ONCE AGAIN the BBC forecast has got it wrong! As they've been saying so often
lately, here in High Wycombe we were due to get a sunny, warm day today - (as
they said we would yesterday - which didn't materialise - grey until 7pm - max.
19.7C). Well we DID get a sunny start until 8.30am this morning but then the
cloud sheet grew out of nothing and it's grey again.

Mind you, there was some rather thundery-looking stuff around to the south about
8am! That's all gone and we have the usual boring 7/8Cu which has been so
prevalent lately.

Philip Eden's post on colder than average temps shows quite clearly that we have
been in a predominantly northerly flow since last September with a brief break
in November. We got a hint of this trend in the latter half of August last year
with daytime max temps of 14C for three days that were predominantly sunny. The
jet stream has been more or less stuck in this meridional mode and heading
north-south over the UK - hence the cold northerlies. It's only been during the
last couple of weeks that the mean air thickness has been higher than 540-546dam
over the southern half of the UK.

Still doesn't beat 1978 though: "the year when summer never arrived!" Daytime
max temps of just 10-12C in June & July over the southern UK with an almost
permanent deep low over the North Sea dragging down Arctic air. Looking at the
archive on www.wetterzentrale.de there were several days when the 850mB air temp
was 0C or below!

Total thunder count so far this year - 1 distant rumble!
Total thunder count for the whole of last year, 1 loud clap in March on the back
end of a passing shower
!
Nigel

Aagh! Every time I learn something new... it pushes something old out of my brain!