I'm up in the northeast at the moment and I must say it looks like deep winter (-snow) with no sign of spring!!!

Back home spring is in full swing with daffodils, snow drops, crocus, plum blossom all in flower. Trees have new leafs opening, and most song birds have returned. Bees, and hoverflys are once again numerous in parks & gardens. Oh and the sun feels so much nicer then it does up here in the north.

Something doesn't add up. Every year you are on here talking about February not being a winter month in Portsmouth but yet I have just checked the climate data which clearly shows February as being the coldest month of the year in your location

Spring has really come on rapidly this week. Grass has that dark green, shaggy appearance that comes from the build up of nitrogen over winter suddenly being taken up by the growing shoots. Daffs not yet all in flower but all the stems up and in bud. London seems to be a bit behind the South this year because of the very cold weather in the East last month.

I'd say spring timing is about average or a tad late this year (by the stand as of the last couple of decades, not long term). It's certainly been earlier in some recent years. Hopefully good news for tender fruit crops and vineyards if flowering is delayed a little and there's less chance of late frost. Last year late frost killed off huge swathes of vine flowers across Chablis and Cote D'Or, because they flowered early and then got caught. Then hail in May decimated what was left.

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Had a 12 mile walk in 4-6 inches of snow today just south of Edinburgh. No spring here yet!

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Definitely felt like spring yesterday with lovely sunshine. Daffodils are now blooming (though not all of them), along with crocuses and snow drops. I saw a blossom tree blooming as well - not sure what kind though. It was white.

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Mowed my lawn for the second time this year the other day, grass is looking green and healthy. Daffs in bud but not out yet. Frogs are starting to stir in the pond but we're weeks away from any spawn....

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First primroses seen in flower 28 Feb near Midhurst, W Sussex

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No signs of Spring here yet and still only 6/7 by day and subzero by night with snow lying above 350m.....but today was the 3rd sunny day on the trot and looks like another 2 sunny days to come. In the light winds and sun on the decks of the Royal Yacht it felt spring like.

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Spring and autumn time are well known for having powerful displays of the northern lights, and last night was no exception. A strong display allowed the aurora to be visible as far south as north midlands, East Anglia, and Wales.  Sadly the good old british weather ruined it shortly after but i still managed to grab a few pics before the clouds arrived.

 

 

 

 

Nice! (I forgot to check!)

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Nice! (I forgot to check!)

I wish I had been in the north of Scotland last night as the auroras would have been directly over head. Weather permitting your location should be good again tonight.

2 snow covers in 2 days signifies Spring has arrived around here ........of course like clock work Summer will arrive in September!

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Some interesting pictures, but we'll be lucky over the next few days (Unless you are in Orkney or further north) with a KP index of between just 3 and 5 forecast.

http://www.aurora-service.eu/aurora-forecast/

On a more certain note, the garden bulbs say it's spring; in a nearby cemetery, too, a few days back, a breathtakingly-dense swathe of purple crocuses was buzzing with honey bees today; literally buzzing, and at a distance of over a metre (I know it doesn't sound much), you could hear them, like the lavender at Mottisfont in August. Never had that at the end of February.

 

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Some interesting pictures, but we'll be lucky over the next few days (Unless you are in Orkney or further north) with a KP index of between just 3 and 5 forecast.

http://www.aurora-service.eu/aurora-forecast/

On a more certain note, the garden bulbs say it's spring; in a nearby cemetery, too, a few days back, a breathtakingly-dense swathe of purple crocuses was buzzing with honey bees today; literally buzzing, and at a distance of over a metre (I know it doesn't sound much), you could hear them, like the lavender at Mottisfont in August. Never had that at the end of February.

 

Never mind Scotland! A Kp 5 is enough to see the aurora as far south as northern England. These were shot when it was a Kp 5, and it strengthened to a Kp 6 later in the night. A Kp 6 (which was not forecasted) can bring the auroras down to the Midlands, East Anglia, and central Wales.

Short term at the moment the Kp index has dropped but with solar winds still currently flirting at with 700km, and a southward pointing magnetic field the geomagnetic atmosphere is primed!!

