April 2018 weather log

April 2018 weather log

Key: Lwn Llanwnnen, MH milford Haven, CC Capel Curig, CL Church Lawford, WW West Wales

Sun 1st rain turned to sleet or snow over parts of inland WW during the evening, temp here at Llanwnnen dropped from 7c 1700 to 2c 2100 when the rain turned sleety (maxima Nottingham 5.1c, Tirabad 5.6c, Lwn 8.7c, Hereford 7.8c)

Mon 2nd snow last night some of the hills of Wales and Peak District giving several inches, brief spell of wet snow lower down in places too such as Brum and Stoke, by day much milder reaching around average for many (Pershore 13.3c, Mona 11.5c, Aberdaron 8.1c). Plenty more rain today with localised flooding (Capel Curig 52.6mm). Many parts of Wales over an inch, much of Midlands over half an inch

Tue 3rd Countryside waterlogged with areas of standing water; scattered showers gave hail and thunder to parts of Midlands afternoon. Mild particularly Midlands, first 60f of the year at Cardiff (max 15.7c), also Hereford 15.4c, Trawsgoed 13.2c, Aberdaron 10.1c. In contrast snow in Scotland again today, mainly higher ground..

Fri 6th mild away from some exposed coasts, locally rather warm (Pershore 16.4c, Porthmadog 15.7c,  Aberporth 9.5c)

Sun 9th Scolton Country Park, Pembs, max 16.2c, mildest in UK, cooler and eventually damp Midlands (MH 14.9c, Newport, Salop, 12.6c, CL max 9.8c; Aberporth 9.0 hrs sunshine)

Mon 9th again contrasting fortunes: WW and Marches where some pleasantly warm sunhine for a time, and bulk of Midlands dull, cool and often damp (Lwn max 16.3c, Porthmadog 16.2c, Trawsgoed 15.2c, Shobdon 12.7c, Pembrey 11.6c, Astwood Bank 9.7c). Porthmadog officially warmest spot in UK..

Contrasts much of the week although by Friday WW cooler and Midlands less cool:

Thu 12th Porthmadog max 15.2c, Lwn 14.2c, Aberdaron 10.1c, Shobdon 8.9c,  Nottingham 7.3c

Fri 13th MH max 13.7c, mildest in UK, generally 10-12c

Sat 14th pleasantly warm sunny spells (Pershore College 18.4c, Trawsgoed 17.9c, Aberdaron 12.4c)

Wed 18th start of warm dry spell.. notably high minima, here at Lwn warmest April night since 2007 (11.5c 23rd) other minima: Pershore 12.9c min, Bablake 12.8c, Trawsgoed 12.4c, Hereford 11.9c, Aberdaron 8.7c). Warm/ very warm for mid April and sunny for most (max Pershore 23.6c, Coventry 22.9c, Porthmadog 22.6c, Lwn & Trawsgoed 21.6c, Shobdon 21.6c, Abedaron 17.2c).

Thu 19th very warm Midlands, warm plenty of sun inland WW but much cooler and cloudier many coastal districts. Coventry max 25.9c highest in April since 2011, London St James Park max 29.1c, hottest UK April temp since 1949 (Sutton Bonington 26.5c, Astwood Bank 26.1c, Shobdon 23.8c, Trawsgoed 18.4c, with Aberdaron 11.3c lowest max in UK). Sunshine unbroken today across Midlands (Shobdon 13.1 hrs)

Fri 20th generally warm and sunny again but once more some Welsh coasts plagued by cloud and mist where rather cool (Hereford 21.1c, Lwn 18.3c, MH 17.7c, Shawbury 18.0c, Aberporth 12.5c)

Sat 21st culmination of the notably warm spell (both 18th and 19th have been warmest CET for those days since 1772). Surprisingly a ground frost parts of Wales. Here at Lwn min 1.6c (CC air min 1.2c, grass min -1c). Then a sultry very warm day with plenty of hazy sunshine, max 24.8c, so a diurnal range of 23.2c, this though not as great as 8/04/17 when it was 24.3c (-3.2c to 21.1c)! Trawsgoed 24.7c, Pershore 22.9c, Aberdaron 17.8c.

