APRIL produced a mixed-bag of weather, lovely, sunny days contrasting with depressingly dull periods. It was mainly warm, even very warm on two or three days, but distinctly chilly on others. Fine dry interludes came between soggy spells.

There was hail and thunder, fog and frost, though less of the latter than we might expect. About the only thing we didn't get, except on the highest hills, was snow. Its absence has occurred only twice before in April here at Carlton, near Stokesley, in my 21 years of records - last year and in 1996. This was perhaps not surprising as, overall, the month was very mild.

Maximum temperatures were well down on last April's exceptional values, aided then by the abundance of sunshine. This year, oft-cloudy skies held up the mercury levels well at night and so mean minima were the mildest in my logs. It was my second warmest April after that of 1987, but generally wet, with well over double the average rainfall in the east, nearer normal amounts towards the Pennines. It was the third wettest April in my data after those of 1998 (141mm, 5.55in) and 2000 (169mm, 6.65in). The last-mentioned was the wettest month I'd ever known, until the following, unforgettable November.

The end of March saw a fine, dry, warm spell as an anticyclone trundled east via the Midlands and across the North Sea. It continued across northern Europe, allowing frontal systems to swing in from the south-west and give a changeable start to April. There were periods of rain and plenty of showers, even some thunderstorms during the evening of Friday the 2nd.

Presumably, April showers acquire their reputation as it is at this time of year when such downpours can start to form widely over the land. The rapidly increasing strength of the sun heats the ground and this causes thermals to rise more readily into the sky producing the characteristic, cauliflower-shaped, cumulus clouds from which the showers evolve. In winter, the sun is too weak to do this and showers spawned over the relatively warm seas usually die out quickly as they head inland, particularly where there are hills.

After the first weekend, the wind slowly started to veer to the west and eventually the north. It turned colder, still with a few showers. With the approach of Easter, another area of high pressure nosed into the south-west, but the north-westerly airstream coming around it was moist and one or two weak fronts embedded in it didn't help either. As a result the holiday weekend was disappointingly cool and cloudy, though mainly dry.

For a couple of days after this, the sun shone brightly as the high extended into northern Europe. A new cell developed there, as the old one retreated south-westward. However, a depression took advantage of the gap between the two, diving south-east, then digging in off western Ireland, where it became unusually deep for the middle of spring. The next week was disturbed, with longer periods of rain and showers, none more notable than on Sunday the 18th. A small low, running north along a cold front, brought several hours of very heavy rain later in the afternoon and into the evening, mostly to eastern districts.

As far as I'm aware, Normanby, on the south-east side of Middlesbrough, was the wettest spot in our locality. John Goulding recorded 35.5mm (1.4in), representing about two-thirds of the average rainfall for April. At Carlton, it was my wettest April day, exceeding the 28mm (1.1in) on the 10th in 1998. With substantial totals the previous three days, flooding was inevitable.

The barometer rose once more, slowly and steadily over the next week - as did our thermometers. There were one or two slight showers at first and a weak warm front brought some light rain on the Wednesday. By and over the weekend though, for a pleasant change, it was very warm and sunny. Temperatures were typical of high summer, peaking at around 22.5C (72.5F) in places on the Sunday.

Though this was the hottest April day since only the 16th last year, it was still one of the warmest in the past 20 years or so. However, there were widespread thunderstorms overnight, accompanied by some torrential rain.

Troughs of low pressure brought gloomy skies and more rain. It turned cooler, especially mid-week. This dismal spell saw out the rest of the month, with the sun failing to appear in many parts after Monday the 26th, though it did start to dry up on the final day.

APRIL TEMPERATURES & RAINFALL at CARLTON-in-CLEVELAND:

Mean max 12.7C, 55F, (+1.0C, +2F)

Mean min 5.9C, 42.5F, (+1.9C, +3.5F)

Highest max 21.5C, 70.5F, 25th

Lowest min -0.5C, 31F, 9th

Total rainfall 123mm, 4.85ins, (+62mm, +2.45ins). Wettest day 33mm, 1.3in, 18th. No of rain days, with 0.2mm (0.01in) or more: 18 (+3.0).

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