Spring 2012

[Snowyowl9]

weve gone the whole of April without breaking 13C here - that is exceptional. Genuinely exceptional too.

For april from 2001 onwards this one is a shock to the system,already the wettest since 2000 which was the wettest since 1776.Today was very wet indeed for just merging showers just shy of 1 inch.Sunday looks a shocker east gales and heavy rain.

http://www.wetterzen...pics/brack2.gif

Strong to gales force east wind did take a branch off one tree earlier yesterday.

Crazy stuff after march.

[Thundery wintry showers]

I don't live 200 miles away from you and I don't agree with your analysis. I think this spring thus far has been more interesting than the last 3. Why? Because there has been more variety, from a warm dry sunny March to a cool cyclonic April, some places saw a notable April snowfall and now we are experiencing a notable low for the time of the year.

More variety than the last 3

I agree- taking the country as a whole it's been a pretty eventful spring so far, and even here in Cleadon the sense of boring and depressing weather has only really set in during the last 10 days (before that we had that exceptional warm sunny end to March and the sleet-storrm in early April for example). The wet April (I haven't checked the month's total yet, but I won't be surprised if it's over 100mm already) is certainly providing a stark contrast with the very dry March.

Also, for the first time since 2000 at Cleadon (1998 in CET-land) April is looking certain to be colder than March was.

However I can certainly see how the interest factor of a month or season can vary at a local level. For instance, taking the UK as a whole May 1997 had several contrasting episodes and more sunshine, thunder, snow and frost than usual, making it arguably the most interesting May of the past 20 years from a variety perspective, but Tyneside was plagued by low cloud from the North Sea throughout the third week while many other regions had a warm thundery spell.

[Evening thunder]

I think it must be relatively unusual for nowhere in the UK to reach 20C in April, though I don't have any stats to show how often it occurs. The highest max here this April has been just 15.0C, and that was early in the month. There is a chance we could creep above that here by the end of the month though.

We had 26.3C on the 11th May 2008 and 9 days in a row that reached above 20C here (which is a few days higher than any spells last summer!). I'd say it's above average to reach 20C in early may, though not too unusual. We just reached 20C in March!

[reef]

It's not normal in the sense that they occur frequently, but temperatures in the low 20's in early May is nothing unusual or noteworthy, we have gone an entire April here without breaking 20C even once, now that is very unusual.

Not reaching 20C in April is actually pretty common here, only 10 Aprils have reached 20C here since 1981. Im not sure about Leeds, but Id wager its not too dissimilar.

As for the max this month, its still 14.8C (recorded on the 1st), which is the lowest on record. The closest are 14.9C in 1986 and 1989, so that is very much exceptional.

[Aaron]

Not reaching 20C in April is far less common than reaching 20C in May which is guaranteed to happen. Since I began recording weather, only one April will have failed to reach 20C - 2012.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Aaron

[feb1991blizzard]

Some serious cold showing on output this morning when you consider the time of year, the only thing that will do the trick is proper greeny blocking all the way down the atlantic, wintry precipitation to low levels in far North and on the very highest ground a bit further south from this chart from GFS run, ECM a little bit more toned down but still interesting none the less, if it was January in either the last 2 winters i would expect it to be shunted further east but im not so sure it will be at this time of year.

[leicsnow]

Not reaching 20C in April is actually pretty common here, only 10 Aprils have reached 20C here since 1981. Im not sure about Leeds, but Id wager its not too dissimilar.

As for the max this month, its still 14.8C (recorded on the 1st), which is the lowest on record. The closest are 14.9C in 1986 and 1989, so that is very much exceptional.

That's exactly what I recorded - 14.8 on the 1st. However, I fear Monday, which just happens to be the last day of the month, could ruin that.

[Thundery wintry showers]

My highest max at Cleadon was 14.4C on the 1st and I find it very unlikely that it will be beaten at the end of the month with the winds off the North Sea. Surprisingly though the month here doesn't look like being significantly cooler than April 2001 was.

[Weather-history]

There hasn't been a warmer night since Christmas night here.

I wonder what is the latest time into the year that locations recorded their first double digit mnimum of the year?

