Weather Archive
Weather Report with Phil Thomas
Cold, but few April showers
Posted on April 23 2013 at 1:04:17 0 comments
Alvechurch amateur weatherman Phil Thomas records the changes.
Following one of the coldest starts to the year for more than 20 years, April continued the trend of cold months with a mean of only 6.7C, still 1.5C below the season’s normal.
There were 10 consecutive ground frosts from the 1st onwards, and six air frosts. It has been very dry up to the 22nd, with about average levels of sunshine.
April 2013 (Up to 22nd)
Mean Max 10.9C 1.9 below average
Mean Min 2.5C 1.1 below average
Mean 6.7C 1.5 below average
Rainfall 13.1mm 20% of average
Sunshine 82.5 hours 70% of average
Back in March, temperatures were well below normal with a mean of 2.6C; that’s 3.6C below the local average. The daily maximum of –0.4C on the 24th was the coldest March daytime over that same period.
It was a very cold and snowy end to the month with up to 13cm of snow lying on the 24th, and eight days with snow lying on the ground.
The mean temperature was extremely low for March, but was the sixth coldest mean for any winter month over my period of records.
March 2013
Mean Max 5.4C 4.6 below average
Mean Min 0.3C 2.7 below average
Mean 2.6C 3.6 below average
Rainfall 74.4 mm 165% of average
Sunshine 76.5 hours 81% of average
Outlook
The end of April into the start of May seems to be heading for another colder than normal spell of weather.
The outlook for May is for a period of drier weather and possibly some warmer weather later into the month, but the weather computer models are split as to how dry and how warm.
More information at http://www.alvechurchweather.metsite.com You can now see an improved HD weather-cam, updated at one-minute intervals, at: http://www.alvechurchweather.metsite.com/webcam_alvechurch.php