Spring 2024

[GloriaSmud]

Although cold, snowy weather is still possible, we are a few weeks away from the start of meteorological spring (1st March)
So here are some thoughts from The Weather Outlook on what we might expect.

@EmmaEmerald As you say, it is a week away so hard to be certain but at the moment, it's looking ok-ish. Maybe cloudy/the odd shower/drizzle at first but nothing too terrible and looks like it gets better towards the middle of next week. As for the state of the ground after the winter we've had, hard to tell. I would hope that a few dry-ish days this week, it might help dry things out a bit but after the last few months, things will probably still be boggy under-foot for a while yet!

(The frogspawn count remains at 3 clumps!)

@GloriaSmud thank you, much appreciated

and thank you for the frog spawn update!

Netweather's forecast for March.

EmmaEmerald ~ hope the weather's good if you decide to go for it and spend a few days in the area.

@GloriaSmud I decided against it, only one forecast is saying no rain. Also looks like a realfeel of 2.

Here is Essex it seems a fair bit colder than what's been forecast.

they needed to allocate the work and I don't need to go that far for work, but would have been okay if it was say, 10 degrees, and a chance to go up there. Hopefully something like that will come around in summer.

EmmaEmerald ~ that's probably a wise decision ~ the Peak District is lovely but warm and dry-ish can't be guaranteed at the moment!

And this might delay Spring a bit as well....

(Frogspawn count now stands at 6 clumps)

It does look drier than the past few months in general, but the models do support a chilly couple of week with for some, persistent cloud and patchy rain.

But there again, persistent rain in parts of the south on Saturday night into Sunday.

Huge laundry day planned here in Hampshire tomorrow. Already got the first load washed and waiting to be pegged out first thing.

I now know who to blame for the last two days of cold and damp weather <glares >

Although if you did manage to get it done, mind if I send mine down? 😬

I was lucky enough to blitz it all on Friday pixie.
Needless to say, it's already built up again. Looks like solid grey sky and drizzle this week.

Just drawn back the curtains to find.....more rain and it's forecast like that for most of the day.

At least it's looking warmer later this week....unless it's raining at the same time....

Drip drip drip

Feel like I'm turning amphibious with all this rain it's never ending.

Feel like I'm turning amphibious with all this rain it's never ending.

Saw our first frog a couple of days ago. It was trying to get into the house out of the rain 😳 This morning we have flooding in the garden so I assume we had a lot of rain overnight...again.

There was a frog chilling out in the puddles in the school playground this morning, nearest pond (unless there's one in a garden somewhere) is at the park half a mile away.

We had rain all night. Which I don’t think was forecast. Very grey today.

After a horrific forecast, it's almost sunny here today. There was a brief spell of rain just before lunch, but it's definitely improving

Well our six foot weeping willow has arrived. Fingers crossed we get decent weather to plant it out tomorrow.

It seems to be raining again.

I'm in West Yorkshire and feel like I haven't seen the sun properly for about 96 days.

It does feel never ending. The attached report tells a story of record rainfall and overflowing aquifers. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65f035c99812270011f612bf/Water_situation_report_for_England_February_2024.pdf

For me, the hardest thing is the lack of sun. I wake up every morning in a mix of gloom and rage at the never ending grey skies. Along with the news and the state of roads and crumbling infrastructure, I feel as though I'm walking around in a dystopian film.

The outlook I'm afraid is for more of the same, especially in the south. High pressure to our northeast, while helping keep storms away, is driving the rain and gloom further south than usual across southern Britain. We all need to go with pins and pop that bastard high pressure.

The state of the roads and drains really gets me down.
I've been reporting a blocked drain and drainage issues on a road near me for two years now. The county council still have it on their to do list. I saw three people get soaked by cars yesterday morning ☹️, me and some teen lads had to sprint past the permanent giant puddle in between vehicles.

From a practical point of view, if people don't take vitamin d tablets, you should strongly consider it. Theres info about dose here. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-d/

Ive dug out an old SAD lamp to use. I've realised that my low mood may be old SAD symptoms coming back to the fore. Info on SAD if people may think they are also struggling with it. https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad/about-sad/

I feel exactly the same @OhYouBadBadKitten - honestly can’t bear any more of this grey. We had a couple of sunny days the other week and I was a different person. It makes 100% difference to my whole personality. Now I feel crap for being so dependent on something like sunshine that I can’t control!

PS I have a SAD lamp but it’s not enough…

It brightened up today in Essex but not for long. Looking at the forecast, more rain, but warmer, which is something. However, it's still windy so still needing a winter coat in spite if forecast saying it was 14 at lunchtime.

I might be wrong but this feels like the greyest March for a while. I have usually put the SAD lamp away by now!