Even with the warmer temperatures that arrived over the weekend, it is doubtful there will be enough time left in the month to pull us out of the coldest spot.
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As of this past weekend, the average temperature (when combining both low and high temperatures and averaging them out through the month) was 43.4 degrees. The coldest April on record occurred in 1950 when the average temperature was 45 degrees.
Many of you have been asking, where is our warmer, spring weather? Well, I found the answer.
While abnormally cold weather has gripped the eastern United States this month, a full-fledged summer-like heatwave has overtaken much of Europe. An enormous heat dome parked over Germany last week and covered a large part of that continent with record or near-record warmth.
High temperatures in the 70s and 80s were widespread. The British Met Office tweeted that St. James’s Park in London soared to 84.4 degrees Fahrenheit, its warmest temperature in April since 1949, when it hit 84.9 degrees.
Great Britain hasn’t been the only place hit by the heat. Paris also experienced historically warm April conditions. Its temperature soared to over 82 degrees before April 20 for the first time since 1949, MeteoFrance reported.
Etienne Kapikian, a meteorologist with MeteoFrance, tweeted that Paris’ high of 83.7 degrees last Thursday ranked as the fifth-highest April temperature there in 146 years. Several locations in France set all-time April highs, MeteoFrance tweeted.
Much of Europe, from southeast England, northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands and western Germany, has had temperatures through much of April running 20 to 30 degrees above normal. The summery conditions persisted through this past weekend.
Last Sunday’s London Marathon took place with the temperature reaching over 75 degrees. That made the race the warmest on record. The runners were warned to prepare for the heat as pavement temperatures would likely run even hotter.
The latest long-range forecasts show temperatures across much of Europe will likely remain above normal through the end of the month. However, the sprawling heat dome should gradually shrink and shift east and southeast as May approaches.
The sudden spring heat wave marks an incredible contrast from conditions just six weeks ago, when London and much of Europe were in the deep freeze thanks to Siberian winds dubbed the “Beast from the East.”
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