This weather is getting me down. Is it May or March?

Alternate torrential downpours, hail stones, gusts of wind that would blow the teeth off a saw and then beautiful sunshine and then repeat all daym. The lawn is flooded, the clematis is hanging on to the trellis by the skin of its teeth and I'm feeling very smug that I staked and strung the delphiniums over the weekend as they'd have been smashed to bits if I hadn't.

Same as Cardamom here in South Yorkshire. Everything it could throw at us, it has. One of my potted roses took a battering so I’ve had to tie supports in.

The wonderfully fickle British weather!

It looks really weird out there now; sky as black as night on one side, but bright sunshine and blue sky on the other. Horizontal rain and rumbling thunder with very strong winds that have already tipped over several heavy filled garden planters. And there's a beautiful big, clear rainbow! I reckon it's Armageddon!

We had all kinds of weirdness today too. High winds, vertical heavy rain, hail stones and bright sunshine.
And repeat.
Over and over today.

Bukkie

It was above average with no rain in April so I don't see what the issue is.

The farmers will be complaining of drought soon

Typical April/May - never makes up its mind. Not really new. I remember snow 1st week in June followed by a long hot summer and floods and downpour in late Sept. Think it was '76

It also snowed on 8 June 1958. The day I was born in Scotland apparently!

After bright sunny starts to the morning the days here have deteriorated by lunchtime to dark skies, cold winds, hailstones and thunderstorms. According to the weather forecasters we will all be dusting off the garden furniture this weekend as temperatures are set to be mid to high 20's. I feel like asking them to put that in writing but here's hoping.

Just back from a week's holiday in North Yorkshire, summer tops, cotton skirts and sandals unworn. We spent the time huddled in coats and sweaters, trying to stay out of the vicious N or NE wind, dodging intermittent heavy showers then being dazzled by sudden gleaming sunshine. The patio and barbecue area of our rented cottage remained unused. 😄
If the promised improvement really happens this week it will merely fuel my paranoia that Someone "up there" doesn't like me!

From the Met Office excellent pages on climate change, it's not going away:

Across the UK, we expect to see:

Warmer and wetter winters
Hotter and drier summers
More frequent and intense weather extremes
Climate change will make these conditions more likely. The UK’s weather will continue to be variable, but we will see more of this type of weather.

In the future, we will still see a lot of the weather we experience today. The difference, though, is that the intensity of some weather types will change.

Compared to our climate in 1990, by 2070 we project:

Winters are between 1 and 4.5°C warmer
Winters are up to 30% wetter
Summers are between 1 and 6°C warmer
Summers are up to 60% drier, depending on the region
Hot summer days are between 4 and 7°C warmer

Check out the forecast for this weekend.
🌞 🌞 🌞

Summer has arrived in most parts of the UK with high temperatures and long sunny days 🌞

A little cold the other night in Lancs, but really nice today.
Took off my winter quilt & electric blanket, washed & dried on the line.
So hopefully it will stay warm.

It has turned out to be a lovely May weekend. 🌞

May or March? More like August now!

I’m trying not to complain that it’s too hot…!

Grannybags

May or March? More like August now!

I’m trying not to complain that it’s too hot…!

😂🥵
I agree! I wasn’t complaining yesterday but I am today…and all our Magnums are gone now too😱

Our Magnums have gone too. Luckily I scraped the bottom of the freezer and found some Cornettos hiding there!

I'm wondering if it is going to be too hot for me to go to our annual Donkey Derby tomorrow. Usually I am wondering if the event will be flooded out by thunderstorms!

It is on a large open grass playing field. No shade. I think they might not run the donkeys (I hope). They are very careful about their welfare.

They have fairground rides and stalls so it could still go ahead. It's a charity thing - and there is nothing else in this town going on.

Ah, just checked. No Donkeys or Dog show, entry fee reduced. Sensible.

A Met Office spokesperson said: “Breaking the 32.8C May record is around three times more likely now in our current climate than it would have been in natural climate conditions before the Industrial Revolution.

The climate crisis is increasing the likelihood of extreme heat. Large parts of western Europe are experiencing similar peaks, and the French national weather agency, Météo-France, said periods of exceptional heat are to be expected “more and more often and more and more prematurely, and to be more and more intense”.

Anyone been to one of these, very interesting an so good to meet people locally and think about what actions we might take, I believe there's an EDM from MPs requesting the film be showed nationally on tv.
www.nebriefing.org