By Mike Trigger

April 2023, cloudier and wetter than average with near or fractionally above average temperature.

Low pressure quickly moved away eastwards at the start of the month as high pressure developed from the west bringing the suggestion of some drier weather after the very wet March. This was however a short lived drier spell between the 2nd and 8th interrupted by Atlantic weather fronts on the 5th and 6th. Rain again spread from the west later on the 9th heralding an unsettled wet and at times windy spell between the 11th and 14th.

During this period storm Noa, named by Meteo France, developed quickly as it moved towards Wales, late on the 11th, before lingering as a filling depression over northern parts of the UK until the 13th. The storm was unusually severe for April bringing gales to many parts of the SW, wind gusts exceeded 50 to 60mph and approached 70mph at Berry Head. According to the Met Office a new record for April was set at The Needles Old Battery (a very exposed location) where gusts reached 96mph, this exceeded the 90mph set at Avonmouth in April 1994.

Between the 15th and 21st there was another mostly dry period, associated with higher pressure, before a trough of low pressure moved from the East and merged with a new low from Biscay to bring some fairly heavy rain across the district on the 22nd. There were a few more dry days before the end of the month but on the 27th Atlantic low pressure moved across the district producing the wettest day of the month.

In terms of statistics:

The temperature for the month averaged out at near or slightly above the 30 year long term average (LTA 1980-2010) at around 10 Celsius. The warmest day was the 28th when temperatures reached between 18 and 20 Celsius in most places. The coldest morning was the 7th or 8th when the temperature dropped to between 1 and 3 Celsius, although a few inland areas were slightly colder, and Netherton dipped as low as minus 1 Celsius. Spare a thought for areas near Exeter Airport where there were ten nights with an air frost this April. Typically coastal areas like Teignmouth only have an air frost in April once in three or four years. 

Rainfall totals in the Teignmouth and Dawlish area ranged from 80mm to just over 100mm which compares to the average value of 60mm. There were around 14 dry days (average 17 days), and about 14 days with 1mm or more of rain (average 10). Typically there are 1 or 2 days with 10mm of rain or more during April but this year there were 3 or 4 days and on the 27th, the wettest day of the month, most places had around 20mm of rain.  

There were windy periods on several days including the 10th, 12th and 14th.

Sunshine was between 160 and 180 hours, that's a little below the average of 186 hours.

The sea temperature at the Dawlish wave buoy increased from 10 Celsius at the start of April to 13 Celsius at the end.