Well just look at that, the UK’s warmest, coldest, wettest and sunniest Easter Day has all been within the last 6 years!

Breakdown on our extremes from the Met Office

Easter weather facts

Easter can fall in a period of 35 days because it is calculated as the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. Since 1960, the earliest Easter was over the weekend of the 22-24 March in 2008 and the latest was in 2011 when Easter fell between the 23-25 April.

If Easter is early, there’s a chance that some parts of the country will get snow; in fact, it is more likely to snow in March than it is in December. The later Easter is, the better the weather is likely to be.

Warmest Easter

Easter Saturday, 23 April 2011 – temperatures reached  27.8 °C at Wisley in Surrey, generally temperatures were between 25 °C – 27 °C across the south-east and East Anglia.

Sunniest Easter

For Easters which fall late in April, up to 14 hours of sunshine has been recorded in some locations across the UK. A notably sunny Easter was in 1984 with more than 100 stations recording over 10 hours of sunshine on each day between Saturday 21 and Monday 23 April. Easter 2014 was also very sunny with 14.1 hours recorded at Kinloss (Moray) on Easter Sunday 20 April.

Coldest Easter

On 31 March 2013, temperatures dropped to -12.5 °C in Braemar in the Scottish Highlands making it the coldest Easter. When Easter falls relatively early, temperatures are often low, as for example in 1986 when temperatures fell to -9.8 °C at Lagganlia in Inverness-shire on 31 March, Easter Monday.

Wettest Easter

On Easter Sunday, 14 April 1963, more than 148mm of rain was recorded at Oakeley Quarry, near Blaenau Ffestiniog in Gwynnedd.

Snowy Easter

Easter 1983 (1-3 April) was the snowiest Easter with Scotland, the Midlands and Kent getting up to 10 cm of snow.
Snow has fallen at Easter quite regularly in recent years, even in lowland areas, although not necessarily lying unmelted on the ground. Easters where falling sleet or snow has been recorded at a large number of weather stations include 2013, 2008, 1998, 1994, 1986, 1983, 1978, 1977 and 1975. Most recently 33 cm of snow was recorded at Easter on 3 April 2010 in Strathdearn Dalrossie in Inverness-shire.

Outdoor events

The National Trust has organised Easter egg hunts, fun days and other family activities at some of their venues across the country. English Heritage is also organising a number of fun Easter activities through the long weekend. Check your local weather forecast before heading out this Easter.

Easter dates