Early April 1946: a taste of summer

[Weather-history]

Early April 1946 brought the first taste of summer with temperatures as high as 26.5°C recorded in the 4th at Greenwich. 

 

Manchester

1st Apr:  Blue sky all day with fog in morning  max: 70°F, min: 41°F   Sunshine: 7.2hrs

2nd Apr: Blue sky all day  max: 72°F, min: 41°F   Sunshine: 9.9hrs

3rd Apr: Bright: cloudy most of the day with some light showers in the evening     max: 76°F, min: 47°F Sunshine: 5.1hrs

4th Apr: Cloudy with intermittent rain during day. Thunder, lightning and heavy rain in evening especially from 6.45pm to 7.45pm  Sunshine: 2.5hrs

 

 

 

[Summer8906]

Presumably still the hottest on record for the first 10 days or so of April, perhaps even the first half?

[Frigid]

Something I've noticed is how warm Aprils were back in the 1940s, something we're yet to see in a warming climate. Back to back warm Aprils in 1943,44,45,46 and 49. All had a CET of 10C+, except 46 with 9.9C.  Keep in mind from 1893 to 1943, there was not one 10C April so it's kind of strange how out of nowhere we saw four in the 40s (five if you round 9.9C).

Edited April 5 by Frigid

[Summer8906]

Looking at the rest of April 1946 it looks mostly anticyclonic overall (albeit with mostly W or NW winds, so not especially warm), before a cold and wet cyclonic type, with often N-ly or NE-ly winds, took over for the final week. Presumably the CET would have been higher had it not been for the final week.

In fact spring-summer 1946 as a whole had a very 2007-12 look about it. An easterly May with alternating fine and wet spells then seemed to lead into a mostly cool, dull, wet, cyclonic summer with the jetstream moving a little north - very similar to what happened in the 07-12 period.

Edited April 10 by Summer8906