April Weather

April started off cold and wet with snow for some, mainly on high ground, and notably low daytime maxima, continuing the theme dominant throughout March.

The first half of the month continued unsettled and generally cloudy, although it was generally less cold after the 5th and there was a fair amount of dry, sunny weather in northern Scotland. There was a hot spell from the 18th to the 21st, which produced the highest temperatures in April since 1949. However, progressively cooler, unsettled weather returned from the 22nd; it was predominantly bright and showery in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but with rain at times over England and Wales. The provisional UK mean temperature was 8.4°C, which is 1.0°C above the 1981 to 2010 long-term average. Mean maximum temperatures were between 0 and 1°C above average in most areas, while mean minimum temperatures were also between 0 and 1°C above in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but were more than 2°C above in East Anglia, central southern and South East England. The mean minimum temperature for England was the second highest in a series from 1910. Rainfall was 119% of average and most places had near or rather above average rainfall. Sunshine was 90 per cent of average and it was a sunny month in the northern half of Scotland, but generally dull elsewhere.

The UK monthly extremes were: a maximum temperature of 29.1°C was recorded at London St James’s Park on the 19th; a minimum temperature of -8.8°C was recorded at Tulloch Bridge, Inverness-shire, on the 1st; in the 24 hours ending at 9am on the 3rd, 41.4 mm of rain fell at Capel Curig, Gwynedd; wind gusts of 64 knots (74 mph) were recorded at South Uist, Western Isles, on the 17th and a snow depth of 18 cm was recorded at Nunraw Abbey, East Lothian, on the 5th.