Create your ideal April (With conditions)

[baddie]

This thread is a follow up to "Create your ideal summer month". Im starting with the bipolar month of April, and I will do similar threads for March, May and September etc in the future

Rule : Create a situation beforehead (E.g How previous months were like)

My attempt :
It has been a February and March 2012 redux, and therefore it has been very dry and spring flowering is well ahead of schedule after the exceptional warm spell in March. People may think April will be a washout, but they were wrong

1st and 2nd :
After the warm spell, HP has moved further to the NW, allowing a NNE flow. The air is very dry, and brings 2 days of unbroken sunshine, with temperatures still reaching the mid-teens widely. Nights are quite cold, with widespread frosts in England

3rd - 7th :
A cold front moves SE-wards on the morning of the 3rd, bringing mostly light rain, and clears the SE by late morning. Sunshine and showers follow, but it is quite cold, with highs of below 10c. The 4th is then a rather bright but chilly day with a morning frost, and occasional "April showers" developing in the afternoon. A weather front moving from the NW brings even colder air on the 5th, and drops temperatures to just 5-6c away from the South, with some snow showers. A band of heavy snow moves Southwards by evening, bringing 3-5 inches to much of England and Wales, and 6-7 inches in the Peak District and on Welsh mountains. The 6th and 7th are cold, frosty and bright days, with temps only at 5-7c in most areas, and just 3-4c on hills. Snow cover does recede with the strong sunshine. The morning of the 7th is the coldest April morning on record, with -7c in Northern spots and -5c locally (Nottingham)

8th - 10th :
A thaw becomes established on the 8th, with some slightly warmer air, but it is a mostly dull day. The high pressure declines slightly by the 9th, and brings "Kitchen sink" weather to the country, with sunshine, heavy showers, hail, sleet and thunder in the Midlands and Western areas. It turns somewhat windy by then, followed by a bright, showery and breezy day on the 10th. The showers are more confined to the NW, while the SE sees more light showers. Temperatures are around 10c by this period, but there are still frosty nights

11th - 15th :
A slack High pressure system re-establishes itself by the 11th, and brings a Northerly flow to the country, veering more North-Easterly by the 14th. The 11th starts with a hard frost, followed by a rather sunny day with scattered cumulus cloud and light showers. Temperatures recover closer to average. The 12th and 13th are more-or-less the same, though the minimum temperatures near record breakingly low for April, with -6c in rural spots. Some pronounced diurnal ranges occur, with Doncaster going from -5c to 13c on the 13th. The 14th is a cloudless day almost everywhere, despite being under a cold airmass, while the 15th sees more in the way of showers, particularly in the Southern half where HP is further away

16th - 17th :
Another weak weather front from the NE brings scattered heavy showers on the 16th after a cold and sunny morning, with some containing hail and thunder, with snow on hills. It is slightly colder by then, with temps around 10c. The 17th is a frost-free morning, with low cloud in the South and East, before clearing to a sunny afternoon. HP starts to strengthen by then, preventing showers from forming

18th - 21st (Easter Weekend) :
High Pressure is centred around Hull and brings an Easterly flow to the country. Good Friday (18th), starts frosty, with the lowest temperatures in East Anglia (-4c near Cambridge), but is followed by a cloudless day with temps back into the mid-teens. This is repeated onto the next day, and turns increasingly warm by day, but cold by night. Easter Sunday and Easter Monday (20th and 21st) is warm and very sunny (cloudless everywhere), with highs around 18-19c widely (Around 16c in the far East), and reaching 21.7c in South Wales on the 21st. There are large diurnal ranges once again, with places seeing an air frost followed by 20c in the same day

22nd - 27th :
An increasing breeze from the North sea brings more cloud to all areas on the 22nd, and is comparatively cooler that day (Average temperatures), but sunny spells develop later that day. The 23rd is sunny once again, and actually frost-free due to the breeze (Which dies away by afternoon). The 24th sees another hard frost on the East, with lows around -4c, followed by a rather mild and sunny day in the country. Another brief warm and sunny spell occurs on the 25th and 26th, with 20c in the South on the 26th. 

