THIS WEEK
What a week of contrasts. From the heatwave last week which saw the hottest April day for 70 years (29.1C recorded), temperatures have reverted to normal and finished the week with temperatures hovering between 10C and 14C over most of the country.
However, the warm weather kick-started the season for garden centres. Dobbies Garden Centres saw its highest ever sales over the weekend, with Friday, Saturday and Sunday (20-22 April) beating all historic records and rose 45% versus the same period in 2017.
THIS MONTH
Despite cold winds and snow, overall temperatures were surprising high, thanks to blankets of clouds providing insulation at night. In early April, the place to go was northern Scotland the direst place being Loch Glascarnoch and the sunniest, the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isle. Meanwhile Edinburgh was drenched for the first two weeks and Glasgow the gloomiest with only 20 hours of sunshine.
Most of England and Wales was wet and gloomy thanks to the track of the jet stream south of the UK which did not extend to northern Scotland. Then came the bizzarre change to blazing hot sunshine as southerly winds were dragged up from the Mediterranean.
REMEMBER LAST YEAR (APRIL 2017)?
A similar month of contrasts. Easter weekend was mid-month (16-19 April 2017), average temperature in London was 14C. However, the week before, its was 25C on Sunday 9 April, dipping to a high of 13C the following day. There’s April for you!
Rainfall for the UK was 47% of the average for the month, however the end of the month saw a weather system move into the south-west of England and Devon had 60% of its normal monthly rainfall on 30 April.
OUTLOOK
Today:
The often heavy rain will continue to move east across much of England and Wales, with showers in the south, where it will be windy. Sunshine and showers for Scotland.
Outlook for Saturday to Monday:
Sunshine and showers are likely for Saturday. Heavy rain and gales are expected for the southeast on Sunday and Monday, but it will be largely dry, sunny, but cold elsewhere.
Beyond:
Into the start of May conditions will be generally changeable and windy at times. There will be some drier, sunnier spells, these most likely in the north and northwest. Temperatures will be near or just below average, with only a small chance of warmer conditions. Outlook for 7-21 May is for mixed conditions, with some dry spells as well as more changeable periods with rain or showers occurring more widely.
The Sun however is dubbing a possible heatwave over the coming week as Beauty from the East.
For a detailed forecast for your area, go to the Service Dealer website and enter your location.
THIS WEEK IN WEATHER HISTORY
1981: The country is blanketed with 8 inches (20cm) of snow from the Pennines to Salisbury Plain from 23-26 April, and in the Cotswolds snow depths of 60cm were recorded
1997: on 27 April, heavy rain stops play at Glamorgan’s ground in Cardiff, and saw the first use of the now widely used Duckworth-Lewis method to decide the outcome of a match
2000: The Silverstone Grand Prix was held on 23 April, but because of heavy rain in the lead up to the race weekend, the police were forced to close all the car parks. A heavy fog did not help matters as helicopters were grounded and many drivers had to use motorcycles to reach the circuit. The 60,000 crowd in 1999 was reduced to less than 15,000
WEATHER QUOTE
“You can spend your whole life trying to be popular, but at the end of the day the size of the crowd at your funeral will be largely dictated by the weather.”
Frank Skinner