Favourite Easter weather memories

[damianslaw]

Easter is looming on the horizon. Easter weather more so than christmas in many respects is a varied affair from one year to another, not least given the 5 week difference in timings it can occur.

Use this thread to share thoughts and memories of favourite Easter weather.

By Easter I mean the Good Friday to Easter Monday period.

My memories of Easter weather unlike christmas is far more patchy.

I do recall either 2011 or 2017 being very warm and very good easter periods.

 Many have been either wet, cold, dull or just a bit average. 

Edited March 24 by damianslaw

[Sun Chaser]

The Easter weekend of 2019 and 2020 both reached 25c, my birthday Easter Saturday 2020 was the earliest 25c I've ever seen actually! (even if Sunday itself was cooler).

Of course 2011 was very warm as well, the peak of the warmest April on record! On the other hand 2008 and 2013 were freezing with snow for many.

The last bad easter was probably 2018 which was a complete washout like this year is promising to be.

[Harry233]

Good memories

2021 was very pleasant here, beautiful sunshine but not very warm think it only reached 12/13.C but both dawned with very frosty mornings like the whole of April pretty much.

2019 I remember being absolutely glorious, Easter Sunday reached 21.8.C here and then Easter Monday was 20.6.C. The Saturday prior to that was even warmer. Absolutely amazing spell of weather.

2017, 2015 and 2009 were warm and sunny ones. 

2011 I want to say was also warm and sunny but I don’t remember what the weather was like that year.

2008 we had the heaviest snow of the winter during Easter 2008

Bad memories

2018 We were down visiting family in London and Kent during Easter 2018 and it’s the first time I’ve ever felt truly cold down south in the spring. Good Friday and the Saturday was also very wet. Easter Sunday was dull and dry but very windy and the easterly wind made it feel raw. 
 

2016 it was cold and wet 
 

2013 it was dry and sunny but the easterly winds made it feel like winter 

Other Easter’s I just remember being typical April days.

[Harry233]

Actually forgot to add Easter 2007 onto good memories

[TheOgre]

2019, 2020 and 2022 were all summer-like so we were very lucky during that period.
 

2020 and 2022 both had sunny and warm Good Fridays to Easter Sundays and cooler Easter Mondays but in 2019 the warmth persisted into Easter Monday if I remember correctly. 

[Summer18]

Ones that stick out for different reasons:

 

Snow:

- 1998, I was young but do remember making a snowman on Good Friday.

- 2008 earliest Easter I can remember, very cold that year, it snowed on Good Friday night and also again on Easter Sunday.

- 2013 was very very cold, no falling snow but there was a lot still on the ground from the previous few weeks

-2018 snowed Easter Monday. 

2021 I remember being cold too.

Warmth:

-2007 was warm over the weekend

-2011 probably the warmest I can remember,  felt like summer and we had thunderstorms on Easter Saturday

-2017 & 2019 decent and warm as well as 2020 even though that lockdown period blends into one! 
 

I prefer Easter’s in April as you tend to get better weather, the longer days make a difference too. 

Edited March 25 by Summer18

[Weather-history]

Good Friday 1987 was a superb day, remember that well, it was a better day than bulk of the days during the following summer.

 

 

[A Face like Thunder]

Two memorable Easters but for the wrong reasons:

1975 - a cold snowy end-of-March Easter. On Easter Sunday evening - 30th March - our Vicar was just finishing his final sermon at our church in S London / Surrey, with the snow falling afresh outside. Suddenly there was a brilliant flash of lightning followed by a crash of thunder and all the lights went out. I don't know whether we wanted to laugh or get on our knees and pray in the darkness for forgiveness, but it sure was a memorable and much-talked about way for a priest to end his Church ministry.

2008 - Easter was about the earliest it could be and was similarly cold and snowy. On Easter Saturday, my friend and I were watching our team play at Sheffield Wednesday. With 10-15 minutes to go, the snow started to come down in great dollops. As the game moved into added time, my team was losing 1-2 and attacking at the far end away from us. Then, a distant roar or groan, but what had happened? Our team had equalised unbeknown to us at our end because of the driving snow. Our roar of approval must have followed some moments later as the players came celebrating towards the centre circle. Sensibly the referee ended the game immediately after with the score 2-2 and we were left to trudge through the snow towards Sheffield city centre and the station.     

[damianslaw]

Forgot to mention 2019. A late easter and it was glorious. Easter Monday especially warm.

[Summer8906]

 Weather-history Interesting that "make the most of it" caveat, as I remember April 1987's fine weather persisted until almost the end of the month and was renewed in early May, it only turning more changeable about a week into May.

In chronological order, the ones that stand out as really good include 1980, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1997, and especially 2011 which was quite unreal for April: temps exceeding 25C and large Cbs producing isolated thunderstorms. And finally, 2022.

Good-ish ones include 1988, 1991, 1995, 1996, 2007, 2009, 2015, 2017 and 2021 - they were mostly settled but had one or two cloudy days.

Ones I missed (being overseas) which were by all accounts good include 2002, 2003 and 2019.

Worst years I remember include 1983 (especially - "the year without a spring" alongside 1998, 2018 and by all accounts 2024), 1986 (unseasonably windy with frequent showers), 1990 (surprisingly - a generally fine April was broken by a cold and wet Easter), 1992 (unseasonably Tm dominated, very dull and damp), 1994 (bit like 1986), 2000 (dull and wet), 2012 (mostly dull and wet though the Saturday was ok), 2016 (unseasonably stormy), 2018 (horrendously dull and wet). And then of course 2024 is sure to be added to this list. The very worst were probably 1983 and 2018.

"Interesting" (rather than notably warm and sunny) years include 1998 for the snow (the worst weather coming before Easter in terms of flooding) and 2013 for the unreal cold (it was also very dry).

Edited March 28 by Summer8906

[damianslaw]

 Summer8906 2024 unlikely yo ho down as poor as was looking earlier in the week..Many are seeimg 2 dry days with temps a little above average and some sunshine..Certainly been many worse.

[Billy Hicks]

1997 stands out a lot for me due to the clear dark skies on holiday in Hereford and the incredible view of Hale-Bopp in the evening, a big memory even though I was quite young at the time.

I wrote about 2008 in my diary at the time and how magical the falling snow looked on Easter Sunday, even if it was gone quite quickly. That was also the earliest Easter we’ll experience in our lifetimes, and 2011 a few years later is one of the latest - what a difference! Incredible summer-like weather and the culmination of an underrated month in a topsy-turvy year, where the months either side of summer felt warmer than the season itself.

More recently 2019 stood out as also being very pleasant (another late one) as did 2020, even in the latter’s case when the world itself wasn’t.