Although, Doc, reading Richardabdn's posts you'd think it was meteorological Hades!

I have no idea where you're getting your data from. I'm using Church Fenton as a reference for most of Leeds - it's the closest station to my location.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Fenton

Average July high is 21.2C. Average January high is 7.0C. Average annual rainfall is 603.3mm. Average annual sunshine is 1574 hours. 

If you're using the data available on Wiki, I exercise extreme caution - it says it's for Leeds Bradford Airport which is 208m ASL compared to 20-40m ASL for central Leeds, but there isn't even a source for the data. 

Leeds Bradford sees an average of 172 days with rain falling, Southsea has 103 days.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth

Southsea is part of Portsmouth Solent is roughly 12 miles away..

Warmer overall then Leeds, nights notably. 

Sunshine.. more of it and it's stronger 😏

Just to highlight the difference between the airport (which is the highest commercial airport in the UK), and the city itself..

In the 1995 heatwave, Leeds Weather Centre (Leeds' official Met station until it closed in 2003) exceeded 30C a total of seven times. Leeds Bradford exceeded 30C zero times. 

In August 1995, Leeds Weather Ctr had an average high of 24.4C, compared to 22.6C at the airport.

Leeds Weather Centre was always warmer than Church Fenton - in both summer and winter. Heck, Leeds was occasionally hotter than London on some days during summer. Its record high is 34.4C - higher than anywhere on the south coast. 

Leeds Bradford might be closer to reality for somewhere like Cookridge but definitely not for me on the eastern outskirts of the city. 

Portsmouth is clearly a sunnier city - and the sun is stronger - but you shouldn't kid yourself. Leeds is at 53.5 degrees north. Portsmouth is 50.4 degrees north. A drastic difference it is not - and Portsmouth, by global standards, is still a very cloudy climate with cool summers. It looks better in comparison to the rest of the country - including places immediately inland - but that's not saying much. You can bet that people will be going to Spain, Portugal and France for their summer hols, not Costa del Portsmouth. 

You're right about caution- anybody can post wiki data. I've done it loads of times and it doesn't always get filtered by the reference-seekers.

As for S. Coast temps- you have to go a bit further inland for a better idea. 23C as an average July max temp here, along with all the others; can't find a higher one:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/climate/gcpdj5hby

North Heath.

Are you actually kidding me with that 34.4C being higher then the highest anywhere on the south coast?? 😂 oh dear.

You do realise that Southampton still holds the highest record for June since 1976 35.6C?? And Southampton is on the southcoast.

And even higher temperatures have been recorded down here on the southcoast in other months.

30C on average happens a couple of times a year in Portsmouth... Southampton & Bournemouth I suspect are the same.

This is nonsense. Nowhere in the UK has anywhere near as few as 103 rain days. The lowest is around 150 and that's in Essex.

Met Office map shows around 160 days for Portsmouth: 

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/climate/averages/maps/uk/8110_1km/RainDays02_Average_1981-2010_17.gif

Southampton is on an estuary - so has the benefit of being sheltered from much of the ocean's moderating influence. It is also less sunny than Portsmouth for the same reason.

Bournemouth's highest is 34.1C. 

Any more? 

Southampton is on the south coat simple as that.. Thorney Island saw a top temp of 35.2C back in 2003, I'm not sure if that is a record for that station. Portsmouth saw temps apparently as high as 36C back then, however im not sure where the council got these stats from. It is quite probable though given that rural Thorney was at 35.2C.

Southampton's temperature was 34.9C or higher on 3 consecutive days in 1976 from the Mayflower Park site correctly, as you say, on an estuary- but also as I say, subject to significant sea breeze effects on hot summer days. I have studied this specific effect for years. This is why it has failed to get high temperatures on a number of anticyclonic summer days when places further inland have scorched. All this aside, it has topped 34.4 on several occasions. Other sites in N. Southampton have reported 35C on 3rd and 4th August 1990 and 3rd August 1995, but not the official stations (there were two) nearer the sea. Leeds is an inland site and by that logic it should be warmer- but it isn't. 

Bournemouth's weather station is several miles from the sea at Hurn- more sheltered from sea breeze effects generally than stations on wide estuaries which generate their own small effects, leading to small-scale pressure differentials that actively encourage the sea breeze to migrate in along a path of least resistance.

A better example for the Yorkshire temperature flag would be the September 1906 Bawtry record. Now that to me is more amazing than any temperature recorded in the UK as the sun was only as high as in early April- yet it hit a staggering 35.6C. Same as Southampton's June record (joint record actually; Southampton shares it with a 1957 June record from the London area- can't remember which one).

Horse Chestnut coming into leaf.

Hoping to see the magnolias burst into bloom around here during the next few days. Always once of the highlights of the year.

Blackbirds collecting nesting material....

It's been a slow start to the moth season as well despite it being a relatively warm winter. I managed to run the trap once in January and twice last month for a combined catch of 6 moths.

Some routine Spring moths are now about so I hope to be trapping every other night this coming week.

Cold nights do affect catch numbers but some moths will still fly in quite low temperatures if its not windy.

Also strawberries from Sussex were available in Waitrose from last weekend. You can now get English strawberries for about nine and a half months of the year. They were available up to a week before Christmas. 

Chichester magnolias already in full bloom, notably one against a south-facing wall in a (warm) city centre.

Saw the first violets of the year today at Wittering (on the coast S of Chi) though that's not especially early. I've seen them in February around here, even in January in Cornwall.

A further thought comparing violets and snowdrops (more or less on time) with daffodils and bluebells (amazingly early) makes me wonder if it's not a similar case to ash and oak. The ash (and maybe violets etc) responds to light and so after this rather dull winter should be more or less on time. The oak (and bluebells etc) respond to warmth, and so the oak leaves should be appearing earlier than the ash this year.

The violets in the South Itchen Valley have been flowering since January, with some gaps in colder spells, so I think warmth is a key factor. I don't group these with the bulbous flowers you mention- the wild daffs in woods near Ringwood and wild snowdrops on Exmoor are woodland varieties and they seem to get their flowering done before the trees leaf properly. Although I occasionally see violets in woods, they are more a wayside and downland plant locally, meaning more light. I agree with the bluebells though: they flower when the leaves on the trees have set in in our local hazel and beech woods, so warmth must be more important.

Does this count? These hothouses can grow pretty much anything in a controlled, synthetic environment. Bet they can grow Christmas strawberries.