What atrocious weather here this morning. Methinks the weather has forgotten
it is May and thinks it is January. Cold, wet and nasty.

The wind is doing a good job of defoliating the silver maple tree and all
the leaves are ending up in the pond.

Wind frequently gusting to over 30 mph and it is lashing it down. Horizontal
heavy rain with drizzle mixed in just for that extra wetting effect.

It's must be making it rather unpleasant for the organisers at the Dartmouth
Music Festival which this time last year was bathed in glorious sunshine for
the whole weekend.

(11:45), 9.8°C, RH 90%, DP 8.4°C, 1001 hPa (S), Wind 17 mph SSE.
________________
Nick.
Otter Valley, Devon
83 m amsl
http://www.ottervalley.co.uk

On May 17, 11:47 am, "Nick Gardner"
wrote:
What atrocious weather here this morning. Methinks the weather has forgotten
it is May and thinks it is January. Cold, wet and nasty.

The wind is doing a good job of defoliating the silver maple tree and all
the leaves are ending up in the pond.

Wind frequently gusting to over 30 mph and it is lashing it down. Horizontal
heavy rain with drizzle mixed in just for that extra wetting effect.

It's must be making it rather unpleasant for the organisers at the Dartmouth
Music Festival which this time last year was bathed in glorious sunshine for
the whole weekend.

It's surprising how often May, and in particular the second half of
May, is rather unpleasant: it seems that for the 6th time in 10 years
(the others being 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007) much of May (with an
emphasis on the later part of the month) is going to be not
particularly nice. In the south of England in recent times May tends
to be fairly consistently the least favourable month of the spring
from the point of view of settled weather: there's a nasty tendency
for the jetstream to go south fairly reliably for about two weeks at
this time of year. March by contrast tends to be predominantly settled
more often than not.

Nick

It's surprising how often May, and in particular the second half of
May, is rather unpleasant: it seems that for the 6th time in 10 years
(the others being 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007) much of May (with an
emphasis on the later part of the month) is going to be not
particularly nice.

Interesting. Is this a feature of the last 10 years or so, or has it always
been?

Lamb (The English Climate) states that the 21st - 31st of May as "The
Fore-monsoon Fine Weather Period is related to frequencies of AC and S types
together 60-70%".

My birthday is at the beginning of June and my first memories (and photos)
start from the mid 70s when it seemed that the sun always shone. We used to
have tea on the lawn on that day, and the weather just seemed to be good
every year. Now I know memory is very unreliable but this fine, early June
weather seemed to decline from the mid 80s and reached a low point during
the 90s when it was often wet and cold on my birthday.

A recent recovery has taken place with 6 out of the last 8 years bringing
sunny and warm, or even hot weather on my birthday.

Hopeful thinking that the forecasts hint at something warmer and sunnier as
we go towards the end of May and this leads us into good weather in early
June as was the case in 2000, 01, 04, 06, 07 & 08.
________________
Nick.
Otter Valley, Devon
83 m amsl
http://www.ottervalley.co.uk

On Sun, 17 May 2009, Nick wrote
On May 17, 11:47 am, "Nick Gardner"
wrote:
What atrocious weather here this morning. Methinks the weather has forgotten
it is May and thinks it is January. Cold, wet and nasty.

The wind is doing a good job of defoliating the silver maple tree and all
the leaves are ending up in the pond.

Wind frequently gusting to over 30 mph and it is lashing it down. Horizontal
heavy rain with drizzle mixed in just for that extra wetting effect.

It's must be making it rather unpleasant for the organisers at the Dartmouth
Music Festival which this time last year was bathed in glorious sunshine for
the whole weekend.

It's surprising how often May, and in particular the second half of
May, is rather unpleasant: it seems that for the 6th time in 10 years
(the others being 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007) much of May (with an
emphasis on the later part of the month) is going to be not
particularly nice. In the south of England in recent times May tends
to be fairly consistently the least favourable month of the spring
from the point of view of settled weather: there's a nasty tendency
for the jetstream to go south fairly reliably for about two weeks at
this time of year. March by contrast tends to be predominantly settled
more often than not.

It's a hallowed tradition, the cold snap mid-May, known in Germany and
Austria as the days of the Eis Heiligen, the Ice Saints. This is from
Wiki:

The Ice Saints is the name given to St. Mamertus, St. Pancras, and St.
Servatus in Hungarian, German, Austrian, and Swiss folklore. They are so
named because their feast days fall on the days of May 11, May 12, and
May 13 respectively. The period from May 12 to May 15 was noted to bring
a brief spell of colder weather in the Northern Hemisphere under the
Julian Calendar. With the change to the Gregorian Calendar, however, the
equivalent days would be May 19–May 22.

