[BUTTERFLY]

"Wasn't sure where to put this, so thought it was vaguely relevant here as it's chat, but I notice Philip Eden hasn't posted his May forecast yet. Does anyone know if he's said why, anywhere*? It could be as mundane as busy or travelling, but I wondered if there was met based reason."

He also hadn't posted any of the full monthly summaries, going back to January 2012, on his website, which I always looked forward to reading. I have his E-mail address and will contact him about this.

[Andy Mayhew]

HSEA2, on 03 May 2012 - 18:45, said:

Maximum of 8.5c today. A little disappointing to be frank.

I ended up with a max of 8.8c - recorded just after midnight (daytime max was only 8.4c).

Previous coldest May day was 8.9c on 8th May 2010 - the only previous occasion when the max has been below 10c here

[Dave K]

UKMO local forecast now joining in with the GFS pessimism, max here tomorrow of just 7 °C is predicted with rain! Even if that is undercooking it tomorrow will likely break my May low maximum temp record, and surely the populist outcry to ditch the early May BH will take off again...

I don't mind too much about the BH being a lemon as I have no plans, but the local Garden & Crafts show which is always the May Day BH weekend always seem to be a miserable washout with cool weather and rain.

[Chris Alder]

Big Dave, on 04 May 2012 - 08:34, said:

UKMO local forecast now joining in with the GFS pessimism, max here tomorrow of just 7 °C is predicted with rain! Even if that is undercooking it tomorrow will likely break my May low maximum temp record, and surely the populist outcry to ditch the early May BH will take off again...

I don't mind too much about the BH being a lemon as I have no plans, but the local Garden & Crafts show which is always the May Day BH weekend always seem to be a miserable washout with cool weather and rain.

Yes stick one at the end of June or in the Middle of July! I don't care about the kids being off I want a BH that can be useful!

[PJB]

NAE is much more bullish than some other models in bringing rain into Southern Coastal England by the end of the night and lingering throughout a cold and miserable Saturday !

[Andy Mayhew]

Chris Alder, on 04 May 2012 - 09:46, said:

Yes stick one at the end of June or in the Middle of July! I don't care about the kids being off I want a BH that can be useful!

Yes, it is strange that we don't get any bank holidays during the summer when the weather is most likely to be fine and dry!

(Personally I'd shift the meaningless late May BH to the 21st June - and maybe bring the late August one back to the beginning of the month where it used to be)

btw why do people keep asking me if it's going to snow this weekend?

[Pete Roberts]

Andy Mayhew, on 04 May 2012 - 10:48, said:

btw why do people keep asking me if it's going to snow this weekend?

Possibly they've seen that 528dam line right across the UK, and of course the expected cloud cover will cut off most of the May sun's warmth.

Pete

[Dave K]

Andy Mayhew, on 04 May 2012 - 10:48, said:

Yes, it is strange that we don't get any bank holidays during the summer when the weather is most likely to be fine and dry!

(Personally I'd shift the meaningless late May BH to the 21st June - and maybe bring the late August one back to the beginning of the month where it used to be)

btw why do people keep asking me if it's going to snow this weekend?

Probably they have read the same "newspaper" that is telling us that the EU are going to abolish Britain

Possibility that it could reach 10 °C here today even under the unforgiving iron grey skies

[PK2]

Andy Mayhew, on 04 May 2012 - 10:48, said:

Yes, it is strange that we don't get any bank holidays during the summer when the weather is most likely to be fine and dry!

not in recent years (in Wales at least).

[Andy H]

Andy Mayhew, on 04 May 2012 - 10:48, said:

Yes, it is strange that we don't get any bank holidays during the summer when the weather is most likely to be fine and dry!

(Personally I'd shift the meaningless late May BH to the 21st June - and maybe bring the late August one back to the beginning of the month where it used to be)

btw why do people keep asking me if it's going to snow this weekend?

Do the same people who keep asking you about the snow also keep asking if the EU is going to scrap Britain

[Dave K]

Another low max date record set here today then, 9.8 °C beating 10.7 °C from 1996. Two down and almost certainly two or even three more in a row probable.

[Pete Roberts]

PK2, on 04 May 2012 - 12:16, said:

not in recent years (in Wales at least).

I'm old enough to remember August Bank Holiday being at the beginning of August, didn't make any difference to the weather. This is subjective of course, but when they changed the holiday in 1967, the bad weather followed.

Edit: Currently 11.1C here @ 16:00 BST, but Liverpool AP is still reporting 9C so it looks BDG's record low May BH maximum is echoed here.

Pete

This post has been edited by Pete Roberts: 04 May 2012 - 15:02

[Flatlander]

After basking in glorious weather on the Isle of Rum this week, and skiing in a T-shirt at Cairngorm yesterday with temps of 20C in Aviemore, awoke to heavy snow outside the tent this morning. What a turnaround!

Climbed one of the Drumochter Munros this afternoon in stinging graupel showers and subzero summit temps.

Back in boring old England now...

PS Might have some pictures when I sort them out.

[Andy Mayhew]

I'm not allowed to say what I think about you Tim

But has been quite a change from 20c the past few days and now maxes of 10c and snow on the hills this weekend.

(look forward to the pics)

[Dave K]

Temp has risen to 7.8 °C here so for the moment my site's alltime May low max of 7.7 °C is safe. TBH it's not quite as awful a day as seemed likely from the forecast, the rain stopped around 07.30 though it is still overcast - that said it's pretty lousy for a Saturday in early May! Even though it's not rained for a while everything outside is too wet to do some of the necessary garden work.

[Flatlander]

Persistent light snow grains up on the moors near Otterburn. Temp about 3-4C.

Redesdale unlikely to be very warm today...

[Pete Roberts]

I've just found out that my friend has a lorry delivery to Aviemore and we'll be travelling overnight Monday to arrive around 7am Tues. I suspect the run will be not only cold, but perhaps with icy roads thrown in. We've got rail tickets from Aviemore at 11.26 to Glasgow where we pick up our return vehicle.

The Spey runs next to the station but I suspect I'll be needing my winter swimming kit (boots, gloves and neoprene helmet)

Pete

This post has been edited by Pete Roberts: 05 May 2012 - 12:39

[Dave K]

Surprised it managed to get up to 9.6 °C here but now falling again. Cloud sheet is a slightly whiter shade of grey than the last two days

[Dave K]

There is a brightness here that could with some latitude be described as weak sunshine

[akkan]

Just back from the first of the annual May BH fetes I get asked to to morris dance at.
It was sunny, although as we were leaving the clouds were coming across with some nice altostratus undulatus and few drops of rain. I'm not sure of the temperature, as dancers we felt it was OK given that they expected us to dance non-stop for an hour round the village leading their May procession, but the musicians found it cold.
For the past 4 years we've danced at this event (the nearest Saturday to May Day) only the first one was reasonably warm and sunny. The other three were overcast, but not quite as cold as today.