I wonder what the top 10 driest Aprils are.

 

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The driest April on record across the UK was in 1938 when 14.1mm of rain was recorded, followed by April 1974 when 14.6mm of rain fell. In more recent years, the driest Aprils in the UK have been in 2007 when 26.6mm of rain was recorded and 2020 when the average was 29.1mm.

The driest April in the South East was in 1912 when 4.8mm was recorded. Cornwall has seen just 6% of its average rainfall for the month, while Dorset has seen even less of its usual with just 5%.In the City of London there has been 0.2mm of rain in April, while the Greater London area has seen 1.1mm. Scotland and Northern Ireland, which have been relatively wetter than other places, have still seen just 28% of their average rainfall.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/met-office-scotland-dorset-greater-london-tower-bridge-b931345.html (23 Apr)

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Well - we're well in there for this to be the driest on record by some margin.

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April 1980 was very dry around these parts (NW England)

The dry weather persisted until after mid May

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As I mentioned in the gardening thread, the lawns are dust between patches of stunted grass. This has been a remarkable year in terms of surface soil moisture. We have had dust-lawns in 3 of the past 20 years here: 2007 2011 and last year, 2020. 2003 never quite made it. 

But this year we had a short period of partial lawn dust in February after persistent dry, breezy and very cold weather. That's an only.

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DAY       9   0.3 mm

           10   0.6 mm

           11   0.6 mm

           12   0.3 mm

 1.8 mm total this month.

The next fall of precipitation expected Tuesday 27th 21:00 - Wednesday 28th 07:00. 

  

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Here in Eastern Scotland it has been very dry too. I am sitting on 4mms so far this month and just down the coast at Leuchars it is 0.4mms. A few spits and spots this morning but not enough to register.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed for some rain on Tuesday. The weather has been glorious here but incredibly dry.

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Looking at rainfall statistics on the Meteireann website, Western/NorthWestern locations in RoI haven't fared too badly in terms of rainfall with March rainfall amounts being around normal and April rainfall between 25% to 40% of normal. However, Eastern and Southern stations stations saw less than half of normal rainfall in March and less than 20% of normal in April with particularly low amounts recorded close to the East coast - just 2.7mm recorded at Johnstown Castle, outside Wexford town(right in the South East corner of the country). The forecast is for showers this week but I'm not optimistic about receiving very much here. Hopefully, we'll see rain soon. We're not quite at a critical stage yet but we would want to get rain sooner rather than later or we will be in a real drought situation.

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BBC forecasts saying some rain in the S.E and then East Anglia through Wednesday and Thursday. Implying amounts won't be that great. Well I wouldn't mind betting that I get no recordable rain during that period.

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A total of just 0.4 of rain has fallen at Edinburgh Gogarbank since 09:00 UTC (10am BST) yesterday morning as at 6am this morning, along with 0.4 mm of rain at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

That brings this month's total as at 6am this morning to 2.2 mm at Edinburgh Gogarbank and 2.2 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

In order for this month to avoid going down as the driest April on record at either of those stations, a total of 1.0 mm of rain still needs to fall at Edinburgh Gogarbank between now and the end of the month, along with 2.0 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

As regards to the official observation day, we are still on Monday 26 April 2021 as I write because the current observation day won't end until 10am BST (09:00 UTC) this morning, but there are then just another 4 days left of this month after that.

We were supposed to have moved into a more unsettled spell of weather as from yesterday, but we have had very little rain from that so far.

Rain has also been forecast for today, but there are also no signs of that, and the Sun was even shining here in Edinburgh yet again, just a short time ago.

As long as this situation carries on where the rain fails to turn up here when we are expected to get it according to the official forecasts, this month is never going to be anything else other than our driest April on record at both of those stations.

 

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It's definitely raining now!

Yes and by 9am this morning, this had added a further 1.2 mm onto the total for Edinburgh Gogarbank since my last post on this thread and a further 0.6 mm onto the total for the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

That actually makes yesterday, only the first official rain day of this month at Edinburgh Gogarbank, but that is also enough to mean that this month won't be going down as the driest April on record there after all, although a further 1.4 mm of rain was still needed at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh as at 9am this morning, in order to prevent that scenario from occurring there.

Since it looks as though there has been some more rain since 9am this morning, I can probably safely say that this month won't be going down as our driest April on record here in Edinburgh after all.

In order to beat last year's April totals, we need at least another 0.6 mm of rain to be recorded at Edinburgh Gogarbank between now and the end of this month, along with at least another 1.6 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

Those targets will probably end up being achieved as well, so this month is unlikely to end up being quite as dry as this same month during last year.

However, any further rainfall which we get during this month is expected be showery in nature and not amounting to all that month, so this is still going to go down as quite a substantially drier than average month at both of those stations overall, regardless of what ends up happening.

 

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Some very welcome rain here today, 9mm so far and it's still raining. Everything looks greener already.

Raining! Lovely. saves watering the garden.

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We have had some rain during today, but this is still not exactly coming down in bucket loads as the amounts which are being recorded continue to be very small.

Over the course of the last day or so, a total of 3.0 mm of rain has fallen at Edinburgh Gogarbank which has been enough to more than double the total for there, for this entire month. However, a total of just 1.8 mm of rain has fallen at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

That takes the total for this month to just 4.8 mm at Edinburgh Gogarbank as at 11pm tonight, along with just 3.6 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh during that time.

This means that there has now been just enough rain at Edinburgh Gogarbank to prevent this month from being as dry as this same month during last year, but it is now a different story at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh which are still struggling really badly, to get any significant rainfall.

This might not necessarily mean that this month will go down as the driest April on record at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh because that is a station which has been existence since 1956 and the only records which I have for there, only go back to 2009.

However, the current total for that particular station during this month is still short of the lowest April total according to those records which I have for there and as long as that remains the case, there is always the possibility that this month could be the driest April on record there.

The best chance of getting any significant rainfall has now gone and any further rainfall which occurs during this month is likely to be showery in nature. Since showers are always a hit and miss affair, there is always the possibility that we might get nothing at all from them in terms of any recorded rainfall, so the possibility that this month could end up being the driest April on record at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh still cannot be ruled out.

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7 mm added to my total today.

8.8 mm this month.

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Still 100% dry. Will be a zero rainfall month I think.

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4.6mm on Mon & Tues so 10.1mm so far at Swanston (south Edinburgh)

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5.6mm this month

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This month's rainfall totals as at 7am this morning were 4.8 mm at Edinburgh Gogarbank and 4.2 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh (for both of those stations, that is 10.4% of that respective station's 1981-2010 April average).

What is noticeable here is that this month won't now be going down as the driest April on record at either of those stations, after all.

Edinburgh Gogarbank is also not quite as dry as what it was during this same month during last year, but that is still not yet the case at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh where this month's total so far is now exactly the same as the total for this same month during last year.

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The rains have failed !

As a result we now move onto 14 days absolute drought and just 6.8mm to show for what fell early in the month.

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15.8 mm This  Month.

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2.42 mm today

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Equal driest April here since the creation of the earth. Well it must be as you can't beat zero rainfall

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