After a non-winter, all of a sudden old man winter gets here 3 months late and doesn’t want to leave. A +AO/NAO low pressure dominated winter has abruptly flipped to a -AO/NAO high pressure dominated spring.

We’ve went from 200% of normal rainfall widely back in February to just 20% of normal rain during April.

**NEW POST** From Record Wet February To One of the Driest April's for UK? https://t.co/Oon1PtoOpk pic.twitter.com/mVEeCA4G19

— MarkVoganWeather.com (@MarkVogan) April 18, 2020

Summer to winter and back to winter.

Today began cold at -6C over Sutherland but ended warm at 24.4C in Sussex. pic.twitter.com/wSlYEYGHzE

— MarkVoganWeather.com (@MarkVogan) April 9, 2020

We have a 25C in central London. UK's warmest day of the year so far. pic.twitter.com/snx5A60QmC

— MarkVoganWeather.com (@MarkVogan) April 11, 2020

A simple wind shift and you go from June to March within 24 hours.

What a difference a windshift can do to maximum temps over south/east England in mid April. Highs Easter Sunday vs Easter Monday! pic.twitter.com/4RW0fNsZ0x

— MarkVoganWeather.com (@MarkVogan) April 14, 2020

Big Diurnal Swing

The drying out of the soil beneath a blocking high and in a landlocked location has led to big diurnal temperature swings, especially beneath the core over eastern Scotland.

Near stationary front and associated cloud has made quite the temp contest over Scotland. 6C Loch Glascarnoch vs 17C at Charterhall. Inverness 7 vs 15 just 25 miles away at Aviemore. pic.twitter.com/a8xxVR4c1l

— MarkVoganWeather.com (@MarkVogan) April 8, 2020

Thanks to clear blue skies, light wind and very dry air we yet again observed a 20+C #diurnal temp swing over Scotland today. #spring #highpressure pic.twitter.com/O15UsjWFkT

— MarkVoganWeather.com (@MarkVogan) April 19, 2020

Another big diurnal temperature swing for the Highlands today. #Aviemore jumped 22C from min to max. pic.twitter.com/KpoJmvMlHg

— MarkVoganWeather.com (@MarkVogan) April 22, 2020

Yesterday saw the greatest diurnal swing in the Highlands to date. From -4.1C to 20.4C at Altnaharra,
-1.9C to 21.3C at Aviemore. According to @highlandweather Feshiebridge went from -4C to 22C. Let's see what today brings before the cooldown this weekend! pic.twitter.com/RBREv00jPy

— MarkVoganWeather.com (@MarkVogan) April 24, 2020

Coldest May night since 1997

Morning's during April and May thus far have often been frosty across the Scottish Highlands. In fact yesterday morning's -6.6C at Kinbrace, Sutherland was the coldest UK May minimum since 1997! Last coldest was -6.3C in 2005 and -6.2C in 2012. pic.twitter.com/xlMz6WtRsc

— MarkVoganWeather.com (@MarkVogan) May 4, 2020

Here are some UK snow and cold averages for May.

We only have around 6 weeks to go till the summer solstice and yet a widespread frost and some snow will likely be forecast during the end of this week. Here are the ❄️ averages for May.
Images: @metoffice pic.twitter.com/beVCCEvWtm

— Zairb Griffiths (@Zairb_Griffiths) May 6, 2020

Coldest since May 1997? So what happened then?

With a cold plunge of Arctic air arriving this weekend, I thought I'd look back in the Met Office archives for previous cold May days with snowfall…

On 6th May 1997, over 200 weather stations in the UK reported falling snow.

Halkyn in North Wales had 15cm of lying snow! pic.twitter.com/OlyzvmhAj9

— Liam Dutton – Weatherman (@liamdutton) May 8, 2020

What’s Next? Powerful Polar Front To Sweep Summer Out of Europe This Weekend!