Stormy Weather II

[oddoneout]

A bit of a break from the spiteful weather of Monday and Tuesday. Very cold(due in large part to the continuing strong winds), but dry and with some sun, so the volunteer gardening this morning was OK provided enough layers were being worn.
It looks as if the choir's spring concert on Saturday is also going to require layers - the church is notoriously cold (and lacking in creature comforts) so the prospect of high winds from a northerly direction will conjure up thoughts not so much of "April is in my mistress' face" , as "in her heart is cold December".

[Serial_Apologist]

A bit of a break from the spiteful weather of Monday and Tuesday. Very cold(due in large part to the continuing strong winds), but dry and with some sun, so the volunteer gardening this morning was OK provided enough layers were being worn.
It looks as if the choir's spring concert on Saturday is also going to require layers - the church is notoriously cold (and lacking in creature comforts) so the prospect of high winds from a northerly direction will conjure up thoughts not so much of "April is in my mistress' face" , as "in her heart is cold December".

I see there have actually been quite a number of showers around today, however; right now there's a thunderstorm just off the north Essex coast, and another near Cambridge.

[DracoM]

Vicious NW / N winds, drizzle/ beginnings of sleet on wind. Temp 3 to 4C.
'Here comes Summer' ......NOT!!

[Serial_Apologist]

Vicious NW / N winds, drizzle/ beginnings of sleet on wind. Temp 3 to 4C.
'Here comes Summer' ......NOT!!

Pleasant enough here I have to say: light medium-level cloud from the active front further north rendering the sun hazy from time to time, but temperatures on my expensive brand new Max/Min thermometer* have reached 1.4 degrees Celsius above the mid-April normal. That will probably be for the last time for at least the next week.

*The thermometer, obtained from the best of the local garden centres yesterday, cost me £19.99 - checking online I could have spent a fiver less on it, but with thermometers it's always advisable to have a physical look at the product before buying, making comparative readings against others on sale, and checking that the maximum reading is the same as the minimum! This model does not have magnetic bars to set where both limits are in order to check for the maximum and minimum over any period - apparently old-style mercury thermometers are now illegal to sell - but a digital window at the bottom of the device displays these; it has a couple of buttons - one to reset, the other to choose between Celsius and Fahrenheit. The tiniest of tiny cross-headed screws, to open which required a sharp-pointed knife as even my smallest screwdriver was too large, gives access to the AAA battery chamber.

[Old Grumpy]

Vicious NW / N winds, drizzle/ beginnings of sleet on wind. Temp 3 to 4C.
'Here comes Summer' ......NOT!!

Radio 3 6 o'clock news weather bulletin - why bother?
"Rain moving into the South"...

...no mention of NORTH, MIDLANDS, EAST or WEST!

[Serial_Apologist]

Radio 3 6 o'clock news weather bulletin - why bother?
"Rain moving into the South"...

...no mention of NORTH, MIDLANDS, EAST or WEST!

That's because you've all had it! And the rain...

[Serial_Apologist]

Most of the warmth is presently across Scotland and the northwest, courtesy the positioning of a stray warm front, whereas here it has felt (and actually been) decidedly chilly these past few days, with little in the way of sun to make up for it. And this looks to be the way things will remain broadly until next weekend, when low pressure encroaches from the SW and develops in situ right over us, so temperatures reverting to what they should be for late April but with a lot of rain in the forecast. Once again we are in a stuck weather pattern, and I thought Stormy Weather followers might be interested in the discussion linked to below, couched in somewhat technical language but not I think too abstruse for regulars to understand. The "experts" on this forum - some of them qualified, practising or retired meteorologists, tend to agree with the way I have attempted to translate what is going on as a consequence of climate change for my own inexpert benefit as well as for those looking in here:

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/134136-model-chat-april-2024/page/15/

You can follow the ongoing debate much as you can discussions on our forum, by clicking on the page enumerator at the top of the screen; it is not necessary to join the forum, and I haven't.

At the moment it looks as if we will find ourselves in a more typical westerlies-type régime next week, which means back to changeable with spells of rain and sunshine, and temperatures where they should be.

[oddoneout]

Once again a marked contrast between what the recording station figures show and what we had here today, despite not many miles and little variation in height separating the two places. We seem to have got the better bit - dry, mostly sunny, if distinctly chilly(would have been very cold if it had been the kind of windspeeds seen recently), whereas they had cloud all day and rain most of the afternoon.

