What's the weather where you are?

For the second consecutive day, the Netherlands has registered a heat record -- the fourth of this year.

The new record amounted to 21.2° Celsius in De Bilt. The previous record measured 21.1° at the same date in 1960.

Elsewhere it got even warmer: in Arcen (Limburg province) the temperature rose to 23.3° Celsius at 14:40 hrs. The previous hottest 6th of April was registered in Volkel (North Brabant province) in 1961, with 23.1° C.

Many places reached temps above 20° C. It was also the warmest day of the year, so far.

Source (Dutch only): Warmste 6 april sinds 1901 een feit
 
Today's record reached 19.5° Celsius in De Bilt at 16:20 hrs. The previous record was 19.4° on this date in 1957.

Locally, it was warmer still with 20.0° Celsius in Hoek van Holland at 13:10 hrs.

According to their way of measuring and comparing (i.e. by mainly looking at temperatures measured at De Bilt), it's warmer. But when we take into account temperatures in all regions of the Netherlands, we'll see that 22.4 degrees was the highest measured temperature yesterday (somewhere in the southwest), while on April 5th, 1957, temperatures reached 24-26 degrees Celsius! So, if we compare these two, yesterday wasn't the warmest April 5th.
 
Thanks for the additional correction, Oxajil. :cool2: You're quite right about it. However, some further explanation might benefit other readers.

As you indicate, official records are registered only in De Bilt. I've explained that previously in one of my earlier posts. Most of the times there are higher temperatures measured in other places but they don't count as records.

As for the linked Weerplaza measurements that differ from what I (or my source rather) relayed: the measurements differ because of the time at which the measurement was taken. Hoek van Holland had the highest temp at 13:10 hrs. (as I stated explicitly) whereas the Weerplaza values constitute the absolute highest values over the whole day, i.e. without regard for the moments at which these absolute highs were reached. None of them has any influence on the record reached, for the reason already stated.

Something similar goes for the difference between 2020 and 1957 but I have to concede it's rather sloppy reporting by my source to not have taken those values into account while claiming --erroneously-- in their header it was the warmest 5th of April ever measured -- which only applies to the record and not to these other measurements. So thanks again for setting the record strait(er).
 
For the third time in four days, the Netherlands has registered a heat record. During the afternoon the temperature in De Bilt reached 23.8° Celsius. The previous record for April 8th was 23.4° C in 2018.

Elsewhere it was considerably warmer: 25.3° C in Arcen (Limburg province) and 25.6° C in Eindhoven (North Brabant province). This makes today also the first summery day of the year, regionally. Summery days start at 25° C and higher. Usually, the first summery day only appears around May 9 -- so we're about a month early now. It only happened three times before that we reached summery temperatures regionally this early. For a national summery day the temperature of 25° C or above has to be measured in De Bilt specifically.

Sources (Dutch only):
Eerste lokale zomerse dag dit jaar en tevens warmste 8 april
25 graden gemeten in Brabant en Limburg, eerste regionaal zomerse dag
Opnieuw weerrecord: warmste 8 april ooit gemeten
 
Breakup here in Alaska seems normal: 45°-50°F and sunny. The temperature seems to fluctuate moreso between sunny and cloudy - like the sun is radiating more.
The thing about breakup is there is still about 9in. of snow on the ground, and with the bright sun, it's like a double dose of sunlight with the sun reflecting off the snow.
 
The big drought of 2018-2019 has been relieved to a great degree here on the Northern Tablelands, NSW, Australia. We have had around 400mm of rain so far this year, compared to just 275mm for all of last year (about a third of the average). The land is still recovering though and more than a few people are reluctant to say it has broken completely.

I have been following this long range forecast for some time now, as he seems to have a reasonable degree of accuracy (as far as long range forecasting goes) -


He gives a forecast for each season using a variety of factors such as sunspots, planetary, lunar and sea ice cycles. He also acknowledges the effect of underwater volcanic activity on sea surface temperatures. Interestingly, this is the first forecast where he is reluctant to predict yearly rainfall trends due to instability of current climate conditions.

Temperatures here have been very mild and would need to cool significantly to produce frost conditions. The first frosts traditionally arrive around the 25th of April.
 
It is continuing to be cold and cloudy at 63° in Mid Norway. Up in the mountains there's still heaps of snow, which is nothing unusual at this time, for spring is still two months away. Noting, that many roads running through the mountains in southern Norway has been closed more often, and for more days, then during previous winter season.

IMG_5731-001.JPG
Road passing Jotunheimen mountain in S. Norway photographed in late May, 2015.


