April 1987 sunny and warm

[Sunny76]

This has probably been discussed before, but does anyone remember the warm summer like days of April 1987?

This was probably my earliest memory of warm sunny weather early in the year.

Before this, I was used to cold and dreary weather in April, but since 1987, 1990, 1992, 93, 95, 97, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2020 have all provided some decent warm sunny periods.

2011 and 2020 are probably the best Aprils since 1987 for sunshine and warmth, and I think 2011 was the hottest, along with 2003.

[Alexis]

"1987 The second warmest of the century (10.3), and locally the warmest. A long sunny, warm, dry spell as the month ended. Aberdeen airport reached 23.7C on the 27th and 24.9 at Kelso (Borders). Then it was 24C at Norwich on the 29th."

[reef]

April 1987 being classed as a good April (which it was at the time) shows how April as a month has changed. Here since then we've had 21 Aprils that were sunnier than 1987 and 26 that were drier.

Admittedly only two have been warmer here since then, but the month was characterised with consistent warmth in the second half rather than any extremes. Only 4 days all month reached 19C or above and the highest temp was 21.6C on the 29th.

Such is the effect of recent Aprils on the 1991-2020 average that April 1987 'today' would have 93% of average sunshine, 128% of average rainfall and a mean temp just 1.2C above average. The high max would be lower than three of the last six years.

How times change!

Edited April 14, 2023 by reef

[Sunny76]

10 minutes ago, reef said:

April 1987 being classed as a good April (which it was at the time) shows how April as a month has changed. Here since then we've had 21 Aprils that were sunnier than 1987 and 26 that were drier.

Admittedly only two have been warmer here since then, but the month was characterised with consistent warmth in the second half rather than any extremes. Only 4 days all month reached 19C or above and the highest temp was 21.6C on the 29th.

Such is the effect of recent Aprils on the 1991-2020 average that April 1987 'today' would have 93% of average sunshine, 128% of average rainfall and a mean temp just 1.2C above average. The high max would be lower than three of the last six years.

How times change!

April 1987 was possibly an early indication of a shift in the U.K. climate, even before the Great Storm in October, or very mild winter of 87/88 started to bring a change to our weather.

[Don]

2 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

This has probably been discussed before, but does anyone remember the warm summer like days of April 1987?

Yes, I do indeed remember April 1987 being warm and sunny, following that lovely cold and snowy March!  It was almost like we went straight from the depths of winter to summer that spring!

1 hour ago, Sunny76 said:

April 1987 was possibly an early indication of a shift in the U.K. climate, even before the Great Storm in October, or very mild winter of 87/88 started to bring a change to our weather.

Possibly although for me, winter 87/88 really marked the change.

[AderynCoch]

It was warmer than the following May, at least for the CET (10.3 vs 10.1).

[A Face like Thunder]

All the more remarkable perhaps in view of the intense cold just three months earlier in January 1987.

[Sunny76]

3 hours ago, Don said:

Yes, I do indeed remember April 1987 being warm and sunny, following that lovely cold and snowy March!  It was almost like we went straight from the depths of winter to summer that spring!

Possibly although for me, winter 87/88 really marked the change.

And you must remember the Christmas Day that year being really sunny and almost warm. I recall clear blue skies and very mild temps on the big day. 

[Don]

22 hours ago, Sunny76 said:

And you must remember the Christmas Day that year being really sunny and almost warm. I recall clear blue skies and very mild temps on the big day. 

I remember Christmas 87 being mild but I think Christmas 1988 was milder still with temps around 13/14C courtesy of Billy Bartlett who took up residence for pretty much the whole winter period?!

Edited April 15, 2023 by Don

[Scorcher]

On 14/04/2023 at 19:03, Sunny76 said:

This has probably been discussed before, but does anyone remember the warm summer like days of April 1987?

This was probably my earliest memory of warm sunny weather early in the year.

Before this, I was used to cold and dreary weather in April, but since 1987, 1990, 1992, 93, 95, 97, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2020 have all provided some decent warm sunny periods.

2011 and 2020 are probably the best Aprils since 1987 for sunshine and warmth, and I think 2011 was the hottest, along with 2003.

You've missed out two of the warmest and sunniest of all- 2014 and 2015. April is definitely has definitely warmed more than any other month in the last 20 years.

Probably why this month is frustrating people so much- it's a much more 'average' April and we haven't had a really dull one for some time.

[Don]

3 minutes ago, Scorcher said:

You've missed out two of the warmest and sunniest of all- 2014 and 2015. April is definitely has definitely warmed more than any other month in the last 20 years.

