April was the sunniest on record say Met Office

April 2015 was the sunniest since UK Met Office records began back in 1929.

The UK saw on average 212 hours of sunshine in April according to the Met Office, seven hours more than the previous record set in 1942, and continued a run of sunny months since last December.

Morpeth in Northumberland recorded its sunniest April in its 110-year recording history with 265 hours, nearly nine hours per day, almost double the April average.

Sunshine percentage of 1981-2010 average

April was also a notably dry month, particularly across the southern half of the UK with only a third to a half of normal rainfall, less than 20% in some places.

Mean temperatures were just above average with warm days being balanced by cold nights.

Daytime temperatures were well above average in many areas, the year’s highest temperature so far, 25.6 °C, recorded at Faversham, on April 15th, the highest April temperature in the UK sine 2011 however, there were also sharp frosts, especially on April 27 when -8.0 °C was recorded at Katesbridge, County Down.

The weather was dominated by high pressure in April,  bringing fine, dry, settled conditions, particularly across the southern half of the UK.

Scotland also had some fine, sunny weather but towards the end of the month a cooler more unsettled north-westerly airflow developed bringing rain or showers at times, and some snow across the Scottish mountains.

images: Met Office.

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