MONTHLY CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY for APR. 2003 NAME: Ferryhill CITY: Ferryhill STATE: Co. Durham ELEV: 394 feet LAT: 54deg 41min N LONG: 1deg 33min W TEMPERATURE (°C), RAIN (mm), WIND SPEED (mph) HEAT COOL AVG MEAN DEG DEG WIND DOM DAY TEMP HIGH TIME LOW TIME DAYS DAYS RAIN SPEED HIGH TIME DIR ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 8.1 11.1 13:45 4.3 24:00 7.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:15 --- 2 6.3 9.0 15:00 4.1 5:45 9.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:15 --- 3 9.5 13.9 17:00 5.3 4:45 6.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:15 --- 4 11.6 13.9 12:30 9.9 23:15 3.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:15 --- 5 10.4 13.6 15:00 9.2 6:00 4.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:15 --- 6 8.1 9.3 0:30 5.8 24:00 7.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 7 6.4 11.7 16:00 2.7 24:00 9.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 8 6.0 12.5 15:30 -0.1 5:30 9.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 9 5.5 9.2 14:00 2.3 3:30 10.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 10 4.8 7.6 16:00 2.1 24:00 10.7 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 11 7.2 10.9 15:00 1.9 0:30 8.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 12 7.9 14.2 13:30 2.0 6:00 7.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 13 9.4 16.4 15:00 3.8 6:00 6.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 14 13.0 19.2 13:30 9.5 6:30 3.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 15 13.4 21.2 16:30 8.0 5:30 3.0 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 16 15.7 24.1 15:30 10.1 7:00 2.0 2.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 17 12.0 18.2 17:00 6.3 7:30 3.9 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 18 10.2 15.2 15:00 5.7 7:00 5.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 19 7.9 10.1 15:30 6.1 6:00 7.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 20 8.2 9.8 14:00 6.7 6:00 7.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 21 9.1 13.6 17:00 6.8 5:00 6.4 0.0 3.8 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 22 9.8 15.2 16:30 5.2 7:00 5.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 23 9.7 14.8 15:00 5.8 7:00 5.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 24 8.4 10.2 17:30 6.1 5:00 7.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 25 10.2 11.9 15:00 8.1 5:30 5.3 0.0 4.0 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 26 10.0 17.0 16:00 6.8 7:30 4.9 0.1 6.8 0.0 0.0 0:30 --- 27 10.0 13.9 16:00 7.1 4:00 5.5 0.0 0.4 0.0 0.0 1:00 --- 28 10.4 15.3 17:00 8.5 3:00 5.1 0.0 7.4 0.0 0.0 1:00 --- 29 11.6 15.5 17:00 8.4 6:00 3.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1:00 --- 30 11.2 14.9 17:00 8.2 7:00 4.3 0.0 1.8 0.0 0.0 1:00 --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.4 24.1 16 -0.1 8 186.0 4.1 24.4 0.0 0.0 1 --- (+2.1) (47%) Max >= 32.0: 0 Max <= 0.0: 0 Min <= 0.0: 1 Min <= -18.0: 0 Max Rain: 7.40 ON 28/04/03 Days of Rain: 6 (> .2 mm) 4 (> 2 mm) 0 (> 20 mm) Heat Base: 15.5 Cool Base: 15.5 Method: Integration Warm (9.8C CET), sunny, and dry. The first threeks were very settled and dry; the final week was wet and unsettled. The minimum at Hawarden (Flintshire) on the 10th was -7.5C. There was a memorable early heatwave. The warm weather began on Monday 14th. The temperature reached 27.4C (81.3F) at Stratfield Mortimer (Beds., near Reading) on the 16th - the third highest April temperature for the country ever recorded, and the highest since 1949. There were more very high temperatures to the west and north of the country on the 17th: 26.9C at Lochcarron (Wester Ross) - a new April record for Scotland, 27C at Prestatyn (the highest Welsh record since 1893), and even 22.1C at Orkney. Unfortunately it was much cooler on the east coast. The southerly airflow was accompanied by a substantial and widespread Saharan dustfall originating from the west Algerian desert from the 13th to the 21st. The daily range at Altnaharra on Good Friday, the 18 April was an enormous 28.2C (from 24.5C maximum to -3.7C minimum the next night). The whole of the British Isles was cloudless on Good Friday. The hot weather was suddenly replaced by much colder easterlies over Easter (18-21st), starting on the Saturday, with some marked temperature decreases. The drought ended in the third week: some places on the east coast, near Loftus, Redcar, and Whitby, had had no measurable rain for 42 days, from 13 March to 23 April. There were some heavy showers at the end of the month. On the 30th, south of Manchester, 25 mm of hail fell in 3 minutes, containing some 12 mm hailstones. Average sunshine was 182 hours, but Torquay saw 254. Overall the month was the warmest since 1987 (and before that 1961; it was the eighth warmest on record), the sunniest since 1990, and the driest since 1997.