Tue 24th Gogerddan 25.8mm wettest in UK (Lwn 16.4mm 00-00hr)

Sat 28th very and cool damp much of Midlands, temperatures barely rising from minima 5 or 6c to maxima 7 - 9c..Bright less cool WW with western coasts sunny (Porthmadog 13.7c, MH 13.6c, Shawbury 11.8c, Aberporth 10.4c, CL 8.1c, Aberporth 12.3 hrs sun, Lwn 4.5 hrs sun est)


April summary

Rather mild and wet, quite dull

Short very warm spell just after mid month other wise mediocre, unsettled

Rainfall totals:

Valley 65.0mm (118%)
Aberdaron 78.0mm (134%)
Aberporth 69.4mm (131%)
Talsarn PWS 72.7mm
Abermeurig, Talsarn PWS 71.4mm
Llanwnnen 98.7mm (162%)
Llanelli PWS 78.7mm
Pembrey Sands 100.8mm (149%)
Lawrenny PWS 69.6mm
Milford Haven 78.6mm

Shawbury 72.2mm (148%)
Alvechurch PWS 71.1mm (107%)
Harborne PWS 75.7mm
Coleshill 63.6mm (124%)
Longford PWS 79.8mm
Bulkington PWS 70.1mm
Coventry 72.0mm (138%)
Long Lawford 61.1mm (137%)
Church Lawford 59.0mm (118%)

Crick PWS 53.8mm
Daventry PWS c. 69mm
Radford Semele PWS 88.9mm

Pershore 61.2mm (128%)
Hereford 74.2mm (144%)
Fownhope, Hereford PWS 57.4mm


Sunshine:

Valley 140.6 hrs (87%)
Aberdaron 146.7 hrs
Aberporth 152.2 hrs (88%)
Llanwnnen 119 hrs (79%)

Shawbury 106.9 hrs (81%)
Coventry 111.7 hrs (78%)
Shobdon 105.0 hrs

Nature notes:

Tue 3rd Longwood and adjacent lanes: 2 Chiffchaff heard, a week or two later than usual, Treecreeper, many Mistle Thrush singing towards dusk.  Visited Longwood, the area adjacent to visitor centre out of bounds for felling as there was extensive damage from Storm Emma at the start of March. Walked along lanes and numerous conifers blown over recently and from the east. Storm Emma was on March 1st - 2nd and not 'February' as stated on the woodland noticeboard.

Thu 5th several Chiffchaff Lampeter, went down by Teifi but no WW or Sand Martin

Fri 6th first Llanwnnen Chiffchaff

Sun 8th 2 Pipistrelles above trees end of garden, did see one or two bats in March as well..

Mon 9th First Willow Warbler briefly heard Lampeter University behind Sports Hall

Tue 10th first Bluebells out garden

Wed 11th 4 larger bats along AW lane, Noctules?

Sat 14th Willow Tit (?) observed and singing top of conifer end of garden

Sun 15th first Swallow Lwn!

Mon 16th Blackcaps top of garden singing

Wed 18th warm spell started, plenty of Swallow Lampeter, WW Parc-y-Rhos, many Chiffchaff.
Stitchwort and Violets, much Celandine, many Daffs on turn now

April 20th first UK Swift sightings (one at Bristol another Cwrtnewydd). There have also been some House Martin sightings - none spotted here yet its still at least a week too early for many..

Gwarfynnon bats (a few) back during last week, also new owner says he is Bat friendly

December 2017 weather log

Weather log December 2017

Sat Dec 1st sunny periods, rather cold after frost (Trawsgoed -4.9c). LLanwnnen equal sunniest day since August 31st (9.5 hrs) with October 30th (7 hrs) also Nottingham 6.1 hrs, Valley 5.8 hrs but Aberporth 2.3 hrs

Thu 7th very mild  windy night, wet WW, temps widely above 10c but fell by dawn WW heralding start of a colder potentially wintry spell..?  Capel Curig 54mm overnight.

Fri 8th wintry showers, streamers gace accumulations in places such as higher ground of Wales and parts of West Midlands..reported 20cm in Powys and  Shropshire, a cold windy day (Shawbury max 1.0c, Capel Curig 2.6c, Shobdon 3.5c, Mumbles 5.9c)

Sat 9th very cold wintry showers in places, 20cm lay in Brecon Beacons this morning after overnight snow showers. Max Tirabad +0.2c, Llanwnnen 3.0c, MH 6.1c, Shawbury 1.4c, Coleshill 3.1c)..

