It has been another interesting month with much colder than usual weather. With quite a few frosts and snow falling.
It has been a significantly cooler month when comparing to the start of the year. The CET (Central England Temperature) should finish around 7.5c which is 0.4c below average. This would make it the first month below average this year. One startling fact is that April was colder than last December with lots more snow events across the country.
The winds were mostly from the north or north west with arctic air spreading across the country quite regularly. This produced a wide temperature contrast compared to the heat from the sun at this time of the year. The result was spectacular clouds-capes and impressive showers.
The above photograph I took at the top of the shard when a weather front went past making it look like London was on fire.
The warmest temperature in the UK in April was 20.3c at
Porthmadog on the 21st April. The lowest temperature was -5.6c at
Kinbrace in Scotland on the 28th April.
Looking at the first couple of weeks of May it is looking like we are going from winter to summer. By the first weekend the low 20′s should be reached which will be a relief for many. Warm weather is finally here!!
Below are my stats for Watford from my weather station. We didn’t hit the 20c mark during the month which hasn’t happened for a long time.
Summary for April 2016
Temperature (°C):
Mean (1 minute) 8.7
Mean (min+max) 9.5
Mean Minimum 4.4
Mean Maximum 14.7
Minimum -1.0 day 27
Maximum 18.8 day 13
Highest Minimum 8.7 day 14
Lowest Maximum 10.1 day 16
Air frosts 3
Rainfall (mm):
Total for month 43.8
Wettest day 8.4 day 22
High rain rate 7.2 day 03
Rain days 18
Dry days 9
Wind (m/s):
Highest Gust 6.8 day 04
Average Speed 0.2
Wind Run 574.1 km
Gale days 0
Pressure (mb):
Maximum 1035.5 day 19
Minimum 1008.1 day 15
Days with snow falling 2
Days with snow lying at 0900 0
Links
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weatherwatchers
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/cet_info_mean.html