It was officially the sunniest April in Armagh for 118 years.
Armagh Observatory reports that it was the second-sunniest April at Armagh since sunshine records began in 1880,
and the equal fourth-warmest on record.
As for rainfall, there was less than a third of the long-term (1838-2010) average April at Armagh and just 28.8% of the most recent (1981-2010) 30-year April average.
The wettest day was the 29th, with 10.2 mm (0.40 inches) of rainfall, followed by the 5th with 2.3mm.
The average monthly temperature was 10.2 degrees, which was approximately 2.3 C warmer than the long-term (1796-2010) average April temperature at Armagh and 1.7 C warmer than the most recent (1981-2010) 30-year April average.
This was the warmest April at Armagh for six years, that is, since April 2014 (10.5 C) and the equal fourth-warmest (shared with April 1944) since daily temperature records began at thebservatory towards the end of 1794.
The three warmer Aprils at Armagh, namely those of 2011 (mean temperature 11.75 C), 2007 (mean temperature 11.25 C) and 2014 have all occurred within the last 15 years.
The warmest day (highest maximum air temperature) was 21.1 C on the 24th, which was the warmest day of the year to date. This warmest 2020 April day was preceded by 19.6 C on the 11th and followed by 19.5 C on the 25th.
The warmest night (highest minimum air temperature) was 11.4 C on the 11th, followed by 8.2 C on the 5th. The coolest day (lowest maximum air temperature) was 11.1 C on the 13th, followed by 11.6 C on the 1st.
The coldest night (lowest minimum air temperature) was -0.8 C on the 14th, followed by 0.5 C on the 15th. There were several quite sharp ground frosts among the 18 nights with recorded ground frosts (minimum grass temperature less than or equal to zero), the coldest three of which were -9.3 C on the 14th, -7.9 C on the 15th and -6.5 C on the 27th.
There was one day, namely the 14th, with nighttime air frost. A hail shower was noted on the afternoon of the 6th, the day before the Paschal supermoon.
In contrast to the prior year, which saw one of the dullest Aprils on record at Armagh, April 2020 was much sunnier than average, recording 213.7 hours of strong sunshine. This is approximately 36% more than the long-term (1881-2010) average number of hours of strong sunshine at Armagh and nearly 50% more than the most recent (1981-2010) 30-year average.
This was the sunniest April at Armagh for 118 years, that is, since April 1902 (221.6 hours of strong sunshine), and the second-sunniest April at Armagh since daily records of strong sunshine began at the Observatory in
April 1880.
The sunniest day was the 20th with 13.4 hours of strong sunshine, followed by 13.3 hours on the 21st.
These data refer to observations at Armagh Observatory, which has been recording the weather at Armagh since 1795.
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