[Lettucing Gutted]

If April was January, judging by the current temperature it would be -1C in January in a similar situation (probably lower as it would be snowing).. below 0C is rare here in January in daytime. It is currently 6.2C, which must the the lowest late April daytime temperature for quite some time, if that is what it ends up as.

This is winter, we might be technically in Spring, but Meterologically this is very definitely winter.

It must be quite some time since we've had a consistently cold second half of April. I don't think there has been a consistently cool second half of April since possibly 2001. Edited April 28, 2012 by Craig Evans

[Eugene]

Oh well you need something to give amusement at the moment; when the outlook is so 'flatlined'

Well you'll need all the help you can get to achieve your very cold 9.2C forecast, strange you find min temps below 0C amusing in early May when they could really help you acheive your 9.2C May forecast.

[reef]

There hasn't been a warmer night since Christmas night here.

I wonder what is the latest time into the year that locations recorded their first double digit mnimum of the year?

The latest date for a double-digit minima here was 1st June 1984.

This year managed it twice in February (23rd with 10.6C and 28th with 10.0C), which is actually extremely unusual.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

There hasn't been a warmer night since Christmas night here.

I wonder what is the latest time into the year that locations recorded their first double digit mnimum of the year?

I havent yet, my highest minimum is 9.3C on 23rd Feb

[Derp Patrol]

This really has been an awful month. Here's to hoping that after breaking the run of warm Aprils, we can finally break the run of poor summers though.

[Aaron]

I havent yet, my highest minimum is 9.3C on 23rd Feb

Highest here 9.9, so close but no cigar

[jethro]

With the models suggesting no end in sight for this dismal spell, and the suggestion it could get even colder in a weeks time, I had a quick scout around for info on late season snowfall.

Thought some here may find this interesting too:

http://www.dandantheweatherman.com/Bereklauw/latesnow.html

[MP-R]

If there had been a week extra of of April's rain and showers in March and week extra of March's sunshine in April, I would call this spring a pretty good one. It's been great having some traditional April showers days, it's just cold, wet and vile days like today that aren't very nice.

[Scorcher]

This really has been an awful month. Here's to hoping that after breaking the run of warm Aprils, we can finally break the run of poor summers though.

It's going to go down as one of the worst months I can remember I think, up there with other thoroughly miserable months such as July 2007.

[Snowyowl9]

It's going to go down as one of the worst months I can remember I think, up there with other thoroughly miserable months such as July 2007.

Today was dry for a change with some sunshine,wind has picked up from the ENE this afternoon.Wonder if the april rainfall record will go after tomorrow 1 inch needed here to break 2000.

[Scorcher]

Today was dry for a change with some sunshine,wind has picked up from the ENE this afternoon.Wonder if the april rainfall record will go after tomorrow 1 inch needed here to break 2000.

Lucky you, wasn't much sun here at all and there was plenty of rain again.

[Bottesford]

Well if ever there was a 'duvet day' then its today. Howling freezing wind out there with unending rain been going all night. My house feels freezing cold as easterlies strip the place of warmth - going to need a lot of gas to keep warm today.

Really want to do some sort of exercise today but sadly it looks impossible. This weather is going to make me fat....

[Snowyowl9]

Lucky you, wasn't much sun here at all and there was plenty of rain again.

Today on the other hand is about as bad as it can get for the time of year 3.3c heavy rain strong/gale NE-ly.

[La Bise]

Went out to say hello to mates running the marathon today (handily, the course took them a few hundred yards where I live...), 30min out there was enough, comically awful weather...

[Scorcher]

Well if ever there was a 'duvet day' then its today. Howling freezing wind out there with unending rain been going all night. My house feels freezing cold as easterlies strip the place of warmth - going to need a lot of gas to keep warm today.

Really want to do some sort of exercise today but sadly it looks impossible. This weather is going to make me fat....

I was just thinking the same thing, I haven't been out running for a couple of weeks because of the weather. Some might say a bit of rain doesn't stop you but when it's like this it really is punishment! I'm really not that desperate to be fit!

[Eugene]

Don't think a few bad days like today will make you fat

Another warning out for tuesday for southern parts, also mention a strong easterly wind for the midlands, well at least it will feel warmer then today.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/pws/nswws/wm_forecast_warnings_iframe.html