Whatever happened to the term 'April showers'? April has been very dry, indeed the driest ever month in my records. At just 18.0mm (0.7 inches) it beats February of this year. April also recorded the least number (8) of 'rain days' in a single month.

   The year to date as been very dry and it is only the last 10 days of March that have bucked that trend.

   The month started cold, the coldest max' temp' 6.9°c (44.42°F) coming on the 1st, which was sunny but windy and felt cold. Ground frosts were common and an air frost on the 2nd gave the months lowest Min' temp' -1.2°c (29.84°F).

   With a deep area of low pressure in the mid atlantic, the 5th was a poor day. Warm fronts spread east and brought us our wettest day of the month. Then on the 6th, Easter bank holiday, it was equally miserable as a cold front associated to that low south of Iceland, trailed south over us and brought another day of rain. With gusts upto 47mph as well it was a bank holiday to forget. Indeed 72% of the months rain fell on those two days! These two days (save for the 25th) were our only real experience of warm westerly flows from the Atlantic during the month.

   With 15.0mm of rain in the first six days, maybe it was a typical April, but from the 7th it did not rain again untill the 19th (1.4mm)

   From the 8th an area of high pressure started to build and by the 9th it was well established and we were now enjoying warm and essentially sunny days. The 10th saw a Max' temperature of 18.0°c and was a glorious day.

   Now with the Anticyclonic weather prevalent, rainfall wasn't an issue (unless you wanted rain) and our weather was mainly settled. However, with the high pressure establishing itself over Scandanavia and any winds coming from an easterly dircetion and hence been cooled by the north sea, there was often a chilly side to the settled weather.

   The 13th was a cold day at just 9.8°c (49.64°F) and with a fresh NE'ly wind. Ground Frosts were recorded on the 12/13/15/16/18th.

   The 12-16th still had high pressure dominant, but the occasional weak and weakening front would meander by and several days became cloudy as a result. But the high pressure centred over Scandanavia persisted.

   But a frontal system moving south from Scotland brought our first rain in 13 days on the 19th - and then back to the anticyclonic conditions. The days whilst been sunny, became cold, the 19+20th saw temps' of just 8.7°c and 8.9°c and with a strong NW'ly blowing on the 20th, you really needed to be 'In the sun and out of the wind'!

   The 20-24th were also dry and sunny, but now the weather was more dominated by high pressure centred over France and it became milder as a southerly flow was introduced. The months highest temp' of 18.8°c (65.84°F) coming with hazy sunshine on the 24th. This was very much a 'dry day' in that the humidity was very low at just 28%, making the day even better.

   The 25th saw fronts to the west of Eire head east and we had a further 1.0mm of rain. But the high pressure over France kept just enough influence over our part of the world to keep the frontal sytems over Eire sufficiently at bay to keep us dry, we became cloudy but bright.

   The high pressure started to slip away to the east on the 28th, but it kept an area of low pressure in the Atlantic sufficiently at bay to keep us dry. However, despite been dry it was cloudy with some brightness, but the SSW wind was a noticeable feature that kept a chilly feel.

   The month ended with a some rain (0.6mm) as the low pressure moved east and bands of showers passed by.

   But it will be the lack of rain from the 7th, with only three further days of some rain that marks this April out. Indeed whilst this April is the driest month in my records, the previous two Aprils have also been relatively dry. April 2009 only just missed out on recording an 'absolute drought' by one day, having 14 consecutive dry days. Similarly this April only just missed out on a 'drought', but with just 3.0mm in 24 days the prospect of recording a 'partial drought' come 5.5.10. is quite real.

   The Mean Temperature for the month was 7.87°c+     - the Mean Max' was 12.33°c and the Mean Min' 3.4°c.

   We had 4 Air Frosts in the month (53 for 2010) and Grass frosts totalled 8 (84 for 2010).

  COMPARISONS:-

   * April 10 rainfall was 35.73% of the average for 08-09

   * April 10 was 0.92°c colder than April 2009 +

   * April saw 22 dry days. The most ever in a single month since my recordings began.

  * The 3 month mean for February/March/April 2010 is                   TEMP'    4.68°c         -          RAIN    122.00 mm


  *                     February/March/April 2009 was                   TEMP'    6.01°c         -          RAIN    113.30 mm

  *                     February/March/April 2008 was                   TEMP'                   -          RAIN    285.10 mm

 



                                  * 2010      TO DATE                   TEMP'    3.6°c          -          RAIN    158.6 mm

                                  * 2009  Jan - April                   TEMP'    5.4°c          -          RAIN     339.5 mm

                                  * 2008  Jan - April                   TEMP'                   -          RAIN     511.3 mm