"Paul Hyett" wrote :
In uk.sci.weather on Wed, 25 Apr 2007, Colin Youngs wrote:

It is already clear that this will be the warmest April at Brussels
Uccle since records began there in 1833.

snip

If this comes about, the average maximum for April will be pushed up
to around 20°C - SEVEN degrees above normal and similar to the
average maximum for a typical June !

Yes, this month has been totally insane!

Where has our *usual* spring weather been going, anyway?
--
Paul, without diminishing the import of breaking another monthly
record, I wouldn't describe the weather as 'insane'. The long dry
spell and the abundant sunshine are a feature of blocked spring
months which are not at all uncommon. The persistence of warmth
(as distinct from the actual level of warmth) is rarer, but it happens
as well - several times in the Aprils of the 1940s, the 1890s and
the 1860s, for instance. But, sure, the level of warmth is
quite unprecedented.

The synoptics and the general character of the weather, then,
I would suggest, are entirely within the bounds of 'normality'.
It's only the temperature hike (apparent in all months - for
instance last August when an exceptional degree of
northerliness was accompanied by a CET close to the
1971-2000 mean) which isn't normal. It's important to separate
the two.

Philip