27th - 30th :
The warmth dies away again, and HP starts to decline. There are 2 more sunny days on the 27th and 28th, with temperatures returning back to average, with chilly nights once again. The 29th turns cool and cloudy across the country, and the 30th is a rare cold and wet day as LP starts to dominate (Perhaps a sign of things to come for May)


April is quite similar to 2021 overall, but with a more potent snowy spell and more warmth in the second half. It is quite a cold month, with minimum temperatures around 3.5c below average, and just like April 2021, the frostiest April on record. Day temperatures are around 0.5c-1c below average, but somewhat colder further East. It is the sunniest April on record widely, with the country averaging around 8 hours of sunshine a day. It is a dry April, but not quite as dry as 2020 or 2021, with around half of the average rainfall.

The frequent frosts meant delayed spring flowering, with blossoms still in bloom by late-April and bluebells havent even bloomed yet. The beauty of spring is retained for the second half of the month

Edited September 2 by baddie

[B87]

Pretty much April 2011.

 

[SunChaserWales]

Freezing cold start to the month with lying snow on the 1st just for some variety.

After that high pressure moves in from the west and establishes right over the UK, possibly 100 miles to the west, and a week of unbroken sunshine with a slight northeasterly flow.

Then it moves eastwards and things get hot, a very early 27c recorded on the 11th in a southerly flow which would be a great birthday.

A shallow trough moves by quickly afterwards creating some unexpected strong thunderstorms around the 13th, all of the month's rainfall comes in this period.

By the 14th the Azores high ridges in again and centres over the UK for the rest of the month. Sunny, warm and bone dry. Eventually drifts east giving a hot final week with 30.1c recorded on the 29th, becoming the first ever April day to breach 30c.

Sounds fairly similar to April 2020 actually

[lassie23]

40c from start to finish

[Harry233]

For my patch in central Scotland an ideal April is something like:

1st-5th: An unsettled but cool start with some showers, occasional hail and sleet but also some good sunshine in between. Maxima between 8.C-11.C and minima between -2.C and 2.C

6th-9th: High pressure begins to dominate bringing dry conditions, with the April sunshine becoming stronger temperatures by day rise but there’s still the chance of some very cold nights. 
maxima between 13-17.C and minima between -2.C and 3.C.

9th-20th: Winds begin to turn more north westerly again bringing some more showery weather but also with the north westerly plenty sunshine for my part. There is still plenty dry weather in between and reasonable temperatures expect on stronger wind days maxima between 10.C-16.C and minima between -1.C and 6.C

21st-30th: High pressure develops wirh south or south easterly winds and this brings a very good warm, dry and sunny spell to end April. Again the chance of the odd cooler night and still a bit of wind at times Maxima between 13.C-21.C and minima of between -1.C and 6.C

I don’t actually like too much or too excessive mild weather in April. That’s why I much preferred April 2020 to the likes of 2007 and 2011 as April 2020 still had the occasional cooler and showery day. The late spring/summer is the right time to get the properly hot and dry weather, April for me is still too early for any prolonged heat.

[ChannelThunder]

I'll keep it simple.

The first half: varied, and showery. Lots of hail showers, rainbows, crisp convection building into clear blue skies and even some sleet and snow on occasion, because why not?

The second half: see April 2018. A large HP pushes out the unsettled, showery theme, giving a week of dry conditions with plenty of sunshine. The high pivots to the east eventually and we draw up a very early season plume around the 25th, with temperatures up to 27C & elevated thunderstorms breaking out during the evening.

That'd be the ideal April for me and lead into a nice thundery May.

Edited September 3 by ChannelThunder

[CryoraptorA303]

April 2009. Most perfect April ever imo.

[Weather Enthusiast91]

1st to 10th: Anticyclonic, bringing cool, calm and sunny conditions along with frosty nights.

11th to 20th: More changeable but warmer with temps widely in the mid teens. A combination of sunshine and typical April showers. Including hail showers.

21st to 30th: Largely dry and sunny with temps widely reaching the late teens or low twenties.

 

This would be quite a changeable month overall with a bit of something for everyone. I would personally be very happy with an April like that.

