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B87 We ended up on 1682 hours and similarly, June was responsible for the biggest uplift as it was 62 hours above normal. Strangely, January was the second largest positive anomaly with 103 hours against the average of 61 hours. SunSeanI'd just do the corrections backwards, so the older figures are corrected to match the current automatic recorders!

SunSean If I remember correctly its in the 6-11% range, with an average of around 10% - which was the initial correction applied, but it is a bit more specific now. Basically, the newer Kipp and Zonen automatic sensors have a standard WMO threshold of 120 Wm-2, but the older Campbell stokes manual recorders burned the measuring paper at anywhere from 106-285 Wm-2 (A. Kerr and R. Tabony: 'Comparison of sunshine recorded by Campbell-Stokes and automatic sensors' (Weather, April 2004, vol. 59,90-95).

SunSean I suspect Shoeburyness was closer to 1700 hours going by the metoffice maps. Not a patch on Manston at >1800 hours though:

The maximum today here was 7.7C. The last time any day in the last 10 days of April was colder than that was 25th April 1997 when it reached 7.5C. The date record low maximum is 6.0C in 1981. Not record breaking but certainly notable.

6.5C at the moment here under that rain band. A good 6-7C below average for the time of year.

August and April have very similar daylight hours, so the potential is always there for them to be similar. I would argue the reason is that the Augusts of the 1989-2006 period were abnormally above trend just as Aprils recently have been. There are similar anomalies elsewhere. Here May is on average a sunnier month than June when June has longer days.

richie3846 Yes, 2022 for example didn't have 4 months with 200+hours at Heathrow but was a very sunny year, as was 2020. Years where all four months that average over 200 hours actually manage to reach it are always going to be a rarity.

*Stormforce~beka* same here but only 8.9C at the moment. Looks like even more cloud tomorrow too.

Weather-history Yes, we've had quite a few light showers and pretty limited sunshine. It's cold too at 8.9C.

Addicks Fan 1981 I disagree. If people want to discuss when we might (or if) hit 20/25/30C then its fine. We have such a thread every year.

Today didn't go to plan. The forecast said sunny before clouding over in the afternoon. Instead, it clouded over immediately at half 8 and has been grey all day since. It's now 8.8C and raining with a 20-25mph wind.

Don’t blame cloud seeding for the Dubai floods | Extreme weather | The Guardian WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM Questions have swirled online about the process being behind the historic rainfall – but experts say it’s not the real culprit The authorities are adamant they weren't cloud seeding at the time. I would also doubt it is effective enough to cause 254mm of rain!

I hadn't looked at the models for a couple of days and couldn't believe how poor it looked when I checked this morning. Its just constant easterlies with a trough to the south right out until May. Most days here don't get into double figures. It takes until 3rd May to hit 12C in fact. Not to mention it'll be raw, often wet and with little sunshine. Mild, wet and dull to cold, wet and dull. Not the change I would have asked for!

In Absence of True Seasons We're right next to that small low barrelling down the North Sea today. Right now its raining with a 30mph NNW wind and the temp is just 6.6C. It certainly feels colder than most of winter!

This Spring is far worse than 2023 in this neck of the woods. In Spring 2023 all of the three months were generally close to average for sunshine here, but this year has been abysmal. There have been NO clear days at all and it has rained most days. Spring 2023 had 39 days with >1.0mm of rainfall, but at the half way point, 2024 is already at 32 days. There have only been 8 days in fact when rain hasn't fallen since 1st March. It has just been relentlessly mild, wet, dull and windy. Now we've got to the middle of April it has changed to cold, wet, dull and windy.

The median date here for the first 20C is 2nd May and the first 25C is almost exclusively June (19 times) or July/August (20 times). Only 4 years have seen 25C before 1st June. 1993 never reached 25C.

Azazel no, it was the opposite. The days were more above average than the nights. March and April were both dry and sunny, with 8.0C and 9.2C on the CET. May was duller than average with normal rainfall but was very warm at 13.1C.

Azazel Spring 2022 was warm, dry and sunny everywhere? One of the warmest ever in fact. This year and last year so far were poor ill grant you. 2021 was cold but sunny with close to average rainfall. So since 2020 we've had two bad, two good and one average?

Apart from the early-mid January blip we've had pretty much record mild weather since early December so it was always going to go below average at some point. It would however be nice if it didn't rain and was actually sunny. Both today and yesterday have had a strong wind and blustery showers.

If that came to fruition it would mean the first 15 days of the month were almost 4C warmer than the last 15 days. That would really be quite something in April, a warming month.

Yes, this morning was awful. Just 7.6C at midday with a gusty wind and driving rain. It's actually clear and sunny now and the warmest it has been all day at 9.1C. The wind is still very strong though.

Metwatch that chart shows it to be the polar opposite of this month so far. 2024 is mild, dull and wet to 2021's cold, sunny and dry. Both highly unusual but I know which I prefer!

54.3 hours of sunshine for the first half of April here. The 1991-2020 average for the month is 164 hours, so it has some catching up to do!

Awful here this morning. Cloudy, raining, a persistent 20-30mph NNW wind gusting to 35-40mph and just 8.1C.

Absolutely loved that month. Here it was the sunniest on record with 248 hours. Only 12 individual months all year round have been sunnier. It was the frostiest by far aswell, with 14 air frosts, which is more than any January, February or March since 1996. The mean minimum temperature was just 0.5C - 4.0C below the 1991-2020 average. Six days also saw snow falling, another record. It was our second driest April with 2.4mm of rain, just slightly more than 2007 (1.5mm), with just 5 days seeing it fall. For us, it was actually colder than 1986 with a mean temp of 5.7C (-3.0C), so the coldest on record and colder than 6 of the last 8 Februaries.