"Jellore" wrote :

It's official, however everyone I have spoken to back 'home' have told
me how cold and miserable it has been. Reading this article is a bit
of a shock. What is going on ?

Here is the summary I wrote for May (which, if course, includes a
Central Scotland Temperature as these summaries have done
for several years):
QUOTE
May 2008 was a truly exceptional month - dominated by easterly
winds to such an extent that it was the most 'easterly' May (i.e. the
easterly component of the mean sea-level flow was higher than in
any other) in 136 years of records. It also ranked 29th most
'southerly'. The consequence was that it was the warmest and
driest May on record in many parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland,
and northwest England, and it was also the sunniest locally in
northern Scotland. Even in central and southern districts it was the
warmest May at some locations since 1848, but the exceptional
rains of the last week resulted in it being the third consecutive very
wet May here.

Mean pressure charts are available at:
Charts: http://www.climate-uk.com/monpre/0805.htm
The Monthly Review will be uploaded on June 3 to:
http://www.climate-uk.com/monthly/0805.htm
Graphs: http://www.climate-uk.com/graphs/0805.htm and
http://www.climate-uk.com/graphs/200805.htm
Not The Long Range Forecast should be available on June 4 on:
http://www.climate-uk.com/page4.html

The sea-level pressure chart shows low pressure extending from
the Canadian Maritimes and Newfoundland, across the Atlantic
between 45 and 55 degN, towards Biscay and Iberia. The main
centres were 1007mbar near Halifax (NS) and 1007mbar at
53N 30W. The Azores high was discernible, but weaker than
usual, with a central pressure of 1020mbar at 34N 32W, but
the main high pressure area covered Greenland, the Norwegian
Sea and Scandinavia, with centres of 1025mbar over NE Greenland
and 1022mb over central Scandinavia. The mean flow over the
British Isles was ESE-ly.

The sea-level pressure anomaly field has below-normal pressure
over France, Iberia, southern England, southern Ireland, and most
of the Atlantic south of approx 58degN, and above-normal
pressure over northern Europe including central and northern
parts of the British Isles, the Norwegian Sea, Iceland and Greenland.

The main anomaly centres we
- 10mbar in the western Atlantic off Nova Scotia and New England
- 7mbar between Ireland and the Azores
+ 8mbar in the southern Norwegian Sea

Over the British Isles pressure anomaly ranged from -3mbar
at Scilly to +7mbar over Shetland. The anomalous flow over
the British Isles was strongly ESE-ly.

CET (after Manley) 13.59°C (+2.3 degC wrt 1971-2000) and the
highest since 1992.
CET (after Hadley) 13.4°C (highest since 1992)
E&W Rain (provisional): 76.7mm (125% of 1971-2000 mean)
E&W Sunshine (prov): 202.3 hr (100% of 1971-2000 mean)

CScotT: 11.6°C (+1.7degC)
ScotRain: 21mm ( 37%)
ScotSun: 235hr (132%)

NIT: 12.3°C (+2.0 degC)
NI Rain: 16mm ( 30%)
NI Sun: 261hr (131%)

Notable rainfall totals included 4.7mm at Coleraine (thanks,
Mike), 6.2mm at Castlederg (Tyrone), 7.2mm at Threave
(Kirkcudbrightshire), 7.4mm at Lerwick (Shetland), 7.6mm
at Fair Isle, and 8.0mm at Malin Head (Donegal) ... and at the
other end of the spectrum, 180mm at Princetown (Devon)
and 162mm at Manston (Kent).

Percentages ranged from 404 at Manston to 8 at Coleraine
and 10 at Castlederg.

Notable sunshine totals included 304h at Fair Isle (CS, I think),
286h at Stornoway (KZ), 265h at Tiree (KZ), 265h at
Malin Head (CS?), and 260h at Belmullet (CS?) ... and at
the other end, 135h at Coleshill (Warwicks), 149h at
Eskdalemuir (Dumfriesshire) and 149h at Shawbury (Salop) -
all KZs.

Percentages ranged from 181 at Fair Isle to 74 at Coleshill.

(c) Philip Eden
ENDQUOTE
Philip