EASTER HOLIDAY

General introduction . . .

There are summaries for each weekend (that's from Good Friday to Easter Monday in each case), mainly extracted from the Monthly Summary of the Daily Weather Report (Meteorological Office), the London Weather Centre "Daily Weather Summaries", and the Royal Meteorological Society's "Weather Logs". In addition, I have added data obtained personally whilst I was working for the Met Office, and subsequently by inspection of original publications.

Always bear in mind that in summaries for a whole country, particularly one as diverse meteorologically and geographically as ours, there will be subtle variations from the broad descriptions given here, particularly at this time of year when coastal areas can have markedly different conditions to those well inland.

For each weekend, I have tried to pick out the 'warmest' and 'sunniest' locations, based on the following:-
Warmest: Highest temperature observed from Met Office summary (as issued to the Press at the end of each day), or from main synoptic list prior to this series. I may not have captured the absolute highest temperature on each occasion.
Sunniest: Sunniest spot from Met Office summary, or from main synoptic list prior to this series. Sunshine reports are very spatially irregular, and do not always correctly attribute amounts between days.
From the caveats above, these figures may/will not be the 'last word' on extremes, but will give the correct 'flavour' for the weekend.

Dates for Easter . . .

Earliest (possible) date for Easter Day: 22nd March (defined as the Sunday following the first full moon [ or 'Paschal Full Moon' ] on or after the 21st March, or more strictly, the vernal [spring] equinox; I've simplified this a lot - for more on dating Easter, do a search on-line.)
Latest (possible) date for Easter Day: 25th April.
If the full moon and the defined Sunday coincide with the 21st March, then we have to wait a full lunar cycle…because of the requirement for it to be a 'following' Sunday). ( NB: According to Philip Eden, Easter Monday (as a Bank Holiday), is credited to Gladstone's government of 1872. )

The following are dates of Easter Sunday during the second half of the 20th century, and the first twenty-seven years of the 21st:

(For more on Bank / Public holidays in the UK, click HERE)

Sunrise / sunset times . . .

Typical sunrise/sunset times (Greenwich Mean Time: GMT [ aka UTC or 'Z' ])

BST [ British Summer Time ] (= GMT+1); add one hour to the times given for this date. Therefore sunset 'by the clock' after 8pm, and nearer 9pm in the north.

'SunIndex' . . .

By adding up the total sunshine on all four days (Good Friday to Easter Monday inclusive) for Glasgow, Belfast, Manchester and London, a crude 'SUNINDEX' is achieved which shows: . . .

YEARS WITH HIGH VALUES (going back in time to 1958): 1981(165), 1980(138), 1971(133), 1969(166), 1968(133), 1960(133).
(Arbitrarily those with numbers=> 130)
[ NB: using this measure, we have not had a spectacularly sunny Easter since 1981!]

YEARS WITH LOW VALUES (going back in time to 1958): 2004(32), 1999(39), 1992(37), 1985(34), 1972(26), 1966(19), 1964(15), 1958(38).
(Arbitrarily those with numbers=<40)

The 'best' year by this measure was: 1969, closely followed by 1981. This measure does indeed pick out what was probably the finest Easter weekend in this period, although not exceptionally warm. East coast resorts though had cold winds/persistent cloud-fog off the North Sea. (1984 the best for warmth, but not for sunshine) The 'worst' year by this measure was: 1964, followed by 1966. 1964 was indeed a bitterly cold, drear weekend - with nagging easterly cloud-laden winds.

'Quick-Look' Summary . . .

Holiday Highlights . . .
Some GOOD ones ....

1949
The start of Easter saw sunshine and record April temperatures (at that time), in many parts of the country; 23 degC was exceeded in places on the 15th, whilst on Easter Saturday, the 16th, an amazing 29.4 degC was recorded in London (at Camden Square); this is the highest recorded temperature in April for the 20th century in the British Isles (i.e. not just for the Easter period). However, a cold front moved east during the day, bringing some patchy rain, with a few thunderstorms over north-east England at night. Nevertheless, temperatures still reached 21 degC in parts of the south-east of England on Easter Sunday and Monday. In recent times, 1984 (q.v.) ran this one close, but 1949 probably still stands out, particularly as the Easter Sunday fell on the 17th, about a week before the latest possible date for the day. This Easter holiday is arguably the 'gold-standard' for such since the end of the Second World War, with only the aforementioned 1984 coming anywhere close to equalling it for warmth & sunshine.

1960
A lot of fine sunshine this weekend, particularly in sheltered eastern and northeastern areas. However, the weekend was slightly spoilt by the sometimes chilly / brisk NW wind, and although temperatures were above average, the wind-chill would have been a notable factor preventing full enjoyment of beaches etc.

1969
Only the northeast and east coasts of both England & Scotland missed out on the very fine, almost dry and sunny weekend. In these areas adjacent to the North Sea (cold at any time, but especially so in this first week of April), sea fog / stratus was a problem. For most though, temperatures climbed well above the average for an 'early April' Easter holiday, with maxima well above 18 in the south by Sunday, and above 15 in the north. Several stations broke all-time sunshine records for the weekend.

1984
With anticyclonic southerlies gently becoming established over the country, temperatures climbed well into the low 20's Celsius, with some stations breaking all-time records for day maxima. By the last two days of the weekend, many areas had little or no cloud worth speaking about, but as the easterlies picked up along the North Sea coast, conditions there were not so good, with areas of low cloud developing, and a notable chill. This is towards the end of the span of time when Easter can fall, so the chance of high temperatures was enhanced for that reason alone. Apart from 1949 (see above), this Easter holiday was one of rare "notably warm & reasonably sunny" weekends since the end of the Second World War.

