Why is april so cold

Heaters are being switched on. Ugg boots are being dug out of storage. Yes, some of this is normal seasonal transition.

But at least a portion of it is due to a particularly vigorous cold front that swept across southeast Australia over the weekend, dragging with it an unusually cold air mass. Canberra on Monday night got to Another strong cold front is forecast to move across the area on Thursday into Friday with snowfall to metres for Tasmania, and about the Alpine peaks of New South Wales and Victoria.

This number of air frosts is more typical for December, January or February, whereas the average number of air frosts in April is five days. For gardeners and growers there were also a record high number of ground frosts with 22 days this month compared to an average of 12 days. Despite the low minimum temperatures and frosts, much of the UK has been basked in sunshine through April, with all UK countries except England reporting sunshine hours for the month as their highest ever recorded since The UK experienced its sunniest April on record, with England, meanwhile, had its second sunniest April on record, with this year's According to the National Grid, electricity usage for March — the last month for which full data is available — demand was 14 per cent higher than it was during March However, the carbon intensity of the energy used was lower, partly due to a higher level of renewable energy generation over the month.

In March , 30 per cent of energy was produced by renewables, while last month 44 per cent came from renewables. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. More about Animals humans Plants lockdown temperatures Weather skies.

Already subscribed? Log in. During May , most of Europe experienced slightly below-average temperatures. March was milder than usual over northwestern Europe, colder than the — average over southeastern and far eastern Europe, and close to average over the southwest of the continent.

April temperatures were below average across an area sweeping from Iceland to the Mediterranean and Black Seas, with — for example — Germany seeing its coldest April in 40 years , but above average over the west of the Iberian Peninsula and over the far east of the continent.

The month began with unusually mild conditions in many places, but temperatures plummeted over an extensive region during the first week, reaching record lows over parts of western and central Europe, for example over Slovenia.

As for May, Germany experienced its coldest since and maximum temperatures for the first three weeks of May in the United Kingdom were some of the lowest on record. There were, however, above-average temperatures in eastern Europe and in southern Spain, Greece, Turkey, and western Norway. Despite Europe itself being colder than average, the parts of the globe surrounding the continent were much warmer than the — average, especially in April and May.

The Atlantic Ocean, North Africa, the Middle East and parts of Russia all saw high temperatures, with records broken in many locations. Areas surrounding Europe saw large variations in temperature from month to month, especially northern Russia.

Surface temperature anomalies are often directly influenced by large-scale wind patterns, which are themselves linked to the distribution of areas of low and high atmospheric pressure.