When will it be warmer so I can wear a sundress?

It's my first May here and I am freezing!
(consider I moved from south Georgia last December).

I am just wondering if it is going to warm up anytime soon. 

I would love to break out my sundresses sometime soon.

Just wondering when I should or if I should expect that to happen anytime soon in West Berkshire (south England).

Well, this time last year it WAS warm (at least in Manchester!), but we're definitely chilly here as well--I'm also hoping for it to warm up, but you never know here! (not that I haven't seen girls out in the cold wind in sundresses, but I'm not that brave yet! It's still not regularly getting over 60F here!)
Maybe you could wear a cute dress with a cardigan and tall boots? I'm wearing skirts that way now--that way I'm still wearing "Spring" clothes but covering up all of the exposed bits.

Hi there,

Standard response we give to any family wanting to visit here from warmer sunnier climates is -

'Best chance of getting the very best of UK weather is july/august'

In recent years, generally speaking we've had 'warmer' temperatures during summer, perhaps a stint of a couple of weeks of no rain and perhaps 20-22 degrees, and then get walloped with a week of cold, damp wet breezy Feb/march type weather then maybe another stint of perhaps 2 more weeks of warmth. Then if we're lucky we might get a week or so of 'heatwaves' and 'UK basks in temperatures hotter than Miami and Milan' then revert back to feb/march type weather. topsy turvy that and before you know it, it'll be mid september and another 9 months or so of the usual 'UK' weather!

This is around Heathrow and Slough, I'd expect it's colder for long the further north you go!



Cheers, Dennis! West London & Slough UK!

My suggestion is invest in some nice cardigans to go with your sundresses. There will be very few days that you will feel are warm enough for a sundress I am afraid, especially the first few years you are here. After time your definition of hot will change a bit .

It's my first May here and I am freezing!
(consider I moved from south Georgia last December).

I am just wondering if it is going to warm up anytime soon. 

As a Southern girl, you may find that it never warms up to your liking.  I only think it gets "hot" about 2 weeks the entire year in the UK (July usually). 

But because the evening temperatures drop so much more than I am used to, I often still can't wear true summer clothing if I am going to be out all day with no way to change clothes.  For instance, I used to live in flip flops and I think I have warn them once in 5 years.  It is just too chilly in the evening for me.

My colleagues and I at work have been joking that we've already had summer... those two nice, sunny weeks in April .

Truth is, you never know what the summer will bring here - you can't easily predict when or if the weather will be warm... which is why many Brits drop everything and get out their summer clothes at even the hint of a warm, sunny day, because it may be the only summer they get until next year !

My colleagues and I at work have been joking that we've already had summer... those two nice, sunny weeks in April...

I said that to someone back when the weather was nice - better enjoy it, this may be all the summer we get! 

Tights and cardigans help, but I think summer occurred in April, as a few have already said. 

I wore 2 of my sundresses in the past few weeks because the weather has been so nice .  Of course, I'm pregnant and having that whole hot flash thing going on.  For the past few weeks here there have only been 1 or 2 cool days during the week and there have been a few days that I'd consider quite warm.  The past few days have been rather cold though so I think it was brief and fleeting.  

My suggestion is invest in some nice cardigans to go with your sundresses. There will be very few days that you will feel are warm enough for a sundress I am afraid, especially the first few years you are here. After time your definition of hot will change a bit .

I second what HG said. 

You know I so often say that the hardest thing about my move to northern England, from Tampa - where I last lived in the US, was that I miss the sunny, hot & humid weather, and I certainly do!  But at least I expected that change, right?

Now I think that what's even harder is that, IMO, there really aren't clearly definable seasons here.  What I mean is that - well I grew up in Kansas, and like so much of the US, there you do have what I call real seasons:  an extended period of heat consistently in the summer (punctuated by thunderstorms), the midway temperature periods of autumn and spring, and an extended period of cold consistently through the winter.  Not saying there aren't Indian summers later on in the fall after it's already gotten cold, or warm spots in the winter, or cooler, chillier days in the spring/summer - but those are exceptions, IYKWIM?

Here the weather is just all over the place at any time of the year!  (Maybe there are places like that in the US?  Seattle?  San Francisco?  But I haven't lived in any of those places.)  Like today (the 10th of May) - it feels more wintery out than springlike, and on the morning news they were talking about SNOW in some of the higher elevations of northern Scotland...it's mid-MAY for goodness sake!  Well we certainly have had a long & extended period of cold this year, punctuated by very little heat anyway.

Native Brits where I live often say the weather here isn't like it used to be.  I wonder if that's really true (like there has been some kind of climate change?) or is it just something that people like to say?  They say the winters used to be colder & snowier (well they got their wish this year!) and the summers used to feature longer periods of hotter weather.

They say the winters used to be colder & snowier (well they got their wish this year!) and the summers used to feature longer periods of hotter weather.

They say it all the time here, too. That about 20 - 25 years ago, there used to be a hot summer and cold, snowy winter. I guess maybe there really has been some sort of climate change going on. But according to my family and friends, its been a bit chilly and rainy in Dallas, too this week, so maybe weather is just going wacko everywhere? 

Yeah, that's the thing - I wonder if it's really true, or if people are just remembering the past with their rose-tinted spectacles? 

Yeah, that's the thing - I wonder if it's really true, or if people are just remembering the past with their rose-tinted spectacles? 

Hehe... maybe. I mean, it will barely be warm here and everyone will start talking about how it's "red hot" outside. So I think their perception is skewed anyway. 

Agree with the suggestion of buying some light cardigans. It will probably never get as hot as you would be used to. And if you do get hot enough, well then you can take it off and see how you feel. 

There has definitely been a change, because my partner has pictures from his childhood (1980s) of building snowmen in his garden in Edinburgh, while now it barely ever snows in Edinburgh or in fact the southern/central east coast of Scotland at all.