Why hasn’t spring sprung? Even the experts are baff led

IF YOU’VE been wondering when spring will finally arrive, you’re not alone.

This year’s season has been decidedly wet and cool – and even weather forecasters are trying to work out exactly why.

Yesterday, more thundery showers brought torrential rain to southern Britain with as much as half of the average monthly rainfall in just a few hours.

Showers are predicted to last through the week, with a brief respite on Friday and Saturday then perhaps more rain in the West on Sunday. The Met Office said this year’s lack of warm spring sunshine has been down to Britain being near-constantly in the path of the jet stream, bringing a ‘conveyor belt’ of low pressure weather systems.

Its scientists also said the weather could be due to a completely random, ‘natural variation’ of the jet stream – which is also weak this year.

This means its path is in ‘waves’ rather than a straight line, so cover a greater geographical area, meaning weather systems are more likely to hit Britain.

One cause could be global warming, meaning the North Pole has been warmer this winter. This leads to less temperature variation with the tropics and less energy in the jet stream. Stephen Dixon, of the Met Office, said: ‘At this point you’d expect to have had 75 per cent of the season’s average total rainfall... including provisional Met Office data up to Monday, the UK has had 97 per cent of its average for the whole season.’

The average maximum daily temperature for March, April and so far in May is 10.96C (51.7F) – 1.17C (2.1F) lower than average.

Of the weather for the rest of the week, Mr Dixon said: ‘There are some drier spells in between the showers but you would not call it nice spring weather. It’s an unsettled week to come.’