can ever remember for the time of year.

[sockwithaticket]

We seem to get 20 -30 minute stretches of sunshine as interludes to all the driving rain.

[Glaston]

I have no use for this product, please feel free to take it and use it if the weather is any better where you live this spring.

Softcock



Next Bank Holiday , putting down a prediction to say its going to be nice


I have used sun block this year.

Should add as an edit,

First week of May a couple of local farmers did Silage making and I laughed that they were doing it so early.
Here we are now and no one else has got onto their fields.
My grapevine has one tiny shoot and a few sad looking buds.
Very weird spring

[Glaston]

Desparate. I have a patio to grout, a shed to stain, copings to refix and a rotten sill to repair. Forecast fine for Wednesday but bugger it, I’m off to the hills.

Sounds like my to do list
Plus some of the wooden garden chairs need repairs.

[tabascoboy]

We seem to get 20 -30 minute stretches of sunshine as interludes to all the driving rain.

Every time I look out into the garden and it's sunny, I get ready to go out there to do some work but by the time I'm outside it's as dark as midwinter twilight and pissing it down.

[Woddy]

Gardening and managing Juniors cricket has been a nightmare so far this summer, if we can call it that yet. And something of a torture as, when the sun does break through, it all looks so lovely and warm out there!

[Kawazaki]

It's quite depressing weather. Absolutely chucked it down today around midday, full thunder and lightning accompaniment too.

[Chilli]

It was a very warm 31 °C here in South Africa yesterday

[Openside]

Its an ill wind etc.

I have just seeded an enormous patch of garden and am on a water meter so I am loving the rain with bouts of sunshine. Sorry but ding ding I am on the bus...

[Sandstorm]

Its an ill wind etc.

I have just seeded an enormous patch of garden and am on a water meter so I am loving the rain with bouts of sunshine. Sorry but ding ding I am on the bus...

Wrong login Globus

[lemonhead]

Does this mean June's nice? Anything to avoid a repeat of last summer.

[Openside]

Its an ill wind etc.

I have just seeded an enormous patch of garden and am on a water meter so I am loving the rain with bouts of sunshine. Sorry but ding ding I am on the bus...

Wrong login Globus

oooh another saucer of milk for Sandstorm

[Happyhooker]

Its an ill wind etc.

I have just seeded an enormous patch of garden and am on a water meter so I am loving the rain with bouts of sunshine. Sorry but ding ding I am on the bus...

Fyi late summer/autumn is a better time for seeding a lawn. You've been lucky with this rain

[Torquemada 1420]

Have been caught in five hailstorms in a month. Worst sustained weather I can ever remember for the time of year.

It is. Officially the wettest April on record and May has been sh*te too.

[sockwithaticket]

Does this mean June's nice? Anything to avoid a repeat of last summer.

A good deal of last summer was too hot for me. Then again, anytime the mercury creeps above 20 degrees I feel the need to relocate to the arctic circle.

[SaintK]

Does this mean June's nice? Anything to avoid a repeat of last summer.

A good deal of last summer was too hot for me. Then again, anytime the mercury creeps above 20 degrees I feel the need to relocate to the arctic circle.

Bloody hell! We've put the central heating back on it's been so sodding cold recently

[sockwithaticket]

Does this mean June's nice? Anything to avoid a repeat of last summer.

A good deal of last summer was too hot for me. Then again, anytime the mercury creeps above 20 degrees I feel the need to relocate to the arctic circle.

Bloody hell! We've put the central heating back on it's been so sodding cold recently

Ha, don't think mine's been on for months. There are some advantages to having ice in the veins.

[tc27]

Its good for the garden though innit..

Seriously though reseeded loads of the lawn this month and saved hours/££ on having to water it the three times a day it takes to convince grass to germinate.

[GogLais]

Have been caught in five hailstorms in a month. Worst sustained weather I can ever remember for the time of year.

It is. Officially the wettest April on record

Where?

[Grandpa]

Have been caught in five hailstorms in a month. Worst sustained weather I can ever remember for the time of year.

It is. Officially the wettest April on record

Where?

Not England...

Sunniest, driest and coldest April for a long time... replaced my wettest May...

https://www.fwi.co.uk/arable/driest-apr ... ords-began

[TB63]

Have been caught in five hailstorms in a month. Worst sustained weather I can ever remember for the time of year.

It is. Officially the wettest April on record

Where?

Here!..

[GogLais]

It is. Officially the wettest April on record

Where?

Here!..

I know it's been very very wet in May but we had hardly a drop of rain here in April. I've been hoping for a few boring moorland walks to make up for lost time but it's going to be ultra boggy for a while now. Still, no moorland fires to worry about.

[tabascoboy]

Bloody hell! We've put the central heating back on it's been so sodding cold recently

My house warms up well at this time of year - provided we get some long spells of sunshine in the period from 10.00 to 18.00, but not this May as sunshine seems to be mainly confined to early morning and/or late evening. Have had to put heating on for 30 mins to 1 hour at times to take the chill off the rooms, because it's been so damn damp too.

At least the end of the week and the Bank Holiday look half decent.

[Torquemada 1420]

Have been caught in five hailstorms in a month. Worst sustained weather I can ever remember for the time of year.

