Every month I post an update on how the weather has been, based on the statistics we have kept since 1998. To see the other weather posts, please click on ‘Weather’ under the Topics tab in the right-hand sidebar.
Si grenouilles chantent le soir, beau le lendemain (if frogs sing in the evening, the next day will be fine).
This is one of our local weather sayings and it must be right because we heard plenty of frog noise at night and this April has been the best in 12 years. A big contrast to March, which was
one of the worst.
The Statistics Freak has been busy collating this month’s figures, which I bring you hot off the press.
A reminder about our subjective assessment of each day’s weather: Plus = fine weather Zero = indifferent weather Minus = bad weather
1. Weather assessment for April:
12 years of comparative stats.
Pluses – 21; Zeros – 5; minuses – 4
The graph shows the percentage of plus days each April for the past 12 years. The line is the trend. It appears to show April getting better, but this is deceptive – if you look at the individual points, there’s a lot of variation.
2. Rainfall:
Our rainfall stats go back to August 2004.
This April was very dry. It rained on 7 days (average for April = 11 days). We had 30 mm of rain, compared with the average of 94.4 mm. In April 2009, we had 188mm.
3. Frost nights:
2 frost nights this April.
Average number of frost nights per winter over 11 years = 47; this winter it was 58, further confirmation (if we needed it) of what a rotten winter it was.
And finally, a warning that winter might not be completely over. The notorious Saints de Glace (11th, 12th and 13th May) often bring chilly weather with them and the recommendation not to plant anything tender till after they’ve gone.
Saint-Servais, Saint-Pancrace et Saint-Mamert font à trois un petit hiver (the three saints make a little winter between them).
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Life on La Lune 