Edited September 3 by Weather Enthusiast91

[cheeky_monkey]

 B87 this and or April 1997

[Summer8906]

I'm not sure whether it fits the conditions but let's say Feb and March had suffered constant Atlantic zonality with strong winds and frequent dull and wet conditions. It was also somewhat mild but not dramatically so, and spring flowering was a little ahead of normal. Early model runs suggested April would bring more of the same and everyone was getting thoroughly fed up of the same old, same old.

However at the last moment the models changed (rather like September 2024, lol) and following an active cold front, April 1st was bright with a NW-ly and typical "April showers" weather though merely of rain and hail, no snow. There were well-defined Cbs and much sunshine in between. It was somewhat cold for early April with temps around 12C typical.

This foreshadowed a strong build of pressure from the Atlantic and, following a second "April showers" day on the 2nd, the following week, until the 8th, was sunny and increasingly warm. A mere 14C max on the 3rd but the temp rose each day and by the 8th it was unusually warm for the time of year with 23C reached in a few places...

...but these temps disguised a synoptic change. The high had weakened so that by the 8th slack pressure covered the country and waiting in the north was a powerful Arctic plunge waiting to take hold. The cold front introducing this plunged rapidly southward overnight 8th-9th and produced a very windy and cold day with scattered showers, some wintry, on the 9th. Places which had seen 23C the previous day plunged to 9C that day.

Winds turned light that evening and a cold early night followed, but, in April 2008 style, a polar low then moved southwards in the Arctic airmass. This arrived around dawn on the 10th with temps still cold and resulted in a spell of heavy and settling snow in most parts, even the south. The snow and cloud restricted temps to very low values for the season, just 5C in some southern locations - remember 23C had been reached two days before.

The polar low then moved away on the 11th to leave an Arctic northerly airmass in place. Winds became lighter and days were a mix of sunshine and scattered heavy and wintry showers. The sunshine thawed the snow but further snow fell during the showers in many places. These conditions persisted for three days, until the 13th, with daytime maxima in the south around 10C and minima under clear skies at night anywhere between -2 and -5C.

On the 14th things changed again. Overnight a further cold front moved down from the north, while a deepening low over Germany was beginning to move its warm front westwards. Winds freshened on this day and cloud increased and it was a very cold and raw day with temps in the middle single figures. That night the warm front moved into the SE and produced a further spell of heavy snow for a time, with settling though it did then turn to rain with rapidly rising temps. The snow melted and the 15th was a dull and wet day with temps into the teens. The warm front, however, had introduced a warm and rather humid airmass from the east so on the 16th the cloud broke with temps in the high teens and under a gentle SE-ly, the 17th-19th were warm with temps reaching 21C in a few places and showers breaking out, some thundery. The second very dramatic shift of the month - remember this was three days after snow.

Pressure then built with the low receding SW-wards and a high extending from Scandinavia. As a result the rather humid and showery weather was displaced SW-wards on the 20th by a SW-wards moving cold front, introducing much cooler and fresher NE-lies. It became mostly sunny again but with relatively cool maxima around 15C and cool nights. As winds fell light, frosts again returned for a while with somewhat higher day maxima. Finally the air warmed further, nights were cool but mostly marginally above freezing, and day maxima increased again with 21C-23C maxima widespread by the 26th-27th, with some seriously large diurnal ranges.

The high then retrogressed further into the Atlantic which gave just about enough time for a further N-ly plunge at the end of the month, though it being almost May, showers were now mostly of rain and hail and temps, while cold for the time of year, were now around 12C.

Everyone commented on how thoroughly interesting April had been compared to the preceding months!

Inspired by parts of various real Aprils I've lived through - there are bits of 1988, 1990, 1991, 1995 and 2008 in there but with some timing changes and some slight exaggerations. Nonetheless a month as described above should be theoretically possible.

Maxima for Random Southern Inland station: 12-12-14-15-17-19-21-23-9-5-10-10-10-5-14-18-21-21-21-15-15-16-18-19-21-23-23-12-11-12. Mean 15.4

Edited September 4 by Summer8906

[Frigid]

April 2021, pretty much the perfect April in every way possible. Hard frosts, record breaking sunshine. 

[Harry233]

 Frigid April 2021 despite the very cold nights actually had reasonable maxima, felt pretty warm sheltered away from the winds.

[Cloud2]

 Frigid Also very dry, probably not too far off record dryness for April.