Submitted by Steve Turner on
April was a cool and wet month, with some unsettled weather and a very wintry spell in the final week. All regions were colder than average, and nationally the monthly temperature was 0.9°C below the long-term average (although not exceptional; 2012 and 2013 were colder). It was also wetter than average in most regions, although not significantly so except in some isolated areas, while in south-west Britain it was relatively dry. The snowfall in the final week was unusually widespread for late April, while in northern Britain some seasonally significant accumulations occurred even at low altitudes. Occasional periods of heavy rainfall triggered localised surface water flooding and modest river flow spates, but overall river flows for April were largely in the normal range or moderately above. Groundwater levels receded at the majority of sites, but remained in the normal range or slightly above for April, except in northern England and southern Scotland where exceptional levels persisted following the wet winter. Reservoir levels were just above average at the national scale, and above 90% of capacity in all but a few northern impoundments, where they were only slightly below. Overall, the water resources outlook for the remainder of spring and summer 2016 is healthy.
The full Hydrological Summary can be found here.
