I might just remember that April too, Pete...? I can recall a fair few consecutive days' snowfall that only accumulated at night...Aye, it must have been '63 because my dad picked me up from school (duodenal ulcers meant for three-weeks' convalescence back then!) and had to endure a never-ending barrage of weather-related daft questions: Why, when it snows all day and all night doesn't anything settle? But why? Why? Why?
Anyway, I'm not sure that the '80s' summers were all that much worse than those of other decades?