1st March ~ the start of meteorological Spring 2026

[GloriaSmud]

1st March ~ start of a new season. After the rather wet winter for some areas, let's hope for something drier over the next few months.

Some thoughts from TheWeatherOutlook.

It’s started hammering it down here! I wondered what the noise was

We were woken up around 3.50am by the start of an amazing thunderstorm ~ continuous rumbling of thunder and lightning every 2-3 seconds, along with torrential rain. It all went on for about an hour before moving away.

We had five minutes of rain, then one flash of lightning and a single (very loud) thunderclap at 6.45am. I reckon everyone round here woke up around then!

Good for the garden and nature in general. Our local farmer was harvesting hay in a field yesterday evening when the thunderstorm hit. He parked up his tractor and went home said it's too dangerous to continue.

Rain isn't good for haymaking either. Needs dry weather.

We had rain overnight but no thunder i was aware of, and I'm not far from @justasking111 must have been very localised

Netweather's thoughts on the overnight storms.

I thought thunder was still rumbling around about an hour ago....and then realised it was the bin lorry! 🙄😂

Still have wildly different temperature forecasts here for the next few days and I need to plan my outfit for tomorrow! The Met Office says 26 and sunny and my phone weather app says 22 and cloudy. Huge difference- whichever is correct will get my loyalty going forward!

We had pink lightning normally a winter thing apparently.

@Delatron I would plan for 26 to be on the safe side

Unless that risks you being freezing cold

There's no air here and it's horrible. I would say we hit 30? Or more.

I can't wait for it to go. And I really hope it doesn't happen again. I can't believe I just said that. Be turning into a winter fan if this carries on.

Yes @EmeraldRoulette and The Met Office do tend to be more accurate.

Yeah I have really struggled to sleep in this hot spell. Was thinking of putting air con in our new house when we move but apparently as it’s in a conservation area we can’t. Maybe I’ll just get a unit but I’m so exhausted!

@Delatron I would actually quite like to live in a conservation area that actually sticks to the rules. I've heard of about a lot of development happening in conservation areas. Genuinely surprised that you're not allowed to fit aircon. You can get really discreet properly fitted types. It's the outside condenser that they're objecting to I presume.

A unit is a hell of a lot cheaper though - even one in several rooms - but it's flipping noisy.

I'm probably quite tired, hayfever, and feeling a bit red in the face which is unusual for me. But there is no air in the flat. Actually, I'm sitting outside and there's not much here either!

To be fair @EmeraldRoulette i haven’t tried yet. My friend on the same road said she wasn’t allowed but
maybe there are more discreet models these days. Yes it’s the outside condenser that is the issue.

Hoping for some air and a cooler night tonight. But looks like this is the end of the super high temperatures for now.

@Delatron depends how recent it was that she was refused I guess

It's absolutely revolting here, still revolting outside. So no point trying to air the place.

I think tomorrow will be less horrible, but if the humidity doesn't change, then it won't?

The overnight low seems to be 21
We need a storm though, but there's nothing forecast.

then Saturday will go back again and then Sunday is questionable. Probably Monday before there's any actual air again.

Just checked reservoir levels. They're much better than last year thank goodness.

That's excellent news justasking111 considering how dry it's been even before this heatwave.

I've slept surprisingly well so it seems as though having my feet on the pet cooling mat is still working it's magic. I highly recommend it.

It probably hit 29 today where I am

In the garden now, but slightly fresh air has only just arrived. It's been muggy and horrible all day. I can't believe we're not having a storm.

The flat is uuggggh but it won't stop being stuffy now unless there's a big change next week.

Well the conclusion is that the weather on my phone (think it’s from Apple?) is complete rubbish. It was pretty warm
yesterday (high 20s) definitely not 22 and cloudy!

Today is boiling again. Definitely not the 25 the phone says. Met office is saying 29 and sun and that feels correct.

I won’t look at my phone weather again. It’s impacted what time I took the dog for a walk as I thought today would be not so hot.

As much as I normally like warm
weather I concur this is a little too much and looking forward to it going back to low 20s for a week and cooler nights.

We are not built for 30 plus degrees in this country.

@Delatron boiling here in Essex again today too

It feels like it was hotter than 30 quite a few days this week

Anyway, I'm really hoping the promised cooldown tomorrow actually materialises. Because when this was forecast, it wasn't meant to be this long.

I hope you found your outfit okay for your event.

Thanks @EmeraldRoulette - I took your advice and it was much warmer yesterday than forecast so I dressed for 26 degrees and took a very thin jacket (which I didn’t need) but pleased I didn’t take a bulky jacket.

I hope you have a cooler night and we are through the intense heat now! The gardens definitely need a drink.

We had spit spots of rain then nothing. It's much cooler though tonight.

Still very muggy

I seem to have reached the "retaining water" stage of heat wave. I'm like a blimp today.

Cool and rainy for the first day of summer. The 10 forecast is for precipitation every day🌦🌧⛈️

From one extreme to the other. Couldn’t sit in the garden last week as it was too hot. Now it will rain and be cool for the foreseeable!

We do need the rain though.

Rain in SE London. Apparently storm at midday.