APRIL provided a wide variety of weather with the wind originating from all quarters at sometime or other. Unfortunately, it remained changeable throughout the month - the dry spell from the 20th to the 25th was the longest settled period.

Over the month as a whole it was quite sunny, with some lovely spring days but a few dismal ones too. It was another mild month everywhere and the fourth consecutive appreciably warmer than average April, though cooler than the previous three. Night-time temperatures were closer to the mean and frosts were as frequent as we would normally expect, reflecting the tendency towards relatively clear skies.

It was wet, with generally one and a half times the usual rainfall - slightly more in the west and north, rather less in the Vale of York. It was nowhere near as soggy as in two or three recent Aprils, for example here at Carlton-in-Cleveland, near Stokesley, those of last year (123mm, 4.85ins), 2000 (169mm, 6.65ins) or 1998 (141mm, 5.55ins).

The start of the month brought a change in the weather. The high responsible for the dreary, cool damp ending to March retreated east and the breeze veered towards the south. The cloud thinned and broke and by Sunday the 2nd, it had become very warm. Although the temperatures reached were very respectable for the beginning of April, disappointingly, in most parts, they were not to be exceeded during the rest of the month. They were the coolest peak values in April for at least seven years.

On that Sunday, I saw my first swallow of the season at Kirkleatham, near Redcar, and I assume, the same lone one again on the Monday. This arrival was about two weeks ahead of schedule. The favourable breeze at the time must have carried it north ahead of the crowd. It was in for a shock in a couple of days and it must be debatable whether it survived or not. I didn't see another for a further three weeks.

A deep low transferred over northern Scotland and into southern Scandinavia by mid-week. Behind it, northerlies plunged across the country along with some hefty showers. By the Friday, the source of the airstream was direct from the Arctic and it was bitterly cold with a penetrating wind and occasional snow flurries. Near the coast, where a gale was blowing, it felt as icy as on any day this winter.

The second week-end saw a marked improvement as the breeze backed into the west and the mercury rose by the Sunday afternoon to approach the earlier high levels. This didn't last long either, as another depression took a more south-easterly track over northern Britain and winds swung into the north-east as it departed across the North Sea.

It turned dull and wet as the front, wrapped around the low, became slow moving over North-East England. The rain was heavy at times overnight into Friday the 15th, particularly to the north, and it intensified that evening as another small depression ran north-west along the front.

In the 48 hours up until 10am on the Saturday, rainfall totals ranged from only 13mm (.5ins) at Pickering to an incredible 72mm (almost 3ins) at Newcastle, an amount that would normally accumulate in six or seven weeks. Consequently, there was widespread flooding from Teesside to Tyneside. Here at Carlton there was 37mm (almost 1.5ins) over that period. The Friday would have been my wettest April day in my 22-year record had it not been for the 33mm (1.3ins) that tumbled down on the 18th last year.

Thankfully, it dried up for the week-end, briefly. After a sharp frost early on the Sunday, further rain pushed north-east later in the day. Although this cleared into the North Sea around mid-day on the Monday, it didn't get far away. Late on the Tuesday it returned south-westwards, as high pressure established itself over Scandinavia.

This produced a keen easterly wind for the rest of the week, which drew in very dry air from the continent. This resulted in five gloriously sunny days. In the shade it was still chilly and there was a frost on most nights inland - one of the frostiest interludes of the winter in places.

For much of this fine spell, frontal systems had been plaguing southern England. One eventually worked its way north giving us some rain on the final Tuesday. A deep low then ran north-east up the west side of the British Isles bringing more rain and a good blow on the Thursday.

With high pressure building over France, the holiday week-end looked promising with a warm southerly flow. However, the front ahead of this dug in to give a miserable, wet Saturday morning, with only a slow improvement thereafter.

April temperatures and rainfall at Carlton-in- Cleveland

Mean Maximum 12.4C, 54.5F, (+0.7C, +1.3F)

Mean Minimum 3.9C, 39F, (-0.1C, -0.2F)

Highest Maximum 17.2C, 63F, 2nd, 3rd.

Lowest Minimum -2.0C, 28.5F, 24th

Total Rainfall 79mm, 3.1ins, (+17mm, +0.7ins)

Wettest Day 29mm, 1.1ins, 15th

No of Rain Days, with 0.2mm (0.01ins) or more: 16 (+1).

Figures in brackets show the difference from the 21-year mean, 1984-2004