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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.