I am of to buy some more sun block & some snow chains on the strength of your predictions Moley. I have to admit about feeling a little guilty about wishing more warm weather when we need to wet stuff, but as my job involves being at work during the big sports day which is coming up in east London, my employers have forced me to take my hols either before Easter or after the Olympics (it's a long story), I would will appreciate some warm weather. Thanks

^^ Snow chains based on my predictions SOT ?? Well thanks for that vote of confidence, but the sunblock is a wise choice !!

Despite many of us seeing blue skies again on Sunday temperatures in London and the South East were lower than expected, peaking at around 15-16c ( 59-60f ) across much of the region. Spare a thought for Manston in Kent though, which only reached a maximum of 6.2c ( 43f ). A direct result of the south easterly airflow I mentioned in an earlier post.

The best of the temperatures in the UK were to be found much further north, where a new record for Scotland of 22.8c ( 73f ) was recorded in Fyvie. Keswick in the Lake District reported an admirable 20.8c ( 69f ) A temperature it would probably be pleased with during the height of summer to be honest.

The rest of this week still looks like remaining settled, dry, fairly sunny and with temperatures above average again, but the first signs of a change to this pattern are now beginning to take shape.

Remember I said April may well bring quite a shock to the system ? Nothing definate as yet but we could be seeing a change as early as next Friday in our part of the country ( sooner further north ). As the High Pressure drifts away to our west, winds are likely to switch from a south/southeasterly direction to more of a northerly pattern, and that will bring a drop in temperatures.

Its a long way off yet so things can always change, but by next weekend we could be seeing temperatures much closer to the average for the time of year. 10-12c ( 50-54f ).

More news later in the week. Thanks for reading. Moley

A little off topic but had to share :-

Keswick in the Lake District is one of my enduring memories; toured there with Ann the year before our marriage in beautiful summer weather and rented a motor boat to go out on the Lake; Pontefract cake anyone ?

ps Keswick, Ontario, is just the other side of Lake Simcoe to where we now live. Used to sail my Mirror Dinghy across in the summer. Moley, it is on the East bank of Cooke's Bay at the South end of Simcoe.

Thanks for sharing that memory gmr, and its nice to hear you and Ann have some happy memories of Keswick. Im almost ashamed to say I have only ever visited the Lake District once in my life, and that was as a spotty faced secondary school pupil. ( Just a few years ago..ha ).

Its a beautiful part of the country but I have one abiding memory of it that will never leave me, and oddly enough it was around this time of year, shortly before Easter. Our ill prepared school group of pupils and teachers set off from our hostel one bright and sunny morning, apparently to tackle Helvelynn. We were all pretty much in plimsolls/trainers/shorts/jeans/t-shirts, it was that 'warm'.

http://www.helvellyn.com/

Within 3 hours our group was clinging to anything remotely solid they could find within grasp on a track barely a foot wide, in a blizzard. How we didn't all perish I will never know. To this day its the most frightening experience I have ever encountered.

I'll look up Lake Simcoe to see how it compares, in the meantime thanks for posting. Moley

I think Mr SOT should be thanking his employer profusely for forcing this holiday option on him !

This spell is turning out to be a near repetition of last April in terms of sunshine and settled weather, albeit with slightly lower temperatures which you would expect anyway given its a month earlier in the calendar year. Even so, several March temperature records have already tumbled in the last few days, mostly in Scotland.

Talking of April, I have mentioned in earlier posts about some fairly strong signs of a distinct change to the weather pattern as we enter that month. Well looking at the latest data and model runs it seems that is now very much in doubt. After the cooler blip I am still expecting this coming weekend, it seems the High Pressure and ridging is still very reluctant to allow any major change for London and The South East right up to Easter weekend.

It will be cooler than this week, almost certainly, but the threat of wet and windy weather has again receded further into FI, to the point of almost disappearing from the charts altogether. Nice in some respects if you like dry settled weather, but worrying in terms of the drought situation.

On that note there has been a significant increase in the number of reported wildfires in several parts of the country in recent days, and without wishing to sound like a health and safety freak, please bear in mind that many parts of the country are now like a tinderbox. One careless match, spark, cigarette end etc is all it takes. Lecture over ....Lol


Thanks as always for reading and posting. Moley

The change to much cooler weather is underway, just in time for the weekend as I mentioned in earlier posts.

Here in London and The South East we should just about manage to hang on to these warmer than average temperatures on Friday, but the weekend will see an increase in cloud cover and a fall in temperatures to much nearer the March average. It was nice while it lasted.

Moley

Typical !

_________________
Lets be careful out there !

I am just back from one HOT holiday in the Cotswolds. You are right Moley, I grumbled (quite a bit!!) when I knew that I would have to take a March holiday, now I feel a bit silly!!

I stayed in a lakeside cottage surrounded by countryside - it was beautiful. Deer came by along with rabbits and scores of variety of bird life. I spent some time watching a Kingfisher tidy his nest on the bank of the lake and watched a in flight battle between geese . Plus, long walks and even longer pub lunches were the perfect antidote to the daily commute to SW1.

Sorry boss. I take back all those nasty names that I called you (OK, all but one of them !!)

^^ Good to hear you had a nice break SOT and the weather was definately on your side.

Well here comes the weekend, along with cloudy skies and cooler temperatures. Even so the temperatures will be about average for this time of year as I mentioned in earlier posts.

The winds have already swung round to a more northerly direction today ( Friday ) and it was noticeable, even in the sun. I think 11-13c ( 52-55f ) is about the best we can hope for this weekend in London and The South East, under mostly cloudy skies, and an outside chance of the odd shower.

I dont see much in the way of change next week either, as a ridge of high pressure tries to rebuild again over the south of the UK. Further north a cold front could well introduce some sleet and snow at the start of the week on higher ground, and that front will try and edge its way towards us by Tuesday. If it manages to get this far south it may deliver the odd shower of rain, but thats far from certain. What is certain is that the near endless sunshine and warmth most of our region enjoyed for much of the last two weeks is over for a while now.

Thanks for reading and posting. Moley