[Sir Velo]

Well, we have one of those rare Springs where the advancing Hawthorn is in blossom at the same time as the retreating Blackthorn. The cuckoo has opened his bill, the lark is on the wing and the bluebell woods are at their peak of beauty. A sure sign that warm average temperatures are what bring the season on far more than sunshine in this year, notable for being singularly dismal and wet.

[Serial_Apologist]

Today's lunchtime BBC1 weather presenter - I felt so sorry for him. He was standing exposed there in the studio, which is big enough probably to accommodate most of Manchester city centre's homeless, wearing that ubiquitous ill-fitting two-piece grey presenter suit with the jacket straining away from its done-up middle button, too short and unavoidably attracting attention to a part of the anatomy he would not want emphasised, and wearing brown shoes - forever a definite no-no with a grey suit, Any conventional jacket should be half the body length, a good test being the ability of the wearer to clasp the hem with arms straight. And what is it with this fashion for having the jacket always done up, even when the host wearer is seated, pulling the material out of shape and rendering the wearer gangly in physical shape? Another no-no is wearing a suit with an open-neck shirt and no tie - fine if you are halfway through dressing or undressing, but incomplete and untidy unless accompanied by sports jacket or pullover. Somewhere on the way back from 60s/70s informality and choice in fabrics and colours we lost all sense of style - men, that is - women on the other hand have rarely been better provisioned in varieties of style and colour - seven aisles of choice in most stores against two for men. Equality? Women compete to outbid one-another in terms of outward appearance, men must conform.

Anyway, with that grumble out of the way, we have more rain to come for the forseeable future, but at least the temperatures should be climbing after Monday.

[Old Grumpy]

Today's lunchtime BBC1 weather presenter - I felt so sorry for him. He was standing exposed there in the studio, which is big enough probably to accommodate most of Manchester city centre's homeless, wearing that ubiquitous ill-fitting two-piece grey presenter suit with the jacket straining away from its done-up middle button, too short and unavoidably attracting attention to a part of the anatomy he would not want emphasised, and wearing brown shoes - forever a definite no-no with a grey suit, Any conventional jacket should be half the body length, a good test being the ability of the wearer to clasp the hem with arms straight. And what is it with this fashion for having the jacket always done up, even when the host wearer is seated, pulling the material out of shape and rendering the wearer gangly in physical shape? Another no-no is wearing a suit with an open-neck shirt and no tie - fine if you are halfway through dressing or undressing, but incomplete and untidy unless accompanied by sports jacket or pullover. Somewhere on the way back from 60s/70s informality and choice in fabrics and colours we lost all sense of style - men, that is - women on the other hand have rarely been better provisioned in varieties of style and colour - seven aisles of choice in most stores against two for men. Equality? Women compete to outbid one-another in terms of outward appearance, men must conform.

Anyway, with that grumble out of the way, we have more rain to come for the forseeable future, but at least the temperatures should be climbing after Monday.

Yes, perhaps, but generally women's attire and presentation draws much more comment (than men's) in printed and social media.

[Serial_Apologist]

Yes, perhaps, but generally women's attire and presentation draws much more comment (than men's) in printed and social media.

Yes, and it used to be called looks not needing to have a brain to compensate, by us women's lib on-cheerers. Don't get me wrong - I think women can look great: I'm no prude: once blokes got over their previously repressed overreaction to anything visible above the knee, Mary Quant in the 60s did working class girls a huge favour with the mini skirt and hair. I'm sure covering up for primitive people was more to do with H&S than squeamishness - OTOH nakedness was normal so there was no basis or need for sexual objectification. What I have been against is the boring greys, blacks, whites and blues men are restricted to. The sixties was supposed to have done away with all that funeral parlour conformity that came back with Thatcher. Was this the freedom East Europeans brought down the Berlin Wall for?

[Old Grumpy]

What I have been against is the boring greys, blacks, whites and blues men are restricted to. The sixties was supposed to have done away with all that funeral parlour conformity that came back with Thatcher. Was this the freedom East Europeans brought down the Berlin Wall for?

Tend to agree, S_A - in fact just get rid of suit and tie, period! This is effectively what Ive done by retiring.

[oddoneout]

Frost during the wee small hours, and more of te daytime spiteful weather we've been experiencing all too much the past week or so - grey skies, nasty dank cold wind that cuts through a body, and occasional precipitation to augment it. The brief spots when the sun breaks through, especially if the wind drops at the same time, just serve to remind that it shouldn't be quite this cold now during the day, although as a gardener I am well aware that overnight frost is still something to be allowed for.

[DracoM]

Nice sun, BUT vicious, persistent NE wind - NOT breeze, but genuine wind here in Cumbria. Fells showing great horizons, but if walking suggest you wrap up seriously warm!