Key:
WW = West Wales
Lwn = Llanwnnen
AG = Aldermans Green, Coventry
LL = Long Lawford
CL = Church Lawford
ROW = Ross-on-Wye
CC = Capel Curig
MH = Milford Haven
Mids = Midlands
CITE = Coton-in-the-Elms, Derbyshire
COL = Climatological Observers Link
PWS = Personal weather station
Big drop in temperature here from 1st (max 16.1c Lwn) also Trawsgoed 15.5c, Ross-on-Wye 15.2c, Nottingham 12.4c, Aberdaron max 8.9c, to 2nd (max 8.4c Lwn) also Pershore 11.7c, Nottingham 9.2c, Trawsgoed 8.4c, Aberporth 7.1c
Wed 3rd cool/ cold day for April, here at Lwn max just 5.7c the coldest April day since 2013 (4th max 4.4c). Elsewhere max CC 4.6c, Aberporth 6.7c, Pembrey 9.3c, Shawbury 6.1c, Sutton Bonington 10.0c. Showers and longer spells of rain, sleet or snow, especially for Wales, accumulations above about 300m; parts of Midlands escaped the showers
Thu 4th still in the cold air- maxima CC 4.8c, Aberdaron 5.9c, Lwn 6.2c, Coleshill 6.4c, Mumbles & Ross-on-Wye 9.2c. Sleet or snow in many places, some hills of Wales and W Midlands seeing significant accumulations (14cm Brecon Beacons reported and the hills around Lampeter had a good covering). Here at Lwn sleet or snow each of the past 3 days, this has not happened before in April (2 days April 2008). Total rainfall to 0900 30.2mm here at Llanwnnen (often falling as sleet) was the wettest April day on record (beating 23.5mm 13/04/13)
Sat 6th much drier and milder, rather sunny much of WW & Marches but still lines of snow on Cambrians (drift remnants) above 300masl. Max Llanwnnen 15.0c, Pembrey 14.8c, Ross-on-Wye 13.5c, Trawsgoed 13.4c, Nottingham 12.0c, Mona 11.4c
Sun 7th fine and dry WW, mostly cloudy Midlands (Porthmadog 16.8c warmest in UK, Lwn 16.4c, Nottingham 13.9c, Newport, Salop 13.8c, Mona 12.4c, Coleshill 11.7c; Valley 11.5 hrs sunniest in UK, Aberporth 9.3 hrs, Lwn 9 hrs est, Shawbury 1.4 hrs, Bablake 0.5 hrs)
Mon 8th rain or showers in places, thunder and hail affected parts of Midlands in particular late in the day (inc Coventry & Rugby).
Tue 9th nice and sunny WW and Marches rest of Midlands sunny spells, ENE breeze off N Sea here so felt more cool (Lwn 14.0c, Porthmadog 13.6c, Newport, Salop 12.2c, Mumbles 12.1c, Pershore 11.8c, CL 10.4c, Aberdaron 9.3c; Aberdaron 12.8 hrs sun, Lwn 10 hrs est, Shawbury 9.2 hrs)
Wed 10th widespread frost, quite sharp locally, minima CC & Shawbury -3.6c, Pershore -3.2c, Lwn -2.7c, Mumbles 4.4c. Sunny again WW and Marches, more cloud much of Midlands..
Sat 13th Porthmadog 12.8c mildest in UK, a rather cool bright day for many (Lwn 12.4c, ROW & CITE 11.4c, Aberdaron & Watnall max 9.2c, CC 9.0c; Valley 11 hrs sun, Lwn est 9.5 hrs); a few places in SE reported sleet showers..
Sun 14th frosty nights of late especially Midlands, more cloud last night WW (minima Wellesbourne -3.6c, CL & Coleshill -3.1c, Shobdon -0.6c, CC 1.6c, Lwn 2.4c, MH 5.9c). Cool by day especially Midlands, maxima Aberdaron 7.6c, Market Bosworth 8.1c, ROW 9.9c, CITE 10.0c, Lwn 10.5c, Porthmadog 10.6c
Big warm up after mid month..