Probably why this month is frustrating people so much- it's a much more 'average' April and we haven't had a really dull one for some time.

April 2011 was probably the most 'summery' month of that year!  I agree this month has been typical and nothing out of the ordinary compared to Aprils of yesteryear!

Edited April 15, 2023 by Don

[Scorcher]

20 minutes ago, Don said:

April 2011 was probably the most 'summery' month of that year!  I agree this month has been typical and nothing out of the ordinary compared to Aprils of yesteryear!

Yes 2011 was a really incredible month. At the time people saw it as a once in a generation month (along with 2007). Yet since then we've had many more remarkable Aprils.

[Sunny76]

6 hours ago, Don said:

April 2011 was probably the most 'summery' month of that year!  I agree this month has been typical and nothing out of the ordinary compared to Aprils of yesteryear!

Looking back now, it doesn’t seem 1987 was the starting point for the gradual warming of the U.K. climate. 

[Weather-history]

There was some pretty good thunderstorms at the end of April 1987.

I recall saying to my mum on the Wednesday of the 29th April 1987 that I thought there was going to be a thunderstorm in the evening. It felt warm, there was a lot of cloud and it felt clammy. Sure enough there was and it was a pretty good one. I remember the whale mouth coming over., the torrential rain and the lightning. 

[Sunny76]

6 hours ago, Scorcher said:

Yes 2011 was a really incredible month. At the time people saw it as a once in a generation month (along with 2007). Yet since then we've had many more remarkable Aprils.

2011 still stands are the hottest one I’ve experienced in the last 13 or so years. A heatwave around mid month with thunderstorms and 29c, is something even now that doesn’t happen too often.

Yes, we’ve had warm sunny Aprils since, but not to the same extreme as 2011.

Just now, Weather-history said:

There was some pretty good thunderstorms at the end of April 1987.

I recall saying to my mum on the Wednesday of the 29th April 1987 that I thought there was going to be a thunderstorm in the evening. It felt warm, there was a lot of cloud and it felt clammy. Sure enough there was and it was a pretty good one. I remember the whale mouth coming over., the torrential rain and the lightning. 

Was that over the London region? I don’t remember any storms in April, just warm endless days of sunshine.

I do remember some violent storms later that summer though, on a Friday evening in August.

[Weather-history]

32 minutes ago, Sunny76 said:

 

Was that over the London region? I don’t remember any storms in April, just warm endless days of sunshine.

 

South coast reported thunder that morning, Worthing, Bognor, Littlehampton, Penzance, Scilly Isles, Jersey but nothing for London 

[Summer8906]

Yes, I remember this one. Aprils in the 80s were a bit mixed (with two shockingly bad ones - 1983 and 1986) but 1987 as well as 1984 stood out as unusually warm and sunny. 1980 and 1982 were also sunny and dry, but seemed to lack the intense warmth of 1984 and 1987.

I remember the opening days were dull and wet, in fact I have a distinct memory of a school cross country run on Wed April 1st in the rain, and the rest of the first 10 days or so were, I think, changeable and nothing special. My only specific other memory is of a nice red sunset on Sunday April 5th and noticing it was light-ish at 8pm, for the first time that year. Sometime in the week leading up to Easter (i.e. 12th - 18th), in dull tropical maritime air, the clouds broke and it became warm and sunny. I remember the temp exceeding 21C before Easter; after having my memory jogged by other reports I now remember thundery Ac Cast appearing on the evening of Easter Saturday (and thundery showers were forecast, but didn't materialise) and thinking it was very, very early in the year for this. Then Easter Sunday was cooler and cloudy.

However the warmth then built again and I remember about a week of warm sunny weather, before seeing some large Cu on the afternoon of Sun April 26th (but no rain) and some thundery skies on Wed 29th (which I think even produced a thundery shower, as noted above).

So the warm spell was only 2 weeks of the month, but even still, seemed very unusual at the time, with 1984 the only other example I can remember - and the thundery activity this early in the year was also unusual.

It then turned much cooler going into May, before yet another warm up with some fine warm weather in the first full week of May, before another dry cooldown over the weekend of the 8th-9th (and the rest of May was much cooler in the main).

Edited April 16, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

12 hours ago, Scorcher said:

You've missed out two of the warmest and sunniest of all- 2014 and 2015. April is definitely has definitely warmed more than any other month in the last 20 years.

