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Far too cold. It was better than this April sunshine-wise of course. But April should have only occasional frosts- not virtually every night.

Rain Lady aye it doesn’t matter which side of the GW debate you sit on, the conditions since early summer last year have been abysmal and we will all likely feel the effects in terms of substandard foods at higher prices. if this turns out to have been a freak event and conditions settle down into a lengthy period of good weather then some sort of normality will return and GW will suddenly become a positive thing but months of continuing wet weather has certainly played havoc with all aspects of life and I really feel for anyone trying to make a living in these conditions. Thankfully the dire conditions of yesterday should improve into something drier over the next few days with that rarest of beast, a high pressure system looking to set up shop around this part of the world but to me it looks like a drier but largely cloudy affair and, given the need for sunshine at this time of year, suppressed temperatures. I certainly cannot see us reaching for the sun cream and dusting the BBQ off anytime soon.

A drty welcome to the day patchy cloud and rather mild Temp 6.2C, Barometer 1007mb rising slowly, Wind F2 WNW, Rainfall since midnight Nil

April 2021 would have made a good March.

I very much remember it, as my wife and I were both out of work at the time thanks to Covid, and we have a south-facing balcony - so April 2021 in the daytime was fantastic, with the sun low enough in the sky to fully illuminate the covered balcony. However, we made the mistake of heading for our first post-lockdown pint one afternoon, and sat outside a hastily rearranged BrewDog, basking in the sun in t-shirts and jeans. But the second the sun even went behind a building at ~6pm we had to run back home, so sudden was the temperature drop. I also remember snow/graupel showers in London

Saw this rainbow captured on the A42 just as it merges into the M1 on the March 2023 imagery.

Scorcher Met Office site has just added showers for all afternoon tuesday and wednesday now!!! Lmao.... I hope it's wrong.

Don records like dream catch me by Newton faulkner came out that year. It didn’t matter if august was cool as long as it gave a feel good factor which it did and many people had good night sleeps too which made august 2007 ideal really.

Did anybody else really enjoy April 2021. It was very cold (CET 6.5) with many air frosts but also very sunny. My overriding memory of this month is being able to socialise outdoors in gardens and beer gardens again after Lockdown, which was fine in the sunny daytime but felt absolutely freezing sat outside at night! We had snow showers in the second weekend too. A much more enjoyable month than the mild wet dross we’re currently experiencing.

Actually agree on that, I remember that heated politics argument a few weeks back on a Sunday night moans thread, no one there to break it up

Metwatch that was to allude Damianslaw to a post that shouldn't be there, not enough mods on this page.

2013 was indeed a good summer - July was phenomenal and August was decent. June was a bit poor but otherwise I would take a repeat of 2013.

Thunders yes mammatusss

Mods please put the above off-topic post in the moans thread.

raz.org.rain Sun Chaser 2013 turning up would seem to back up the "poor early year, much better summer" relationship, as July 2013 is the fourth hottest on record (above 2022 and 1976!) being only just edged out by 1983 and got the highest temperature since 2006 at the time. June was a bit naff but I wouldn't say it belongs with the infamous Junes of our history, it was dry and mostly average with sunshine. August thru early September is decently passable, being dry aside from the odd thunderstorm and a bit of a nothingburger otherwise, so nothing disruptive to summer plans. The September heatwave had good timing, right before the kids went back to school so one last beach trip etc.. July 2013 was off the back of the 2007-2013 aberration though, presumably such a repeat would see considerably higher temps for longer now and in the leagues of the classics like 1995 or 2006. Indeed the June-July 2013 period reads a lot like 2006 so one has to assume 2013 was an attempt at that and it did very well with what it had in the end. As for concerns about "it's too early for another big heatwave etc.", 1975/1976, 1989/1990, 1994 if you want to count it/1995 and 2018/2019/2020 were all consecutive so there is no minimum time limit between years with big heatwaves. Wet soil also isn't a concern as many of these had infamously wet and miserable starts to the year like this one, and they all managed to get rid of it once the Sun came out for an extended period, 2020 perhaps being the most notable of these when we started with extreme wet and a prolonged dry and warm spell over April and May was able to completely turn it around and leave the ground desperately dry within the space of two months. If the weather really wants us to have a big heatwave then we'll get one.

Greyhound81 20c is likely in both April and October here. April generally slightly warmer for the warmest day of the month, but they both average 2-3 days above 20c.

Bit of a wild day today. Being an extreme weather freak I decided to drive down to view the River Mersey could barely open the car door with the wind, then I as I got back into the car to avoid a heavy hail shower, the door near took my leg off! I think we got to a high of 7-9c today but the wind made it feel much colder. Still wearing my anorak

damianslaw by the way I reported a post that shouldn't be in this thread.

This upcoming sunnier drier spell better last a while yet, we have some catching up to do. Here's the sunshine stats here for the first 3 and a half months of the year since 2018: 2018 - 293 hrs 2019 - 299 hrs 2020 - 313 hrs (this came before the sunniest May on record too) 2021 - 297 hrs 2022 - 293 hrs 2023 - 212 hrs (already dull) 2024 - 161 hrs (shocking!) * the only "recent" start to the year comparable to 2024 for dullness was 2013 which was infamously god awful, but even that managed 193 hours! No wonder it's barely felt like spring at all. If 2024 wants to be considered a good year it'll need a classic late spring and summer, otherwise another one for the bin!

raz.org.rain Kind of like a spring/summer 2018 redux. I have a feeling that is what will happen also. Just like with this year, I recall that we didn't have much of a spring that year and it more or less went straight from winter to summer from mid April onwards. A 2018 style summer would be most welcome for many of us.

For the first time in over 3 months, yes that long, the models show high pressure rather than low pressure ruling the roost in the near term. We are not talking a major blocking high that will fend off frontal features, namely as it is forecast to position to our west at first allowing weak frontal features to flow around its NE flank, it then attempts to build over and through to our east but ultimately becomes thwarted by lower heights which look set to develop into a major euro trough. In these set ups which are very common in the latter half of Spring, chilly easterly and north east winds can bring cool damp showery airstreams to the east and south, whilst the north and west holds onto the driest sunniest weather. The only time in the year when the NW is on the 'fine' side of the NW- SE divide. More notable is the return to near average means, again something we haven't seen for any length of time since mid January.

raz.org.rain I bet you it won't happen and we'll see rain again at the end of next week (or sooner). I don't trust ANY positive mid-long term forecast. They are 99% wrong.

Derecho It will be countered, western parts will see colder mins given shelter from north and east winds. Frigid Also interesting as they came during 'lockdown' periods, 2021 from memory was when we could meet outside in the freezing air!

The next week looks pretty good. Would prefer it to be slightly warmer but I won’t complain.

A tempestuous day, squally downpours and downdraughts, a pool of sub 528 dam air overhead, and consequently cold. Temps hovered between 5 and 8 degrees, fells retained a white coat above 650m.