The changing seasons are making Sweet Pea Growing quite difficult – the season is getting earlier and much shorter (on average). Here we discuss a few charts showing changing local weather conditions. [All three of the following charts are based on daily data for Yeovilton, Somerset. Source: Visual Crossing]
The average temperature (C) during the main part of the growing season (taken to be May-Jul) is on the rise.
There are more hot days now than in earlier decades and fewer cooler days. The next chart shows the shift in the proportion of days reaching a max temperature falling in various ranges (The 42-year period 1973 to 2015 is shown in BLUE, and contrasts with the recent decade (2015-2025) shown in ORANGE).
It has been very dry in 2025 (like 1999 and 1975/1976, which were also dry years). But the general trend is for wetter summers, but with more variation from year to year.
Fairplace 