2007
The week leading up to this Easter weekend saw the weather maps dominated by high pressure, and so often in the past such pleasing anticyclones fade away with the arrival of Good Friday! Not so this year, with the High settling down over or just to the south of Britain and for most, the four days were dry, with large amounts of sunshine across the south & sheltered east. It was cloudier (and increasingly windier) over northern areas, but this meant that sheltered parts of NE England, East and NE Scotland had fair, warm afternoons. Although some coasts with onshore breezes were chillier, the combination of sunshine for most at some time, the largely dry nature of the 4-days & the well-above average temperatures inland for many meant that this holiday weekend was very pleasant.

Some BAD ones ....

1908
A wintry weekend (17th-20th Apr): As high pressure persisted in a broad belt to the west of the British Isles, the flow pattern was north or northeasterly throughout the weekend, with the source somewhere well north of the Arctic Circle or northern Scandinavia: the often strong winds brought sleet/snow showers to eastern areas of Britain; frequent hail and snow showers affected these regions, and snow settled in some places by Easter morning - 7.5cm was recorded at Bury St. Edmunds (Suffolk), and there were more heavy snow showers across northern and eastern areas on Bank Holiday Monday. Temperatures were much below average, with a strong chilling effect in the wind.

1964
One of the dullest Easter holidays in the second half of the 20th century. At Kew, it was the dullest Easter weekend on record and the coldest Easter Day for 81 years. Temperatures barely achieved 6 or 7 degrees C in the south and central parts of the country, and accompanied by a raw, often strong east wind.

1994
Good Friday started out with a Severe Storm, and overall there was a lot of rain, wind and depressed temperatures - the highest temperature anywhere over the whole weekend was 12.9 degC at Folkestone on the Monday, but many places struggled to make absolute maxima into the range: 5 to 8 degrees on the Monday, and snow was reported from lower level stations over the weekend.

2008
A very cold weekend, with snow for many, though amounts of snow were not particularly great taking the country as a whole - the snowy spots were in eastern England (including the North Midlands), N & NE Scotland. It was the coldest (by the highest temperature observed over the whole 4 days) since 1983, and using the Heathrow/Kew Observatory series, it was possibly the coldest Easter period since the 1930s. Perhaps the fact that other elements (the economy, terror threats, political crises etc.) contributed to downbeat impression of this holiday? It was, of course, almost the earliest that Easter could fall (by one day).

Easter notes . . .

1. You are more likely to get snow in many parts of the country at Easter, rather than at Christmas, particularly (but not exclusively) if it is an 'early' Easter. Over the last 45 years or so, snow has often appeared in the summaries as affecting lowland areas, if only briefly: for example: 1958, 1965, 1970, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1994 and 1998. The event of 1983 is probably the one that stands out, and occurring in early April, it was not exactly an 'early-Easter'. Snowfall was significant at times, sufficient to disrupt transport in some places.
2. Sea breezes are very much a feature, especially with the 'later' Easters, with the rapidly warming land/increasing strength of the sun, compared to the slow thermal inertia of adjacent seas, particularly the North Sea. Pure 'sea-breezes' and 'winds off the sea' often spoil many a first trip to the seaside for families, despite possible bright sunshine.
3. With generally lower absolute humidity (lower dew points) and potentially a cold land surface, night radiation is very effective at allowing temperatures to drop sharply, leading to some notably cold starts, although by the same token, the ensuing bright/strong sunshine allows a good recovery of temperature by about midday well inland, with lower incidence of 'convective infill', other factors being equal.
4. High pressure has a tendency to settle and become slow-moving such as to give east or northeasterly flows - colder winds off the North Sea, and always a risk of ending up with a 'cloudy high' syndrome.
5. It is not often fine for all 4 days at any one site. Time and time again, a fine start goes downhill, or the best days are reserved for the Monday … and sometimes the fine weather sets in after the break - with some notable occasions when near-record temperatures occur before the Easter weekend - a cruel blow.
6. Cooler sea-surface temperatures (SST's) do mean a lower risk of shower activity on windward coasts.
7. Sunshine is often strong (good and bad), and the air usually clean.
8. By Lamb's weather type, over the period 1965-1997, 43% of events (i.e. all four stations combined) had flow types from between NW and E through N. [16% (of the total sample) were associated with anticyclonic patterns]. As there are 8 directional classes + 3 non-directional classes=11, for the four directions considered, in an equal distribution should contribute 4/11ths of the total … or roughly 36% of the total sample, whereas we have some 43%, indicating a bias towards winds from a 'chilly' direction. (I'll update this to the full 1958 - 2005 set when I can)

The weather in early spring . . .

For comparison with temperatures given, the following are average day-maximum temperatures for four principal cities in the United Kingdom at various times over this season:-
Glasgow: mid-March 9degC, March/April junction 10degC, mid-April 12degC.
Belfast: mid-March 9degC, March/April junction 10degC, mid-April 11degC.
Manchester: mid-March 9degC, March/April junction 10degC, mid-April 12degC.
London: mid-March 10degC, March/April junction 12degC, mid-April 13degC.

The day-length at this time of year (March / April) is noticeably increasing (and with it the potential sunshine), and temperatures generally rise, however this season is noted for chilly winds (colder seas) and 'reversal' to near-winter conditions. The sun is strong enough to feel warm when available, but conversely, if skies cloud-over then the benefit of the increased (potential) sunshine is lost.

Martin Rowley
March, 2008
http://booty.org.uk/booty.weather/metindex.htm