In Poland, the Ice Saints are St. Pancras, St. Servatus and St. Boniface
Boniface; St. Boniface's feast day falling on May 14. The trio are known
collectively as the 'cold gardeners', the three days culminating in
'Zimna Zos'ka' (Cold Sophia's), the feast day of St. Sophia which falls
on May 15.

--
Kate B

PS 'elvira' is spamtrapped - please reply to 'elviraspam' at cockaigne dot org dot uk if you
want to reply personally

On Sun, 17 May 2009 14:19:30 +0100, Kate Brown wrote:

It's a hallowed tradition, the cold snap mid-May, known in Germany and
Austria as the days of the Eis Heiligen, the Ice Saints.

And in Orkney and Shetland they are known as the "Gabs of May".
--
MCC
17/05/2009 14:29:58

"Nick Gardner" wrote in message
...
What atrocious weather here this morning. Methinks the weather has
forgotten it is May and thinks it is January. Cold, wet and nasty.

The wind is doing a good job of defoliating the silver maple tree and all
the leaves are ending up in the pond.

Wind frequently gusting to over 30 mph and it is lashing it down.
Horizontal heavy rain with drizzle mixed in just for that extra wetting
effect.

It's must be making it rather unpleasant for the organisers at the
Dartmouth Music Festival which this time last year was bathed in glorious
sunshine for the whole weekend.

(11:45), 9.8°C, RH 90%, DP 8.4°C, 1001 hPa (S), Wind 17 mph SSE.

Hi Nick, fun isn't it :-)

Cold here at Haytor this morning with continuous heavy driving rain and a
temperature between 7 and 8C. Having said that only 13mm rainfall so far
today.

Now at 1400 the sun is breaking through and the ground is drying and the
temperature has shot up to 10.7C.

I don't think it is like January though as it is not cold enough, more like
November or December.

ill (Haytor, Devon, 1017 feet asl)
--

"Will Hand" wrote in message
...




I don't think it is like January though as it is not cold enough, more
like November or December.

But with the sun strength of late July
--
Col

Bolton, Lancashire
160m asl

Now at 1400 the sun is breaking through and the ground is drying and
the temperature has shot up to 10.7C.

Sun now managing to put in an appearance here too. Looking at the daises on
the lawn, a couple of minutes ago they were all closed up and now they are
all open and facing towards the sun. They appear to have opened the instant
the sun came out.

Still rather blowy but feeling warmer and more humid than earlier on.

(14:40), 14.0°C, RH 78%, DP 10.1°C, 1002 hPa (R), Wind 23 mph SSW.
________________
Nick.
Otter Valley, Devon
83 m amsl
http://www.ottervalley.co.uk

On 17 May, 14:44, "Nick Gardner"
wrote:
Now at 1400 the sun is breaking through and the ground is drying and
the temperature has shot up to 10.7C.

Sun now managing to put in an appearance here too. Looking at the daises on
the lawn, a couple of minutes ago they were all closed up and now they are
all open and facing towards the sun. They appear to have opened the instant
the sun came out.

Still rather blowy but feeling warmer and more humid than earlier on.

(14:40), 14.0°C, RH 78%, DP 10.1°C, 1002 hPa (R), Wind 23 mph SSW.
________________
Nick.
Otter Valley, Devon
83 m amslhttp://www.ottervalley.co.uk

Just wondering, with not much sign of any 'Summer' weather on the
horizon, how's the mean temperature for May doing? Any chance of May
being colder than this last April? Would be pretty unusual if it is...

Just wondering, with not much sign of any 'Summer' weather on the
horizon, how's the mean temperature for May doing? Any chance of May
being colder than this last April? Would be pretty unusual if it is...

Well, at the moment (1st - 16th) my averages a
Mean min: 7.7°C (+0.3°C)
Mean max: 16.3°C (+0.2°C)
Mean: 12.0°C (+0.2°C)

Treat my LTAs with a huge pinch of salt but it does look as if temperatures
so far for May are around or slightly above the 1971 - 2000 average.

As regards to being colder than this year's April then this is highly
unlikely as the average temperatures are above Aprils and I would expect
(though sometimes the reverse does happen) the second half of May to be
warmer than the first. Therefore, I would also expect this May and the
Spring as a whole to end up warmer than average.

April 2009 averages:
Mean min: 6.0°C
Mean max: 15.7°C
Mean: 10.8°C.

Spring 2009 (Up to 16th May)
Mean min: 5.4°C
Mean max: 14.8°C
Mean: 10.1°C

Out of interest, compare this May's to last year's May which was more like
June with regards to temperature.

May 2009 averages:
Mean min: 10.2°C
Mean max: 19.7°C
Mean 14.9°C.
________________
Nick.
Otter Valley, Devon
83 m amsl
http://www.ottervalley.co.uk