Sun 10th widespread persistent snowfalls as 'slider low crosses south Wales (crossed Ceredigion early morning min pressure 974mbar). Much of Midlands over 10cm, locally 20cm little lying snow for coastal areas of Wales, but inland widely over 5cm with over 30cm for some hilly areas such as Brecon Beacons.

Snow depth reports:

Coventry, Bablake 0900 10cm

Coventry FB reports AM 7 -13cm

Leamington 11cm

Long Lawford 7cm 0900

Evesham 5cm 0900

Alvechurch 11cm 0900

Llanwnnen 4cm slushy 0900

Over 30cm Brecon Beacons

25cm Herefordshire

Widely 15-20cm West Midlands

PM: Coventry 12cm, FB Cov 12-15cm

Merthyr Tydfyl John Mason UKWW had reliable report of 35-40cm

Sennybridge (Tirabad) most snow in UK officially 33cm

Very cold away from south coast of Wales where it was mild first thing (Tirabad max -0.8c, Aberdaron +0.8c, Llanwnnen 1.1c, MH 8.9c; Shawbury 0.0c, Pershore 0.9c). Aberporth 32mm, Llanwnnen c. 30mm (24 hours to 1800)

Mon 11th cold to very cold day away from Pembrokeshire, an ice day locally (Shawbury max 0.0c, CL +0.2c, Shobdon 2.0c; Tirabad 0.9c, Llanwnnen 1.8c, MH 6.5c

Tue 12th severe frost (Shawbury & Shobdon -13c, Pershore -11.2c, Llanwnnen -8.9c, CL -9.1c, Bablake -6.7c,

Mon 18th slight frost and thick fog in places; inversion locally cold by day, generally sunny and rather mild though (CL max 3.7c, Llanwnnen 4.9c, Trawsgoed 9.7c, Whitechurch 11.3c, Shobdon 9.7c)

Very mild run up to Christmas, fairly dry..

Thu 21st very mild (minima MH 10.5c, Llanwnnen 9.7c, Coventry 9.1c, Hereford & Shobdon 7.4c). Hereford max 12.1c

Christmas Day (Mon) mild/ very mild, windy with rain at times WW spreading to Midlands evening

(Shobdon 12.2c, Valley 11.8c, Pembrey Sands 11.6c, Aberdaron & Llanwnnen 10.2c

Boxing Day/ Wed 27th frontal system advected rather cold air on northern flank there was sleet and snow in many places, this was a very marginal wet snow event but in areas where precipitatuion was heavy and the snow settled. Parts of the East Midlands were worst hit, up to 6 inches in Northamptonshire, Long Lawford had about 2 inches while there was only a thin tempoorary covering at Coventry. 40.3mm? in the gauge measured at Long Lawford so this would have been an extreme snow event had it been just a degree or two colder!

Very mild end to the year though:

Sat 30th from sleet in the evening, 4c at midnight a sharp warm frontal rise ensued uo to max 11.5c 0300 here at Llanwnnen. Temperatures peaked afternoon for the Midlands highest Pershore 13.7c.

Sun 31st again an overnight peak in temperatures (e.g. 13.1c 0300 CL,11.8c 0130 Llanwnnen)

Nature notes

Gorse seen in flower early month

Sat 9th in spite of cold (though no hard frosts yet) still a few slugs about and Spiders in the house still.

Mon 18th Snowdrops spikes emerged Fish & Anchor

Fri 22nd dusk Blackbird cacophany inc pleasant subsong

Christmas Eve Mistle thrushes singing after dawn

Some Gorse in flower throughout the month

Hint of Great Tit "teacher" around Christmas




December 2017 summary

Generally rather wet, locally wet; average temperatures; sunshine dull to average WW; generally quite a sunny month Midlands


Rainfall totals

Llanwnnen 164.8mm (114%)

Bablake 97.6mm (158%)
Daventry PWS c. 77mm

Dec sunshine:

Valley 34.5 hrs (67%)
Aberdaron 33.1 hrs
Llanwnnen 41 hrs (111%)
Aberporth 32.4 hrs (61%)

Shawbury 55.2 hrs (122%)
Shobdon 63.8 hrs
Nottingham 59.2 hrs (120%)
Bablake, Coventry 59.2 hrs (106%)


2017 Summary


Mild with around average rainfall; dull WW, rather dull to average Midlands


Rainfall totals

Llanwnnen 1343.0mm (102%)

Bablake 702.6mm (102%)
Long Lawford 650.9mm (102%)
Church Lawford 642.6mm (95%)