It is. Officially the wettest April on record

Where?

Ooops. My bad. COLDEST on record.

[handyman]

That would be awful for me. I try to run at least 5 km's or cycle for at least an hour every other day.

[S/Lt_Phillips]

I've had a solar pv system since 2011 (yes, in Scotland, I know) and because I'm a nerd I keep a record of how it's performing.

April this year was the second sunniest here since 2011 (not quite as good as 2015).

May last year was the sunniest May, and actually the best month (ahead of any June/July/August) since 2011. Which was great in lockdown as I have a garden (though must have been pretty crap for those with no outdoor space to enjoy). In contrast, May this year is shaping up to be the dullest May we've seen since 2011.

Don't know the temperature or rainfall, but it feels absolutely shite.

[tabascoboy]

Seems like the last really dull Mays in England were 1983 and 1991 and the most dull was in 1932. So it's been 30 years since we had one as bad as this one will probably end up, and doesn't necessarily mean that it will be followed by a dull summer (though 1991 was spectacular in being awful the whole damn year)

However it can be the case that the NW of Scotland ( islands like Tiree) is by contrast very sunny when England is dull - not sure if that's the case this year.

and of course wet too:

[Uncle fester]

I've got an old piece of equipment in my plant and it's located outdoors. Electrical panel is in poor nick so it struggles to start up in cold weather. Usually happens 2-3 times a year. But this year the bloody thing hasn't started up properly since last September.

[Openside]

Its an ill wind etc.

I have just seeded an enormous patch of garden and am on a water meter so I am loving the rain with bouts of sunshine. Sorry but ding ding I am on the bus...

Fyi late summer/autumn is a better time for seeding a lawn. You've been lucky with this rain

I know , when we saw the forecast we rushed to get it rotivated levelled and raked it’s also a slightly shadier bit of the garden that won’t get the full brunt of the sun.

[Torquemada 1420]

Its an ill wind etc.

I have just seeded an enormous patch of garden and am on a water meter so I am loving the rain with bouts of sunshine. Sorry but ding ding I am on the bus...

Fyi late summer/autumn is a better time for seeding a lawn. You've been lucky with this rain

I know , when we saw the forecast we rushed to get it rotivated levelled and raked it’s also a slightly shadier bit of the garden that won’t get the full brunt of the sun.

The laird with his lawn.

[Lobby]

Have been caught in five hailstorms in a month. Worst sustained weather I can ever remember for the time of year.

It is. Officially the wettest April on record and May has been sh*te too.

Although slightly colder than normal, April was actually unusually dry. The Met Office website confirms that it was the UK’s fourth driest April in a series from 1862. It was also the sunniest April in a series since 1919. Remember, April is traditionally very wet. As Chaucer put it

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,

You're right about May though, which is set to be the wettest since 1862.

[tabascoboy]

I keep rainfall records because of gardening, where I am May will probably not be quite as wet as 2000 or 1994; it's the very low amount of sunshine that's most depressing. Today was forecast yesterday to have sunny spells throughout the day and yet it's been almost overcast all morning so far.

April was certainly very sunny but on the eastern side blighted by cold NE winds almost all month.

[Torquemada 1420]

Have been caught in five hailstorms in a month. Worst sustained weather I can ever remember for the time of year.

It is. Officially the wettest April on record and May has been sh*te too.

Although slightly colder than normal, April was actually unusually dry. The Met Office website confirms that it was the UK’s fourth driest April in a series from 1862. It was also the sunniest April in a series since 1919. Remember, April is traditionally very wet. As Chaucer put it

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,

You're right about May though, which is set to be the wettest since 1862.

Yup. See my correction above. I meant coldest and not wettest. My bees are very unhappy about it and even unhappier with May.

[sockwithaticket]

It is. Officially the wettest April on record and May has been sh*te too.

Although slightly colder than normal, April was actually unusually dry. The Met Office website confirms that it was the UK’s fourth driest April in a series from 1862. It was also the sunniest April in a series since 1919. Remember, April is traditionally very wet. As Chaucer put it

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,

You're right about May though, which is set to be the wettest since 1862.

Yup. See my correction above. I meant coldest and not wettest. My bees are very unhappy about it and even unhappier with May.

May seems to have wiped out most of our ashy mining bees. We had about 10 of them at one point during April and I rarely see any at all now. On the odd day when we do actually get a concerted period of sun I have seen a couple. Briefly spotted a tree bumble at the beginning of the month, but haven't seen it in a while.

White tailed bumbles, early bumbles and red masons seems to be doing ok. Not yet at the numbers we'd normally expect, though. Smattering of honey bees around at the moment too plus single examples of a brown banded carder, a red girdled-miner, hairy footed flower and tawny miner.

[tabascoboy]

I can't recall seeing any butterflies for about a fortnight now, there were peacocks, blues and orangetips around in April; but not now even when there are plenty of flowers about; and when you expect to see "cabbage" whites starting to be pests on new plantings.

[sockwithaticket]

We don't tend to get many in the garden, but I have seen a white floating around and occasionally a brimstone (the name of which confuses me given it's a very light neon green).