Yes, nothing wrong with sunshine and showers. Typical April weather unlike this trash.

Another vile day today. Persistent rain to start followed by a failed clearance then more persistent rain meaning that 5 out of 6 days have been a total write-off so far in April

So far, this month is certainly living up to it's reputation in terms of the phrase "April Showers". The recently grass-seeded side border on my front garden is now looking lush thanks to the alternating spells of rain and strong sunshine. I did that border about a month ago and thought it was too soon with the risk of damaging frost, but in actual fact I'll give it a few more days and it'll need a cut!

I feel for you Richard, sounds grim up north. It's also been grim here in south west France. We have just endured a disgustingly mild and wet winter here in the Charente and now we are enduring a cold and wet spring. This part of France is second only to the French Riviera for sunshine hours, yet you wouldn't know it this year!! Even the French Riviera hasn't escaped the crap weather this spring though. It was only 12 degrees there the other day with heavy rain and grey skies. My girlfriend lived there for many years and does not remember such awful weather at this time of year! North West Europe's weather seems to be going to hell in a handcart! All we want is some sunshine and warmth FFS!!

I think Richard might have some competition at last.

But sympathies to you Snow Joke. I remember being in the Charente and Vendee, this time of year in 1995. 22°C and we swam in the sea at La Palmyre. It's a part of Europe we have high expectations of. Hope it gets better for you.

Meanwhile, Richard- next weekend in some moist SW lies there's a glimmer of warm hope for you!

Two days ago I noticed the first UV5 rating for Saturday in Torquay on the meto 7 day forecast. But being computer generated they can change hourly so I figured I would wait till Saturday and see if its still there. I typed in other locations on the south coast but could only find Torquay. Doing the search again this morning we now have Falmouth, St Ives, and Dartmouth with a UV5 today. I didn't type in every location on the south coast so there may be others, there may also be inland areas too.

UV5 is at the top end of the MODERATE part of the scale. A UV6 is at the bottom end of HIGH.

The following chart is helpful in estimating damage to skin depending on your skin type.

Really starting to see the sun gain a lot of stength now and It could well be deceptive to a lot of people today as you don't normally associate getting a tan in these air temperatures. Today we have a max shade temp of 9c forecast for Torquay! I thought the burn risk graphic might be useful as we go through the next few months and Alan (Medlock Vale Weather) posted a link earlier in the thread which I think is worth posting again http://sunburnmap.com/

The breathtakingly awful spring rolls on with another absolutely sickening and disgusting write-off Saturday

11 of the last 18 Saturdays have had under half an hour sun and today it's cold, wet and sunless once again. It's just beyond surreal. It's bad enough that the normal weather we used to get meant enduring crap like this every third or fourth week but practically every week now is beyond depressing. 2 years of waiting for the long overdue run of good Saturday weather and they just keep getting worse and worse.

I thought 2014 was as bad as it could possibly get for incessant gloom and rank weekend weather but this year has been on another level of awfulness. Even summers 2007 and 2012 were not as grim as this. It's just horrific. Can't even get out in the evenings as every one since the clocks changed as been miserable cold and grey. Be as well living in an underground cave

Are you actually getting a lot more rain than normal or does it just seem like it as it's raining every day?

Aberdeen on the east coast must have a relatively low rainfall compared to the rest of the country, not even just Scotland.

It's rained here every day in April so far although admittedly quite a lot of this has been in the early morning before first light. Many of the days (like today thus far) have been pleasant enough with some sun. Just wish it would warm up a bit though. Despite the sun only on 8.4°C so far today, doubt I will reach double figures even if it stays dry.

I do have a small idea on how Richard is feeling at the moment as not only has it been wet and windy at this end - that part is to be expected - but how cold it is feeling right now! At 9 C under still overcast skies, I've just cranked on the heating to take the chill off indoors.  
  Yet, this time yesterday I was comfortable pottering about on the front garden in just my jogging bottoms and a cardigan.

"Really starting to see the sun gain a lot of stength now and It could well be deceptive to a lot of people today as you don't normally associate getting a tan in these air temperaturesf. Today we have a max shade temp of 9c forecast for Torquay! I thought the burn risk graphic might be useful as we go through the next few months and Alan"

well  I managed to get sunburnt about 2-3 weeks ago with a uv of 3 or 4. It's great outside here now but just 8c but in the sun, it's t shirt weather. 

