I'm definitely looking forward to some rain here.  I've been watering some part of the garden every evening for several weeks, racking up my water bill.  And plants that I've never had to water before (notably blackberries) have needed extra water as they have started wilting in the baking sunshine and desiccating wind.  The soil is so rock hard (it's a heavy clay) that if I want to get a fork into it I have to water the patch for 20 minutes the night before, and then it is bone dry again a few days later.

I can relate to this.  Ive had to call a halt to diving to save penalties when playing footie with 2 of my sons.  The local rec went from quagmire to concrete in about 4 weeks spanning the end of March start of April.  May brought dust.  Its an unforgiving surface on which to make "Banksian" saves.  

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Clearly it won't though. Long way back to warm and settled once the change sets in. Possibly in July.

 Is this what you are doing atm,

Looking forward to some welcome rain so I am not having to constantly water the gardens each evening.
www.wetterzentrale.de/maps/GFSOPUK06_183_18.png

Perhaps 40 mm in the next week here if GFS is to be believed.

Hopefully mid-term it will turn dryer from the north with high pressure building from the north and some more easterlies. Nothing too much to moan about so far I don't think.

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Not yet able to moan or gloat 2 days into a season. Glad to see others are finding happiness in their own ways.

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Well that's the end of the warmth and sunshine. It is frustrating that it (predictably) had to come right as the lockdown was ending, but we can't moan I suppose. A more prolonged unsettled spell is due now, after nearly three months of dry weather, and rain is needed now...

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Yay!  We finally have rain!  After three very dry months it’s here.  It’s only light as yet but light is good for soaking into the ground.  I can almost hear the soil sizzling and the plants sighing with relief!  

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 Is this what you are doing atm,

🤣🤣🤣 My ark is high and dry at the moment.

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Certainly a big change in the weather today, compared to what we have been used to and of course, it's just typical of that to have happened, just as we gone into to what is supposed to be our "summer".

That reminds me of what happened six months ago when we ended up having our "winter" during last autumn when we didn't have any snow, but did have most of our cold and frosty weather. Then, we all now what happened during the winter itself which was a complete non-event which ended with our wettest February on record.

Given what it was like during this spring and given that the latest model output appears to be showing no real signs of any proper summer weather for now, it wouldn't surprise me one single bit if we are now experiencing the exact opposite scenario to that.

If that is the case, that could now end up being it for our "summer", with us having already had our "summer" during the late spring, and with this summer itself being cool and wet with a lot of northern blocking thanks to the developing La Nina in the ENSO region.

 

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I realised today that the sunny weather of the last 2 months was the only thing keeping me cheerful during lockdown.

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Very disappointing with very little rain.  Hardly more than a few drizzly showers and nowhere near enough to water the plants. 

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Very disappointing with very little rain.  Hardly more than a few drizzly showers and nowhere near enough to water the plants. 

 

Agreed Caz, was going to plant some more veg today, and even topped up the grass seed on a small patch of the lawn last night, but bar some slight drizzle, it still amounted to 0mm on the gauge, 30 days and counting now!!!

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Disappointed to see another warm spell breakdown to strong cold Northerly winds.

Today was just horrible. It was incredibly gloomy this afternoon and a temp of just 10 degrees at 4pm with a strong winds was a ridiculous contrast to yesterday.

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Agreed Caz, was going to plant some more veg today, and even topped up the grass seed on a small patch of the lawn last night, but bar some slight drizzle, it still amounted to 0mm on the gauge, 30 days and counting now!!!

Best get the watering cans out again!  

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Need some rain to top up the reservoirs. The pressure in the taps can be low at times. All growers need it now.  

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Hailstorm are not required this time of year. We had them this evening with a heavy downpour.

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Best get the watering cans out again!  

Not just the watering can, my hosepipe has been in use each evening on one part of the garden or another.  In the 6 weeks since my last water meter reading I have used 3 cu.m. of water, whereas I normally use 4 cu.m. in 6 months for domestic use.

Thankfully, Bewl Reservoir is currently at 93% capacity, as shown on the Southern Water website: https://www.southernwater.co.uk/water-for-life/reservoir-levels so we shouldn't run out down here for the forseeable.

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Summer went out yesterday evening with thunder and lightning. Then came a downpour with hail and rain.

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I’m a cyclist and have been suffering endless blustery headwinds (even on circular routes!) during the last few weeks. More of the same today in Surrey. My impression is that the last few weeks have been unusually windy. 

Am I right? If so, why has it been so windy?

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Miserable today. Like the Junes of my youth.

How will I stop my children spending all day on iPads in this weather?

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Just one week in and this repulsive season has already produced several of the vilest summer days I've experienced and that's despite living through the past 23 years which has produced more horrible June weather than any other equivalent period of recorded history 

Apart from yesterday it's barely scraped double figures since Tuesday. It was above 10C for 42 minutes on Wednesday, 3 hrs 56 on Thursday and not at all on Friday. Currently it's 9.7C with drizzle having briefly reached 10C 

It's not just these horrifying temperatures that are the problem but the wind that is accompanying them. I really can't ever remember anything like it. Even 2012 I don't remember being windy as well as grey and cold. During the worst week of June 2012, I managed to walk into town and back to see the Olympic Torch relay. It was nowhere near as unpleasant as the past few days. Couldn't even leave the house on Wednesday or Friday and only managed a brief unpleasant bike ride after work on Thursday. 

Friday evening was unreal with a driving wind and temperatures down to 6C. Only in bleak isolated lands, where the population are forced to live on a diet of whale blubber, could you reasonably expect to get that in a summer month. I cannot think of anywhere on earth that has such an awful climate that you would get those sort of conditions in summer following a snowless winter but that is what we have had to endure. This truly is the nadir for weather that we are living through.

What's more this disgusting spell isn't even producing much in the way of rain, when we are experiencing the driest ever start to a year, so is completely useless as well as being unpleasant in the extreme.

If there isn't a significant improvement soon then it's clear this will be yet another summer so poor it can be binned off by mid-June. 

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