Thu 18th warm with sunny spells...max Lwn 20.9c, Porthmadog 20.9c, CITE & Pershore 20.3c, Pembrey 20.0c, Aberporth 19.5c, Trawsgoed 19.0c, Shawbury & Shobdon 18.8c, CC 16.5c
Fri 19th very warm and sunny, here at Lwn max 24.8c was one of the highest recorded for the month (record 26.0c in 2007). Other maxima Gogerddan 24.0c, Trawsgoed 23.5c, ROW 22.8c, CC 22.4c, Aberporth 21.4c, Mumbles 17.7c; Coleshill 22.5c, CL 21.4c
Sat 20th local ground frost especially Midlands (Wellesboune min +1.5c, CITE 2.1c). Became very warm and sunny again, max 24.9c Lwn, the warmest April day since 2007 (26.0c). Other maxima Mona 23.3c, CC & Trawsgoed 22.9c, MH 22.3c, Pembrey 18.2c; Newport, Salop 22.8c, CITE 22.7c, Coleshill & Pershore 22.6c, CL 21.9c; Watnall & Wellesbourne 12.8 hrs sun. Lwn est 10.5 hrs, Valley 9.9 hrs
Sun 21st fairly widespread ground frost (min Lwn +0.6c, Tirabad +0.7c, Pembrey 2.1c, Valley 9.7c; Shobdon 2.8c, Watnall 6.7c). Again very warm and sunny maxima Lwn 23.6c, Trawsgoed 23.0c, Aberdaron 15.3c; ROW 23.5c, Hereford 23.4c, Shawbury 21.7c...Sunshine unbroken in many places, Lwn 13 hrs est, Aberporth, Nottingham & Wellesbourne 13.2 hrs, Coventry 12.5 hrs
Mon 22nd local ground frost (min Lwn 1.8c, CC 2.1c, Mumbles 10.6c; Shobdon 2.4c, Nottingham 7.4c). very warm again.. Lwn 23.8c, fourth day above 23c virtually unprecedented warm spell for April. Other maxima Pershore 24.0c, CITE 23.8c, Shawbury 22.4c, Valley 23.0c, Aberporth, Pembrey & Mona 22.4c, Mumbles 18.0c..
Tue 23rd another warm day (locally very warm WW) if more cloud (Porthmadog 24.8c = warmest in UK, Lwn 23.6c, Trawsgoed & Valley 22.6c, MH 18.2c; Row 20.7c, CL 18.5c)
Wed 24th thunder parts of W & N Midlands late afternoon (not Coventry)
Thu 25th April showers, some with hail and thunder (more especially Midlands inc Coventry)
Sat 27th 'Storm Hannah' crossed N Wales then N England bringing widespread gales, and to much of WW some heavy rain. Gusts above 80mph exposed spots of Wales (Aberdaron 81mph) the Lwn roof anemometer reported a dubious gust of 63mph however with no others above 45mph. Over two inches of rain for a chunk of mid and N Wales where the overnight rain persisted well into Saturday..(Capel Curig 98mm wettest in UK)
Nature notes:
Red Campion seen early month, just a very few.
Sun 7th Willow Warbler singing half-heartedly Longwood (first one heard); plentiful Chiffchaff. Also 2 Large Tortoisehell Longwood.
Thrush singing to near dark (2030) in village.
First Bats first week (medium sized tree-top flying ones)
Wed 10th first Swallow twittering above garden, lovely sunny day.
Song Thrush singing splendidly to near dark (after 2030) from earthwork copse, with another vying with it down the scarp line of trees a few hundred metres to south..
Thu 11th Allt-y-Mynydd forest plentiful Willow Warbler (at least 4 or 5 singing, 1 seen).
Sat 13th another Swallow over the garden, and another in Lampeter by Vets..; Common (?) Blue butterfly University.
Much Stitchwort in bloom by mid month and also Blackthorn. Good Spring for Forget-me-nots. Various Butterfly seen lately inc Red Admiral, Peacock, White spp, Orange Tip..
Oak leaf burst mid month
Fri 19th Cuckoo calling often adjacent to 'Allt-y-Mynydd forestry; 12+ WW singing vibrantly along with up to 10 Chiffchaff.
Garden Bluebells on the wane month end! Countryside ones generally not yet at peak.
Still fair few Holly berries hanging on, they have been dropping past month, and in spite of the flowering of the tree during May..
Tue 30th first Swift, flew out of Church hall nest hole and above the village
April 2019 summary: rather mild; much of WW rather wet and rather dull, much of Midlands rather dry and quite sunny
Rainfall:
Valley 68.0mm (123%)
Capel Curig 175.2mm
Aberdaron 98.2mm (169%)
Trawsgoed c 80mm
Aberporth c 75mm
Llanwnnen 106.7mm (138%)
Mumbles 72.6mm (124%)
Milford Haven c. 66mm
Nottingham 32.4mm
Shawbury 38.2mm (78%)
Coleshill c 28mm
Coventry, Bablake school 28.6mm (55%)
Church Lawford 17.6mm (35%)
Pershore 39.6mm (83%)
Hereford 62.4mm (121%)
PWS
Talsarn, Abermeurig Bont 78.5mm
Llanelli 62.5mm
Coventry, Earlsdon 27.2mm
Clifton-on-Dunsmore 29.2mm
Lilbourne, Rugby 21.1mm
Dunchurch 17.8mm
Crick 16.7mm
Daventry 24.1mm
Radford Semele, L/Spa 24.1mm
Shirley, Solihull 30.5mm
Harborne, Bham 32.8mm
Edgbaston 26.1mm
Alvechurch, Worc 41.9mm (63%)
Sunshine:
Valley 138.8 hrs (86%)
Aberdaron 148.5 hrs
Aberporth 145.8 hrs
Llanwnnen 124.8 hrs est (83%)
Nottingham 166.6 hrs
Coventry, Bablake 171.7 hrs (113%)
Wellesbourne 149.3 hrs
Shobdon 151.4 hrs
