"ronaldbutton" wrote in message
...
A question for the experts,probably young Philip, when was the last
completely sunless Easter in London ?,and no I dont want to know how
gloriously sunny it has been in your far flung part of the empire
....


.... From 'London Weather': Weather during Public Holidays Chapter
.......

(up to 1964/last considered in this publication)

"The dullest Easters (Good Friday to Easter Monday incl.) were in 1964
(27-30 March) and in 1941 (11-14 April) with a total sunshine during
the holiday of only 1.3 and 1.4 hours respectively".
From my notes, the 1.3 hr in 1964 would all have come on the Bank
Holiday Monday, as Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Day were all
sunless.
[CSR recorder would have been in use / record started at Kew
Observatory in 1881]

I have kept a record of PH weather over the last 50-odd years, and
looking at my records based on Kew then Heathrow, after 1964 I can't
find another year with anything like this total (1.3hr); I only record
to nearest whole hour, and on that basis, I have the following totals
(arbitrarily 10hr over the whole 4 days) for the following years:-

1972 (31Mar-3Apr) = 9 hr
1973 (20-23Apr) = 8 hr
1985 (5-8Apr) = 6hr
1999 (2-5Apr) = 8hr

Philip will have better access to the original data and also be able
to comment upon the Hampstead record.

.... from latest VIS imagery, the sun should come out soon & so
sunshine totals will be in excess of the 1964 & 1941 horrors!

Martin.


--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023