For southern and SE England we are going to break the sunshine record for two consecutive months.

In April we had average sunshine across the region of 256.9hrs. This was 17.5hrs higher than the previous record in 2007. There have been lots of sunny Aprils in recent years with 2011, 2010, 1990, 1984 and 2015 all close behind.

In May the record is 300.2hrs set in 1989. That should easily be beaten this month.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/climate/datasets/Sunshine/ranked/England_SE_and_Central_S.txt

With one day to go, Bournemouth has recorded 324.8hrs (168% of average). Shoeburyness at 321.9hrs is close behind.

Many places across the UK will breach 300hours. RAF Valley in Wales has reached 297.9hrs.

🤣🤣🤣

All the UK nations have broken their Spring sunshine records. England looks like it may break the record by over 100 hours once today’s figure is added in. That is astonishing.

https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/1267102589285523457?s=21

Locally, this month was the sunniest May on record at Edinburgh Gogarbank with a total of 227.3 hours of sunshine, and this spring was the sunniest spring on record at that particular station with a total of 529.5 hours of sunshine.

It just seems as well that it is still getting even sunnier just now as time goes on, as today was the sunniest day of this year so far at Edinburgh Gogarbank with a total of 15.3 hours of sunshine with a total of more than 14 hours of sunshine having been recorded there on every single one of the last three days in a row.

Lol wow that really puts things in to perspective.. your May record is below our average May mean sunshine amount  And your sunniest spring on record would still be considered below average spring sunshine down here If Edinburgh is that gloomy, i think i can understand Aberdeen Richard's frustration being further north and by the sea. 

In actual fact, you would normally expect the north of the UK to be sunnier than the south at this time of the year if you went solely by the length of daylight which increases the further north that you go at this time of the year.

As we know though, this isn't the case in reality and the reason for that is probably due to the fact that the Azores High is usually more likely to ridge into the southern half of the UK on average at this time of the year, than it is to build across the whole of the UK. This means that the south is more likely on average to be sunnier than the north, which tends to be cloudier and more unsettled on average with the prevailing winds being from the SW.

That in turn, would be enough to result in the south being sunnier than the north on average, despite having less daylight during each day at this time of the year. However, that is not how it has been recently because what has actually happened is that the high pressure has tended to be over or to the north of us, and that has resulted in a lot of easterly winds during this spring.

Normally, that would still result in the east coast being much cloudier overall due to low cloud and haar coming in from off the North Sea, especially during the early part of each day. For some reason though, that low cloud and haar just hasn't really materialised to any great extent during this spring. That has led to it being much sunnier here than what it would normally be under this type of synoptic setup, which is probably what has resulted in these records being broken both for the month of May (even in April, we were close to beating the record for that month, but didn't quite manage that in the end) and for the spring as a whole.

Now that we have just moved into a brand new month and the start of the meteorological summer, let's hope that this sunny weather continues. Given that we are less than three weeks away from the summer solstice, we would expect June to be the sunniest month of the year on average but for Edinburgh Gogarbank, that isn't actually the case (here, it is May which is our sunniest month of the year on average according to the 1981-2010 averages).

With that in mind, it would therefore be just like the thing if all of this lovely sunshine which we got during the spring, now broke down as a result of us having now gone into the summer just in the same way that promising winter synoptic setups during the latter part of recent autumns, have tended to disappear once we have gone into the actual following winter.

Returning to Lanky's link at the start, locally since sunshine records began in Southampton, there have been 4 years above 600 hours up until 1992 when records finished due to repeated theft of the C-S sunshine recorder.

These in ascending order are:

1929 (621.6 hours)

1948 (623.7 hours)

1909 (638.4 hours)

1990 (huge jump to 682.1 hours) That's an average of almost 7 and a half hours of sun a day, every day, for 3 months.

Admittedly, 1941 had no records and 1945 was incomplete.

The previous Southampton record from Mayflower Park would have definitely been exceeded!

I recorded 760.2 hours over the Spring 3 month period

May alone recorded 329.5 hours (over 10.6 hours per day), 43% above the Hurn Airport average and just over its previous record.

May 2020 has been the sunniest calendar month on record with 266 hours of sunshine, beating the previous record of 265 hours in June 1957.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2020/2020-spring-and-may-stats

Spring 2020 headlines

626 hours of bright sunshine were recorded in Spring 2020 for the UK and have exceeded the previous high (555 hours, set in 1948) by over 70 hours.

Spring 2020 also exceeds the sunshine amount for most summer seasons, with only three summers being sunnier (1976, 1995, and 1989).

The figure for England is even higher. Spring 2020 recorded 696 hours of sunshine, exceeding the previous record set of 594.3 hours

All UK countries have recorded their sunniest spring on record in series stretching back to 1929

It has been the eighth warmest spring on record for the UK, with both England and Wales having their fifth warmest spring on record

It has been the fifth driest spring for the UK overall, but some counties in north east England and eastern Scotland have recorded their driest spring in a rainfall series from 1862.