Its a moan today as had to battle through heavy rain, sleet and snow to purchase a coffee machine this afternoon as the old one has had it's day. 

Increasingly likely that two of the first four months of this year are going to go down as record breakingly awful. January set a new record for rainfall and this putrid April seems odds-on to set at least one unwanted record 

Rainfall perhaps unlikely given how far ahead 1934 is ahead of any others and the lack of anything heavy this month. It's just been persistent light rain and drizzle i.e. the very worst kind. More likely to be broken are rain days, sunshine and average pressure. 26 rain days set as recently as 2012 under threat, with only 1 dry day so far, and, with a horrific 24 hours sun so far, the 85-hour record from 1941 could easily go. Pressure averaging 1004mb so far, which is only a couple of mb above the record low set in 1871, so a chance of that being broken as well.

Certainly feeling a lot worse than the abomination that was April 2012. A thoroughly unpleasant write-off devoid of anything nice or interesting. No convection, no snow, no frost, no warmth. Just day after day of grotty cold, wet crap off the North Sea. Haven't seen any sun since Saturday 2nd with the pitifully meagre rations, since then, coming entirely during working hours. Sunday 3rd a write-off, no sun at all at lunchtimes or evenings last week then another washout weekend. Today revolting yet again with a band of rain off the North Sea timed with perfection for lunchtime and another cold, grey and misty evening. Incredulously grim and depressing

Poor Richard, I hope he hasn't looked at the Aberdeen forecast for the rest of this week, Oh dear!

I see London is starting it's 'best weather in the UK' gloat early this year with 17c and sunny tomorrow compared to wind rain and 7c up north. Not only does the Capital hog all the Country's money and economic activity it steals the best weather as well. No wonder house prices are so high!

Andy

We just missed 17°C today! Unfortunately, it was a forced 'in' day. What a waste of the warmest day for half a year (we missed the November warmth here).

Was dry tonight. Not sunny but cloud was broken so I thought I'd go out to get some fresh air. Big mistake as it wasn't long before I was attacked by more drenching drizzle. Horrendous stuff. Only amounted to 0.2mm and was out in it for 10 minutes but got soaked 

Beyond vile. It just goes on and on and on

i think it's a little unfair to say it hogs the best weather all sprin/summer long.. We south coasters get a fair share of it too 😉 let that wind swing in from the NE quarter or even NW and then see where the warm parts are. 

forget it, this website is useless. Why is my image the size of a postage stamp?

But data shows London out towards Gravesend is the warmest part of the UK in terms of max summer temperature.  23.5c as a July high in those parts.  The Gravesend coastal area is the only coastal area on the met office maps to have a July max above 22c. Other  UK coastal areas are cooler.

After that most other areas of southern and eastern and into NE England are fairly similar in terms of Max temperature between 21.5 and 22.5c. 

Had it been winter we would have had 10cms of snow yesterday with perfect Synoptics, instead it was 10mm of rain and a max of 7c, bloody waste.

Andy

practically nowhere in northeast England see's an average summer day time mean above 20C so im at a loss as to why you would bring this into the convo.

And if you were following correctly you will see clearly that I responded to a claim that London hogs all the best weather... I said it didn't hog it all as we get a fair share of it down here in the south, please do note and try to understand what 'fair share' means - it is very important 😋 

I suppose it depends on your definition of NE England but certainly from N Yorkshire southwards there is a +20c mean for summer and +21c mean for July with the odd very localised  21c and 22c pocket respectively . These in areas I would class as NE England rather than NW England or the Midlands. 

Personally I see London and Gravesend area as the stand out area for high summer temperatures  particularly when looking at station data partly due to the UHI and sheltered aspects of these locations.  

oncs again you seem to be not comprehending things.. That map from metoffice shows that the vast majority of North Yorkshire sits in the 19-20 or below range.. If i was to hazard a guess at the percentage in the 20-21C or above then it would be under 5%.

More importantly you seem still determined to derail the original point of topic and that was London hogs all the fine summer weather. Day temps are only part of what makes summer weather fine.. Sunshine & night temps also count.