General and Barometric Pressure

  April continued the theme of poor months to start the year - whilst mild, it gave us a soaking in the first half of the month then turned much cooler during the second half; it was also quite dull and cheerless.

  And like the months before it, with high pressure broadly absent, MSLP would finish below average, by 5.1 MB. Pressure was at its highest during the 19-24th and which coincided with the driest part of the month.

  With a maximum temperature of just 7.0°c on the 1st, the month opened with a wet and cool day and whilst it would quickly warm up, it remained unsettled and wet.

  Through to the 13th overnight minima would on occasion threaten to attain double-digits, whilst day-time maxima were much nearer to the seasonal norm' (12.3°c) and on a good number of occasions, below.

  The period of 4-8th was very wet - totals recorded being: 4th (18.2 mm ) -- 5th (14.1 mm) -- 6th (17.3 mm) -- 7th (0.6 mm) -- and then followed by the month's wettest day, 8th (29.3 mm) and which is now the greatest 24Hr fall for any April day in my records.

  Ultimately rain would fall on every day up to and including the 16th in which time 124.1 mm was recorded. With a shift in wind direction to the W-NW, and low pressure to the NW tracking SE, each of the 15-17th saw some hail showers, but also a little sunshine.

  It would now become much drier. After a wet afternoon on the 18th, it was effectively dry until the late evening of the 28th, with rain overnight into the 29th and then again during the afternoon.

  Sunshine had been quite rare during the month, but after an overnight frost, the 20th was the best day of the month with sun virtually all day (see 'Precipitation' below). And then the period 25-28th did get to see a little sunshine, more so in the mornings and which coincided with a run of three overnight frosts.

  Whilst day-time maxima had given nothing to shout about during the first half of the month, during the second half only the 20th and 27th would scrape above the seasonal norm, but the month would finish with a month's high of 18.4°c as we came under the influence of a S-SE'ly airflow.

  Temperature

  With a mean minimum of 4.02°c and a mean maximum of 11.78°c April 2024 saw the temperature 0.18°c above the fifteen year average for this site. This saw it being the warmest April since 2020 and since the record began, six have been warmer and nine colder.

  The highest maximum during the month was 18.4°c (65.1°f - 30th) and the lowest minimum, -3.1°c (26.4°f - 26th). However, instead of the month following a natural pattern of getting warmer as it progressed, it did the reverse. The first half of the month had a mean temperature of 8.9°c, but this would drop to 6.9°c for the second half, when we finally got to see a few air frosts. However, with cloudy skies being the norm', night-time minima would finish above average (by 0.95°c), but with the mean maximum running below average by 0.58°c.

  At the Met' Office site at Shap a mean minimum of 2.9°c and a mean maximum of 10.8°c saw the monthly mean temperature 0.1°c above average. It was the warmest April since 2020 and since the record began (1992), thirteen have been warmer, eighteen have been colder and there is no data for one year.

  Precipitation

  At Maulds Meaburn rainfall totalled 145.6 mm (5.73 In), this being 282.7% of the average for 2007-23, making it the wettest April yet recorded at this site and locally (Appleby) it has been the fifth wettest in a 168 year record.

  That particularly wet start to the month saw this April become the wettest in my records by the 9th! Then on the 11th it became the first April in my records to breech the 100mm mark. And just like March which recorded its highest total of ''wet days' (days with at least 1.0mm of rain) in my records, so did April with 18.

  20th April - prior to this year this was the driest day of the year in my records; the most that has ever fallen on this day being just 0.5 mm. And after 2024 and 17yrs of data, it still is. A decent sunny day saw no rain recorded at all this year on the 20th.

  Locally rainfall at Maulds Meaburn North was 151.1 mm and at Castlehowe Scar 193.2 mm. At the Met' Office site at Shap, rainfall of 235.4 mm represents 252.0% of its average making it the wettest April recorded there since the record commenced in 1989.