"When almost the entire winter season is summed up, the mountain crossings in southern Norway have been closed or column-driven for over 2700 hours - or for 113 days in total" - shows an overview prepared by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.

Even when parts of March and April are not included in the statistics, both mountain massivs Haukelifjell and Hardangervidda have more often been closed or column-driven than in the whole of last year's season together. [..] in February, the road was closed twice as often as last year.
 
Alaska: The temp is about 55°F, and overcast. Nothing out of the ordinary, but the insects are coming out, so that's a good sign. The birds aren't around, but I've seen some on the way to the store. (except ravens - they went somewhere)
In a month it will be gardening time - people usually start their gardens on Memorial Day weekend around here.
And the spring sun turned my face red!
 
It has been sunny here in Alaska. Only the snow banks are remaining. It seems like it's going to be a warm summer.

My weather theory...

It seems that when we get warm weather from the south, it goes up to the arctic, pushing the arctic air southward, cooling the continental US. I saw some weather maps that show this occurs in other areas, but the US sits in a overlap where the warming/cooling interact, and so they get the wild weather: tornados, hurricanes, ect.
 
A few kilometers of our place a funnel cloud (tornado that doesn't reach the ground) occurred on Monday. It's unusual enough in our region to be mentioned.

Here's an automatic translation of the original French article:

Weather: impressive images of a funnel cloud (almost a tornado) in the Tarn-et-Garonne
By Emmanuelle Gayet Posted on 27/04/2020 at 17:34 Updated on 27/04/2020 at 21:29


tornade_1200-4786970.jpg

Unlike the tornado, the funnel cloud does not touch the ground / © Kevin Dalmaushares


Almost all of France is in yellow alert this Monday, April 27 due to the stormy nature of the weather. In Finhan, in Tarn-et-Garonne, it is an impressive phenomenon that the inhabitants have discovered in the sky.

We are used to lightning and thunderbolts in stormy weather. Another phenomenon can sometimes occur, more rarely. It is the formation of a funnel cloud.

This Monday, April 27, around 1:50 p.m., the inhabitants of Finhan in the Tarn-et-Garonne could see this growth under a cloud.
A witness was able to film the cone of dust up close while approaching. Here is his video:


Many people in the area were impressed by the film and published photos and videos on social networks.

Here are a few:

tornade_6-4786982.jpg

The tornado passed 5 km from Montbartier in the 82 around 1:45 pm. / © Kevin Dalmau



No damage was reported. The firefighters only intervened on the cellar floods due to the heavy storm which followed. Almost all of France is on yellow alert for thunderstorm risks, the Gard and Hérault are in orange level.

What is a funnel cloud?

It is a cone at the base of a cloud. This originates from swirling winds at high speed.

Its peculiarity, unlike the tornado phenomenon to which it is very close, is that it never touches the ground. The tuba is often funnel-shaped. It is made up basically by the dust and debris it sucks.

It is a fairly brief and very localized phenomenon. In France, tornadoes and funnel clouds have diameters which vary from a few tens to several hundred meters, for a course of a few kilometers and a lifespan rarely exceeding 15 minutes
 
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The Netherlands enjoyed the sunniest April ever since measurements began in 1901.

Source (Dutch only): Zonnigste aprilmaand ooit gemeten

DeepL Translator said:
NOS News - Interior - Today, 16:58
Sunniest April month ever measured


Last month was the sunniest April since measurements began in 1901. The sun was shining for 285 hours, breaking the record of 280 hours of sunshine set in April 2007, KNMI reports [in Dutch]. The average sunshine in April equals 178 hours.

Nationwide, there were few differences. In Wilhelminadorp, the most sunshine hours were measured: 287. In the vicinity of Schiphol Airport, the sun shone the least, namely 262 hours.

It was the second driest April month ever. An average of 42 millimeters of precipitation falls in April. Last month it was 10 millimeters. De Bilt and most other weather stations counted only six days on which it rained. In the south it was only four days locally. This time the record remains at April 2007, when only 0.3 millimeters fell.

Fewer clouds

According to Weerplaza [in Dutch] we probably saw some extra sun because of the reduced air traffic. This causes less veil clouds.

The record of 2007 was only broken with five hours of sun, so it could be that the corona-crisis just gave the decisive extra push, according to Weerplaza.

The month of April has become increasingly sunny in recent decades. From 1991 until this year there were on average 195 sunshine hours in April.


Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)


Other coverage in Dutch:
KNMI - April 2020
KNMI: zonnigste maand april ooit gemeten
 
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