1943

1943 was notable for the warmest April on record. At last, some relief from the severe winters of the last three years. 1943 had a very warm spring.

January. Very wet in London, and wet across most of the country apart from the north of Scotland. The first 10 days were cold with some snow, but the rest of the month was mild.  Around the world: undulating cold air gave some record temperature fluctuations in South Dakota: there was a temperature change of 27.2C in two mimutes at Spearfish on 22 January, and at Rapid City the temperature went from -15.6 at 5.30 am to 12.2 at 9.40 am, then down to -11.7 at 10.30 and up again to 12.8 fifteen minutes later. It must have made choosing clothes for the day very difficult.

February. Mild and dry: there was no rain at all recorded in Hull from 12 February to the 24 March. It was a very sunny month in Eastern Scotland. 124 hours of sunshine was recorded in Arbroath and 118 hours in Montrose. 

March. Mild, dry, and sunny.

April. The warmest April on record in England and Wales (10.5C CET). Dry in England and Wales but wet in the NW. The month started windy in the NW, with rain the north. There were severe gales in the north on the 7th. On the 16th, 26C was reached at South Farnborough. Easter fell on the latest possible date this year (25 April) - the next time this will happen be 2038.

May. A month of notable extremes. It was very unsettled, quite cool, and stormy at times. After a settled start, an exceptionally deep depression crossed Britain on the 9th with gales to the south and sleet or snow 8-10th as far south as Yorkshire. There were 15 cm of lying snow at Douglas on the Isle of Man on the 9th. Snow was reported as lying to sea level on the Isle of Skye. And then it was 30.0C at Bromley on the 14th. 75 mm of rain fell in 24 hours across the southwest. It was warm and sunny 14-20th. In Croydon the maximum on the 10th was 10.5; five days later it was 29.5C. Barometric extremes: 968 mbars in north Wales on the 8th, and 1042 mbars in Dublin on the 16th.

June. A thundery, unsettled month until the 26th, then fine.

July. Generally dry and sunny. Hot final week: 33.9C at Worcester and Croydon on the 31st - the hottest day of the year. There were some violent thunderstorms across eastern England at the very end of the month as two fronts crossed the country.

August. The bad weather continued on the 1st. A hot August Bank Holiday. Overall unsettled and dull, though relatively dry in the midlands, east and southeast.

September. Some severe thunderstorms from the 9-14th.

October. Dull and mild.

November. A dry month.

December. Dry (less than half the average rainfall in many places), anticyclonic, and foggy. It was the second in a run of foggy Christmases.