April was a predominantly unsettled month, with little in the way of consistent warmth, especially over England, and hence the advance of spring seemed to be rather slow, though it was more settled for a time around mid-month, this being followed by a return to rather chilly conditions.
Although, temperatures fluctuated somewhat throughout April the average is close to or a little below average for the month overall, with Northern Ireland warmest relative to average. A milder spell mid-month was balanced by rather colder conditions towards the end of the month.
Sunshine was close to normal expectations overall for April, but with the north and east generally brighter relative to average than the south and west.
Rainfall was very close to average overall, but with regional variations, most parts of Scotland being drier than average, but southern and eastern England being rather wet. For example, Kent saw 185% of its average rainfall while West Lothian saw just 59%. At least one weather station in Kent (East Malling) reported more than twice its normal rainfall.
Storm Noa on 12 April 2023 was the second named storm of the 2022/2023 storm season. It was named by Meteo-France and brought widespread gusts of over 58 mph around the coastline of England and Wales. It was an unusually severe storm for the time of year and the most significant April wind storm to affect England and Wales since April 2013. Some weather stations recorded new April wind gust records. For example Isle of Portland (74 mph), St Bee’s Head (79 mph) and Shap in Cumbria (67 mph).
|
Provisional April 2023 stats |
Max temp (°C) |
Min temp (°C) |
Mean temp (°C) |
Rainfall (mm/%) |
Sunshine (hours/ %) |
|||||
|
Actual |
91/20 anom |
Actual |
91/20 anom |
Actual |
91/20 anom |
Actual |
91/20 anom |
Actual |
91/20 anom |
|
|
UK |
11.9 |
-0.1 |
3.7 |
-0.1 |
7.8 |
-0.1 |
69.8 |
97 |
158.2 |
102 |
|
England |
12.6 |
-0.4 |
4.2 |
-0.1 |
8.4 |
-0.3 |
63.9 |
114 |
160.0 |
98 |
|
Wales |
12.0 |
-0.2 |
4.2 |
0.1 |
8.1 |
-0.0 |
77.7 |
88 |
142.4 |
90 |
|
Scotland |
10.7 |
0.4 |
2.5 |
0.2 |
6.6 |
0.1 |
73.7 |
79 |
162.9 |
115 |
|
Northern Ireland |
12.5 |
0.5 |
4.8 |
0.8 |
8.6 |
0.6 |
89.7 |
121 |
137.7 |
93 |
Provisional temperature, rainfall and sunshine statistics for April 2023