Climate summaries

Overview of weather across the UK for previous months, seasons and years

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UK last month

April 2021

April began settled, but soon turned very cold, and a notable feature throughout the month was the number of air frosts. Daytime temperatures did recover from the middle of the month, but it was cold and showery in the closing days. Overall it was an unusually cold, dry and sunny month.

The provisional UK mean temperature was 5.7 °C, which is 1.7 °C below the 1981-2010 long-term average, with April being colder than March for the first time since 2012. Mean maximum temperatures were within a degree of average except in eastern England, but mean minimum temperatures were widely around 3 °C below average away from westernmost coastal counties. The number of days of air frost across the UK was the highest in a series since 1960. Many areas were very dry, with only parts of Wiltshire and northern Scotland exceeding 50% of average rainfall, making it provisionally the UK’s fourth driest April in a series from 1862. Sunshine was well above average everywhere, especially across northern England and southern Scotland, with 152% of average overall, narrowly beating 2020 to become the sunniest April in a series since 1919.

The UK monthly extremes were as follows: A maximum temperature of 21.4 °C was recorded at Treknow (Cornwall) on the 1st. A minimum temperature of -9.4 °C was recorded at Tulloch Bridge (Inverness-shire) on the 12th. In the 24 hours ending at 0900 GMT on the 28th, 28.8 mm of rain fell at St Athan (South Glamorgan). A wind gust of 65 knots (75 mph) was recorded at Fair Isle (Shetland) on the 5th. A snow depth of 12 cm was recorded at Loch Glascarnoch (Ross & Cromarty) on the 7th.

Regional values for April 2021