From the maps it looks like everywhere in the UK except some of Shetland has been sunnier than average. And for May much of southern central England has had 170% or more of average sunshine.

For some reason the Met Office only included regional data in their press release, no individual station data. We will likely have to wait for that to see where the top spots were. They will likely be in the dark orange area on the May map at this link but not necessary as this just shows deviation from average not absolute figures. Highest numbers normally along the south coast at this time of year.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2020/2020-spring-and-may-stats

Worth noting that the highest monthly total ever was 383.9hrs at Eastbourne in July 1911

From the data we do currently have (which is unlikely to be the highest figures) I can summarise as follows:

May sunshine

England

Reading University 345.1hrs (this is the only station I have in the dark orange section of the Met Office map).

Bournemouth Hurn 339.5hrs

Shoeburyness 337.0hrs

Manston 331.7hrs

Lyneham 330.6hrs

Wales

Cardiff St Athan 312.4hrs

Valley 312.3hrs

Isle of Man

Ronaldsway 287.7hrs

Ireland

Casement Aerodrome 293.6hrs

Spring data to follow

But Southampton is relatively inland.. how the big players faired on the coastline.. IOW, selsey, thorney , southea, eastbourne, and so forth? 

Reports from the Isle of Wight suggest sunshine figures were not that impressive in May due to very cloudy weather at the start of the month. The Met Office chart for May suggests the highest figures were probably inland for the most part. Southsea may have done alright but most other south coast areas are not in the highest anomaly bracket.

So no repeats of 1990 for the southern coastal towns & cities then. 

Spring sunshine totals from currently available data

Shoeburyness - 795.2hrs

Manston - 777.7hrs

Reading University Whiteknights - 766.5hrs (official C/S recorder). (They also have a KZ recorder which actually measured 806.3hrs)

Bournemouth Hurn - 746.9hrs

The east coast takes the prize this year

601.5hrs for spring which would make it the sunniest since 1921 but of course it didn't feel like that due to the 'Weekend Curse' ruining the season completely. mid-April to mid-July 2018 managed over 700 hours.

Total would have been 653.9hrs had it not been for the 'Weekend Curse' which would have smashed the old record.

Every month this year has seen above average sunshine and every month has seen the Weekend Curse. One of these will surely give way now it's summer and no prizes for guessing which is more likely  

The most impressive facts here in my opinion:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2020/2020-spring-and-may-stats

*  The headline one- May being the sunniest calendar month in the UK, beating any June or July.

*   Only 3 summers being sunnier than this spring- now that is definitely the most amazing fact. I mean, just think about it in relation to the solstice and potential hours of sunshine in June and July in particular, but even August has more potential sun hours than April. Then when you factor in March, it beggars belief.

*     Sun hours for Spring over England beat the previous record by over 100 hours.

And living as I do, midway between those two places, I can fully believe the exceptional sunshine amounts. Thank goodness it was accompanied by an unusual amount of NE'ly winds, otherwise my electricity bill would have been even higher...

(I had a leak in my roof repaired in early May. Ever since then it's been dry and mostly sunny... quite remarkable. It won't be until this week that it gets tested!)

According to the Met Office blog

https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/

The 800 hours total for Spring 2020 was in fact broken for (at least) one location

Isle of Wight recorded 837 hours in Mar-May 2020

This is way ahead of the previous Spring record for one individual location I could find being the 799 hours for Selsey in 1990

I suspect this might well beat any summer record too but I haven't checked that

I'm not sure how thick this high cloud has to be before the sunshine stops being recorded (presumably this varies depending on the type of recorder) but I imagine contrail cover can often be enough to reduce the sunshine totals.

I had a look at summer 1976 and this is nowhere near the summer record

In 1976 an area around Eastbourne had 989 hours on the 5km grid between June and August

The Selsey figure is particularly interesting because it shows how much coastal locations can influence the overall picture. A regional spring record can be remarkable without necessarily meaning the whole UK has experienced a record-breaking season. Looking at several long-running stations and comparing their overlapping periods would probably give a more reliable indication.

There is also a practical reason why these historical sunshine figures matter. Long-term sunshine data can be useful when assessing solar resource and renewable generation potential. Stakelum Consultancy in Cashel, Co. Tipperary, works in this area, including renewable energy advisory services , so the reliability of historical weather observations can be relevant when making longer-term assessments.

The 1893 question is probably worth investigating further. If surviving monthly sunshine observations can be found from several stations in southern England, Scotland and Ireland, it might be possible to reconstruct a reasonably useful spring comparison. That would help establish whether the current season is genuinely exceptional or simply benefiting from particularly sunny conditions at a few prominent stations.

From my house in Chichester, I often see sunny conditions towards Selsey (7 miles south) while the sea breeze has pushed cloud formation up to the Downs (a similar distance north)