April 2014 wasn't great here - I'd say it was very "average". Unsettled and dull for the first week or so, then warm and sunny until Easter Saturday (so about 12 days) then unsettled and dull again, with some notably heavy rain for the last 10 days or so. I'd actually say that, since 2009, only 2012, 2016 and 2018 (and likely 2023) were poorer.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

12 hours ago, Scorcher said:

Probably why this month is frustrating people so much- it's a much more 'average' April and we haven't had a really dull one for some time.

Could also be that the models keep promising and then failing to deliver. That short but intense unsettled spell from Mon-Fri wasn't showing on the models at the beginning of the month - then this coming week was supposed to be warm and sunny, and the rest of the month fairly dry.

Also of course we've had the wettest March since the early 80s and one of the dullest of recent times too. This April might have been OK had it come on the back of a reasonably spring-like March.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Summer8906

[Summer8906]

On 14/04/2023 at 21:25, Don said:

Yes, I do indeed remember April 1987 being warm and sunny, following that lovely cold and snowy March!  It was almost like we went straight from the depths of winter to summer that spring!

Possibly although for me, winter 87/88 really marked the change.

I'd agree it wasn't April 1987, given that May to August 1987 were generally cool with frequent northerlies, albeit sunny at times towards the southwest, August 1987 being a somewhat maligned month.

Autumn 1987 was famously "mixed" (to put it mildly) but it wasn't unusually mild or warm.

Most of winter 1987/88 (mid-Dec to mid-Feb) was indeed very mild. That said, summer 1988 was cool, so I'd put the changeover into the typical 90s regime of mild winters and warm summers at a rather later date, probably December 1988. It was the two mild winters of 1988/89 and 1989/90, with the two hot summers of 1989 and 1990, on the trot, which made it seem like something might be changing.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Summer8906

[damianslaw]

Very hazy memories of April 87, I was nearly 9 years old, sort of remember some decent weather around Easter or during the school holidays, but my memory is not very clear at all. My weather memories do become much stronger from Summer 88 onwards, though I don't recall the cold April of 1989 much. I guess given April is a less extreme month - heat and cold wise, it doesn't often linger in the memory unless a freak event occurs, i.e. a heavy snowfall, yet I don't recall the snow of 1989- can't have been much here. 

[Sunny76]

11 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

Yes, I remember this one. Aprils in the 80s were a bit mixed (with two shockingly bad ones - 1983 and 1986) but 1987 as well as 1984 stood out as unusually warm and sunny. 1980 and 1982 were also sunny and dry, but seemed to lack the intense warmth of 1984 and 1987.

I remember the opening days were dull and wet, in fact I have a distinct memory of a school cross country run on Wed April 1st in the rain, and the rest of the first 10 days or so were, I think, changeable and nothing special. My only specific other memory is of a nice red sunset on Sunday April 5th and noticing it was light-ish at 8pm, for the first time that year. Sometime in the week leading up to Easter (i.e. 12th - 18th), in dull tropical maritime air, the clouds broke and it became warm and sunny. I remember the temp exceeding 21C before Easter; after having my memory jogged by other reports I now remember thundery Ac Cast appearing on the evening of Easter Saturday (and thundery showers were forecast, but didn't materialise) and thinking it was very, very early in the year for this. Then Easter Sunday was cooler and cloudy.

However the warmth then built again and I remember about a week of warm sunny weather, before seeing some large Cu on the afternoon of Sun April 26th (but no rain) and some thundery skies on Wed 29th (which I think even produced a thundery shower, as noted above).

So the warm spell was only 2 weeks of the month, but even still, seemed very unusual at the time, with 1984 the only other example I can remember - and the thundery activity this early in the year was also unusual.

It then turned much cooler going into May, before yet another warm up with some fine warm weather in the first full week of May, before another dry cooldown over the weekend of the 8th-9th (and the rest of May was much cooler in the main).

I can place myself in 1987, possibly more so than any 80s year before or even after it. The memories just seem more vivid, partly down to the weather of that year, and the fact it was my last year in primary school. 
 

January snowfall of 1987, the dull and wet half term in February with cold winds, very warm sunny April, more warm weather towards the end of May, as we spent a week in Bournemouth at the time.

June was very wet, and I remember one Saturday afternoon when it didn’t stop raining, while Warlords of Atlantis was on bbc1 lol.(don’t ask why I remember that)

July starting off hot and sunny, cool and showery with thunderstorms in the second half during the start of the school summer hols.

Hot weather in the middle of August with thunderstorms on the Friday night.

