The wet weather across parts of the UK at the moment has generated comments about how wet this April as a whole may pan out in the record books.  As we have said in blogs previously, it is just too early when we are still only mid month to make any assessment about how the month as a whole may compare to previous months in history.

Today the Daily Telegraph reported that the ‘the wet weather will continue to the end of this month, including floods and storms, according to the Met Office, potentially making it one of the wettest April’s on record.’  Although our outlook does suggest that the rather unsettled conditions are likely to continue through the rest of the month, we have not made any assessment on whether it is likely to be one of the wettest April’s on record.

Looking at the latest figures available, the UK has seen around 60% of its normal April rainfall, or 41.7mm up to the 15th of April.  At this point of the month we would normally expect about 50% of the months rainfall so rainfall amounts so far have not been far from what you could typically expect. On average, a typical April would see 69.6 mm or rain.

The Daily Express has today run with a headline that we are expecting the ‘Coldest May for 100 Years’.  This forecast has not come from the Met Office, but from an independent forecaster. Currently our 16 to 30 day forecast which takes in the first half of May says:

“The start of May looks likely to remain unsettled with a continuation of showers or longer spells of rain, although there should also be some drier and brighter interludes. Temperatures will generally be close to or slightly above the seasonal average. Later in the first week of May, conditions may turn more settled across southern England for a time, with a greater chance of some drier and sunnier weather than of late. Further north, it looks likely to stay unsettled with further rain at times, particularly across northwest England as well as northern and western parts of Scotland.”