Only one clump of snowdrops have flowers on, but there are now hundreds of crocuses flowering across the lawns. Several types of narcissus are flowering. Beyond the garden bed, wrens, dunnocks and blackbirds are singing regularly and the tits are checking out the nest boxes. UV is consistently close to 2, the frog spawn is swelling and the western sky has strips of daylight in it at 7pm. The chiffchaff will be chiffing and chaffing in due measure. 

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Some interesting pictures, but we'll be lucky over the next few days (Unless you are in Orkney or further north) with a KP index of between just 3 and 5 forecast.

http://www.aurora-service.eu/aurora-forecast/

On a more certain note, the garden bulbs say it's spring; in a nearby cemetery, too, a few days back, a breathtakingly-dense swathe of purple crocuses was buzzing with honey bees today; literally buzzing, and at a distance of over a metre (I know it doesn't sound much), you could hear them, like the lavender at Mottisfont in August. Never had that at the end of February.

 

You do know that chart you have edited into your post is indicating when the aurora is visible directly over head? A Kp 7 or higher is what is needed to see it on the southcoast... A kp7 will be visible as far south as Paris.

Some interesting pictures, but we'll be lucky over the next few days (Unless you are in Orkney or further north) with a KP index of between just 3 and 5 forecast.

http://www.aurora-service.eu/aurora-forecast/

On a more certain note, the garden bulbs say it's spring; in a nearby cemetery, too, a few days back, a breathtakingly-dense swathe of purple crocuses was buzzing with honey bees today; literally buzzing, and at a distance of over a metre (I know it doesn't sound much), you could hear them, like the lavender at Mottisfont in August. Never had that at the end of February.

 

Now I don't know about this stuff and don't pretend to, but am slightly interested, so rely on bodies that publish materials related to it to further my knowledge. The chart above was captioned with the following note, as can be seen on the link I originally posted.

The Northern Lights are most often seen in the Lapland regions of Finland, Sweden and Norway along with Iceland and Greenland. But during high activity, auroras are often visible from much lower latitudes, often including Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Estonia and more. This table allows you to see what Kp level is typically required see aurora borealis where you are in the event of high geomagnetic activity.

I wonder if this might have been translated as it's clearly a map and not a table; or perhaps there was another table of data near to the caption that I didn't notice. They left out the word 'to' I think in this statement, but the message they give is clear: this is the number you need to see it at these latitudes. Again, I don't know, but this website says it does. Because my interest is only slight, I don't have the capacity to investigate the authenticity of this data, but perhaps someone on TWO has that time and inclination.

I did quickly find one data set on another site

https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/help/the-kp-index

This matches the map quite well. Other than that, it's over to the experts. I'll stick to crocuses and Mirabelle blossom from now on!

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Now I don't know about this stuff and don't pretend to, but am slightly interested, so rely on bodies that publish materials related to it to further my knowledge. The chart above was captioned with the following note, as can be seen on the link I originally posted.

The Northern Lights are most often seen in the Lapland regions of Finland, Sweden and Norway along with Iceland and Greenland. But during high activity, auroras are often visible from much lower latitudes, often including Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Estonia and more. This table allows you to see what Kp level is typically required see aurora borealis where you are in the event of high geomagnetic activity.

I wonder if this might have been translated as it's clearly a map and not a table; or perhaps there was another table of data near to the caption that I didn't notice. They left out the word 'to' I think in this statement, but the message they give is clear: this is the number you need to see it at these latitudes. Again, I don't know, but this website says it does. Because my interest is only slight, I don't have the capacity to investigate the authenticity of this data, but perhaps someone on TWO has that time and inclination.

I did quickly find one data set on another site

https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/help/the-kp-index

This matches the map quite well. Other than that, it's over to the experts. I'll stick to crocuses and Mirabelle blossom from now on!

Much better visual guides to what you can expect..

 

And explanation can be found here..

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/can-i-see-the-aurora

 

You will see your map displayed for each of the 10 forecast levels (0 to 9). Find the levels where your location is inside the green line. For example, on the North America map, Chicago requires a 3 to see the aurora on the northern horizon and at least a 5 to see it overhead.

Frog and frogspawn in our pond at the moment:

https://twitter.com/M35weather/status/839481853644013572

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Aw, how cute.

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The true definition of Spring today, warm enough to sit on the west-facing front porch with a cuppa this afternoon and have windows open and central heating turned off.

Currently 16 C in the shade with the sun beaming away.

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