  Figures from the Environment Agency's rainfall sites were, (figure in brackets being the monthly average for 1991-2020)   'Data kindly provided by the Hydrometry and Telemetry team of the Environment Agency (Penrith)':

  At Appleby in Westmorland rainfall of 112.4 mm (LTA of 47.4 mm) represents 237.1% of its average (1857-2023) and made it the wettest since 1993 - since the record commenced, 163 have been drier and four have been wetter.

  Kirkby Thore 99.6 -- (44.6 mm)

  Haresceugh Castle (Kirkoswald) 105.9 mm -- (62.5 mm)

  Brothers Water 349.5 mm -- (141.3 mm)

  Seathwaite Farm (Borrowdale) 380.6 mm -- (179.8 mm [average for 1845-2023]) represents 211.7% of its average - making it the wettest since 1970 and since 1845 when the record commenced, 173 have been drier and six have been wetter.

  Note:- both Brothers Water and Seathwaite are partial estimates. Brothers Water was missing data for the 28-29th and Seathwaite was missing the 1st to 4th - both estimates are based on falls at sites nearby to each.

  OTHER:-

  During the month the following 'days of' were recorded: hail fell on four days -- the wind speed averaged 8.43 mph, with a maximum gust of 56 mph (7th).

  We had six Air Frosts in the month (year 23)          --          Grass Frosts totalled nine (year 56).

  The 1 foot soil temp ranged from a low of 8.0°c on the 1st and 2nd        to      a high of 9.8°c on the 9th and 13th     --      with a monthly mean of 9.1°c

  The 1 meter soil temp ranged from a low of 8.0°c on the 1st to 3rd      to      a high of 9.0°c on the 16th and 26-30th     --     with a monthly mean of 8.7°c

   This makes the Jan' to April period of 2024 0.83°c warmer than the average for 2009-23 and with 149.1% of average rainfall for 2008-23

  Cumbrian Rainfall

  April was an extremely wet month with many locations recording well in excess of double their LTA, and most of that rain fell during the first ten days of the month and certainly by mid way. At the majority of sites rain would be recorded on all of the first sixteen days of the month.

  At Appleby In Westmorland it became just one of six Aprils to exceed the 100 mm mark and that is in a record back to 1857!

  At sites with records less than 20yrs it would be their wettest on record. At some sites such as Seathwaite it was the wettest since 1970, however, at Orton (Nr. Tebay) 196.8 mm is the wettest in a record that commenced in 1967.

  Percentage total falls ranged from 'just' 137% at Seaton (Nr. Workington), the NW portion of the county seeing the lowest percentage falls, although Abbeytown (264.7%) is a very obvious exception to that rule.

  The highest percentage fall (266.6%) was found at Burnbanks (by the Haweswater dam) (excluding Maulds Meaburn's 282.7% which is only a 17yr record).

  Sites that recorded more than double their LTA were found throughout the county, but with a slight bias to central eastern areas. And even in Cumbria in a wet month some sites still recorded a total fall less than 100 mm, with Cumwhinton near Carlisle having the lowest total for the month of 82.6 mm.

  Whilst the 4th, 8th and the 11th within the LNDP were the wettest days of the month, in that much drier second half, the 28-29th were wet days (although most of that credited to the 28th fell late evening and into the early hours of the 29th).

  At a few sites within the LDNP large totals on the 29th included 64.8 mm at Mickleden (Langdale) and 66.4 mm at Greenside Mines (Glenridding). However, 72.6 mm at Ennerdale Black Sail on the 11th was the highest 24Hr for the UK as a whole.

  Impacts - the continual rain through March and into the first half of April saw conditions for farmers becoming very difficult. That was both the ground conditions (saturated fields) and the rainfall coincided with lambing and this saw many farmers 'picking up' dead lambs that that had simply not been able to survive the conditions.

  Snow - none. Hail was recorded on up to four days at Maulds Meaburn, but only in brief showers.