The English obsession with weather, famously noted by Dr Samuel Johnson in 1758, has long included the expectation that April is particularly showery. Yet this April, much of England experienced a surprising lack of rain, raising questions about the impact of climate change on traditional weather patterns.
Between 1 and 17 April, south-east and central-southern England recorded just 8.9mm of rain – only 17 per cent of the monthly average. East Anglia was even drier, at 7 per cent, though Scotland was wetter than normal. This follows last year's sunniest April on record in the UK, which preceded the hottest and driest summer since records began in 1910.
Broader trends show a shift towards wetter winters and drier summers in the UK, largely due to human-caused climate change. Spring has also moved earlier, with frogspawn, nesting blackbirds and flowering hazel appearing at their earliest this century, according to Nature's Calendar. This rapid change risks disrupting ecosystems, such as caterpillars peaking before the nestlings that depend on them have hatched.
While the loss of April showers may alter long-held cultural references, from Chaucer's 'shoures soote' to TS Eliot's 'spring rain', the modern consciousness is haunted by the awareness of irreversible damage to natural systems. Yet hope persists: the annual British ceremony of baring limbs in warmer weather may simply arrive sooner than expected this year.
