Forecasting beyond a week ahead as we all know is extremely difficult. All we can really do for a season is give an idea of trends. So, for this coming summer (21st June to 21st September) I am expecting a continuation of the present pattern we have seen so far this Winter and Spring. Although the polar front jet stream has moved further north over the Atlantic recently, it is still a little weaker and more fragmented than normal and still further south than it should be. This would imply to me a continuation of blocked weather patterns in the Atlantic, that is, we will continue to see weeks of the same weather type persisting. Now this means long spells of dry weather interspersed with long spells of wet weather and it is impossible to predict when these will be. However, given that the seas surrounding the UK are now colder than normal I am not expecting the washout we had last summer as I suspect rainfall will be more showery and possibly more thundery. In the SE it could get quite hot at times with a more continental influence. So, overall, an average summer in terms of sunshine, temperature and rainfall but long wet periods and long dry periods possibly of 2-3 weeks duration each


Not bad, eh! (so far(Do miss the old bu**er))

Mike McMillan


Bone dry Osborne Bay (1.2 mm last 30 days...)