Warm sunny days in September, the October storm and a very mild springlike Christmas period. 

[Sunny76]

10 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

I'd agree it wasn't April 1987, given that May to August 1987 were generally cool with frequent northerlies, albeit sunny at times towards the southwest, August 1987 being a somewhat maligned month.

Autumn 1987 was famously "mixed" (to put it mildly) but it wasn't unusually mild or warm.

Most of winter 1987/88 (mid-Dec to mid-Feb) was indeed very mild. That said, summer 1988 was cool, so I'd put the changeover into the typical 90s regime of mild winters and warm summers at a rather later date, probably December 1988. It was the two mild winters of 1988/89 and 1989/90, with the two hot summers of 1989 and 1990, on the trot, which made it seem like something might be changing.

Yeah, but 87 set the tone as far as the shift to a milder climate. Something happened to our weather in the late summer and early autumn of 87, maybe something that caused the October storm was also a result of something even bigger on the other side of the world.

[mushymanrob]

Actually, inspired by @Weather-history s Manchester Summer Index... ive done my own, and am extending it to cover Months,...

Ive taken the relative values of temperature/sunshine and rain from the Met Offices CET and readings at Sutton Bonnington (leicesters) and Oxford sites since 1930 (when sunshine was started to be recorded)

So this index is a combination of sun/temps/rain...

2011 - 330        GREAT APRILS  v v
2007 - 320
2020 - 294
2015 - 283
1945 - 276
1942 - 270
1954 - 269
1946 - 268
2010 - 267
1995 - 262
2002 - 258        GOOD APRILS  v v
1948 - 253
1955 - 252
2021 - 251
1990 - 250
1949 - 249
2022 - 248
1943 - 244
2017 - 239
1957 - 237
1952 - 233       ABOVE AVERAGE APRILS   v v
2009 - 232
2003 - 229
2013 - 228
1984 - 227
1980 - 226
1982 - 222
2019 - 221
1944 - 213
1987 - 210
1968 - 208
1933 - 207
1951 - 206
1997 - 205
1974 - 204
1976 - 203
2006 - 202
2014 - 201
2008 - 194
1959 - 193
1958 - 192
1953 - 191
1969 - 190
1960 - 189
1950 - 188
1992 - 187        AVERAGE
1947 - 186
1996 - 184
1965 - 183
1939 - 182
1977 - 180
1956 - 179
1973 - 178
2004 - 176
2005 - 175
1999 - 173
1938 - 171
2018 - 168
1991 - 167
1962 - 166
2016 - 165
1985 - 162
1935 - 161
1940 - 160
1972 - 157
1963 - 156
1970 - 154
2001 - 153
1934 - 151
1975 - 150
1963 - 149
1964 - 148
1941 - 144
1981 - 137
1967 - 136     BELOW AVERAGE APRILS  ^ ^
1994 - 133
1993 - 132
1930 - 130
1978 - 129
1937 - 128
1979 - 124
1983 - 121
1932 - 119
1935 - 118
1986 - 116         POOR APRILS ^ ^
1988 - 115
1961 - 111
1971 - 109
1931 - 095
1998 - 092
2000 - 083
1989 - 075
1966 - 072
2012 - -13     VERY POOR APRILS  ^ ^

As you can see, 1987 might have been warm, but not overly sunny with near average rain (158 hrs sun at Ox, 146 at SB... 51mm rain Ox, 58 at SB )
Note April 2021 is quite high on my index, because despite to cold it was dry and sunny...

[Summer8906]

On 23/04/2023 at 17:18, mushymanrob said:

As you can see, 1987 might have been warm, but not overly sunny with near average rain (158 hrs sun at Ox, 146 at SB... 51mm rain Ox, 58 at SB )
Note April 2021 is quite high on my index, because despite to cold it was dry and sunny...

I'd be broadly in agreement here, however I'd probably move 1992 into the "poor" category as I remember that aside from a brief warm sunny period round the election, it was unusually westerly for an April month and consequently unseasonably dull and wet, albeit not cold. Certainly 1992 seemed much, much worse than either 1987 or 1997, for example.

April 1983 also looks surprisingly high up - my memories are a bit vague but I do remember much of that spring being exceedingly dull and wet, and mostly cool. The synoptics for the first 10 days and last two weeks of April, in particular, look appalling.

On the other hand April 1988, a typical average April with a bit of everything, is surprisingly low down. I'd definitely rate 1988 much higher than 1983.

Edited April 29, 2023 by Summer8906