Here is the April Weather Report.

There is a song called ‘Always look on the bright side’.
Perhaps I feel more optimistic in the writing of this weather report
because May is starting on such a gloriously sunny note. But there was a
‘bright side’ to April this year in that it received just 1/4 of the
total rainfall that fell in April 2012. The comparative figures were
2013= 45.7mm with 2012=181.1mm. There were only twelve rain days
compared with twenty three last year too. 80% of this year’s total fell
during the transitionary week of the 10th-16th. April 2013 was also the
driest of any month since March 2012, and the total was less than what
might be considered average. There were two days of significant
rain–over 10mm.  The wetter being a fall of 12.7mm on the 13th i.e.
the 24hr. period ending at 1000BST the next morning.

However, winter was loath to give ground this year. The
average temperature for the first ten days of the month was the same as
the average had been for the whole of March – around 4C.  Frosts occurred
on each morning for the first week, with the coldest night being that of
the 6-7th with a low of -4.1C.    Last year’s low of -3.7C occurred on the
16th incidentally. Frosts occurred again notably around the 20th but
became generally lighter. The transition to less cold conditions
developed in conjunction with the rainy period to which I have already
refered, but it was still not usual for the temperatures to reach
‘average’ figures. The mean temperature for this April was below 6.8C,
about 2/3rds of degree lower than last year’s ‘cold’ April.  My records
are not complete for the 1990s, but I had to go back to 1998 and 1996 to
try to find a rival for this year’s figure. The period of February to
April has been consistently cold and similarities in the weather
patterns are being drawn with Spring 1962, the year before the severe
winter of 1962-3. We need May this year to break this!

There are some interesting comparisons to be drawn with
the warm April of 2011. This year’s highest temperature occurred on the
23rd, just as it did two years ago. The reading this year of 18.8C was
the same as the average high temperature for the whole month in 2011.
This year the average maximum temperature of  under 11.5C was just lower
than the mean temperature for two years ago.

Peter at Pottlelake