Its going to feel warm in the much higher sun regardless of the air temp. The sun doesn't heat the air, but it does warm surfaces and your skin. 

Ours not been off since last October at some point in the day and we only have the thermostat low at 20.5C.

One good thing about this time point of the year is that even with cool temperatures things can feel pleasant enough in the sunshine and light winds. It’s just a pity that we have neither much of the time. 

I’m convinced that there has been a significant decrease in the prevalence of SWly winds in the last few years and this is modelled to continue. I wonder if there is a data set available that would show whether this is just my perception. Is it a shift in the climate norm or just a “blip”?

And yes the heating is still coming on here almost every day with the thermostat set at 17.5°C

Cold and dry - worst Spring weather for gardeners.

Yes, I have had a few Facebook “memories” over the last few weeks and the garden is notably behind previous years for many of the flowers and plants and that’s without the drier weather! I don’t think the next few weeks may be much better.

We are lucky that our house gets and stays warm easily.  But today is bleak here cloudy and chilly.

😂

No, they just didn’t “listen”, but I’m sure they will soon come to understand how they are supposed to “behave” and “ignore” all that silly stuff like numerical data inputs. 

I think the reality has always been that high pressure to our north or north-east is more common at this time of year and brings an easterly drift/wind off a chilly North Sea, making eastern counties cooler and cloudier whilst the western side sees lighter winds and more sunshine. As a cricketer and now umpire I have endured plenty of days like this during the early part of the cricket season.

Of course, warmer seas and more moisture will tend to increase the cloud amounts and the associated risk of drizzle or showers.

Yes, a quick run through the latest output doesn’t inspire confidence in any decent warmer or settled weather does it?

As I sit here it’s the usual picture in this pattern: a beautiful, sunny start has given way to 100% overcast with just a little brightness.  It could pass for a winter’s day at the moment.

Agreed I use to be excited with HP before when I used to view charts but now no as you said wrong place and refusing to move over us and to the east. HP is a pest and not useable most times.  The best set up for prolonged hp is from Azores to Scandinavia that give more sunshine for most of us. 

........ and me, also doing groundsman duties in cold wet early May's. I really noticed the cold when fielding and do recall a game with snow falling. The season always started two weeks too soon and anything below 17C felt bitter after tea standing in the slips. As you say it is nothing new but I think in recent years we've been spoilt by some early season short lived "heatwaves"  (think Covid lockdowns flocking to the beach!)  and unusually high maxima.

(By the way - for some reason I picture as a dour Boycott style opener or line and length bowler as opposed to my more flamboyant  left handed batting 😄)

HP in spring/early summer setting up towards the NW/N/NE and bringing a flow from an easterly quadrant is still the underdog, but I definitely feel like it's happening more often than it used to.

Of course, living in the west, it's a development I welcome! 😁

High Pressure to the west and NW is practically an annual event in the spring.

Here on the east coast it is notorious for giving us at least a couple of weeks constantly below 10C with lovely sea fog thrown in at times, while the Lake District and NW Scotland get their only dry and sunny spell of the year with temperatures close to 20C

Well that's garbage.

GFS Op - for the coming week, HP currently nearby moves out towards Iceland allowing LP in the Baltic to move closer and generate weak but cold NE-lies for much of Britain. At next weekend the Atlantic remembers its normal function and produces LP near Greenland which tracks quickly S-wards, deepening, to Fastnet 970mb Sat 27th. This swirls around Britain for a few days, filling, before moving further S to Italy  by Thu 2nd. There is then a slow rise of pressure over Britain but LP is never far away to the SW and later the S, so by Tue 7th the E-lies are back.

ECM - similar to GFS for the first week though next weekend's LP is not so deep (only 990mb) and is further to the SW. When it does move away, it moves back to the Atlantic and on Tue 30th pressure has risen enough over N Europe to start influencing Britain.

GEFS - rather cool (Scotland hangs on to something a little milder for the first couple of days), rising to norm Tue 30th with fair ens agreement to that point after which ens members spread out though mean stays near norm. Periods of not-too-heavy rain likely for the week beginning Fri 26th, though wetter in the SW, most but by no means all runs drier after that.

Great post and bang on the money.

Even though the pattern change may bring about settled conditions to end this month, ground temps are going to struggle: 

https://www.wetterzentrale.de/en/show_diagrams.php?geoid=49069&model=gfs&var=202&run=0&lid=ENS&bw=1 

Good to see some mature and coherent chat restored today. 

Not as wet as it has been but not particularly dry either.

The only way we can get solid clear blue sky weather like this is from a high located somewhere east. Which is rare enough but can last weeks at a time when it does. Early April to early June most likely period for that to happen. 

I agree with that perception. I'd be interested to see if it is confirmed by data on the subject.