April showers have a fine pedigree in our literature. Chaucer opened his Prologue to the Canterbury Tales with a reference to them, while Shakespeare's sonnet 75 refers to "sweet-seasoned showers". Our weather folklore is even richer in references, such as the oft-quoted rhyme that "April showers bring forth May flowers".
So what happens when the showers fail to materialise? April 2011 was the warmest on record, with temperatures up to five degrees above the long-term average in some parts of the country. It was also very dry, with about half the expected rainfall for a typical April.
The warm weather helped much of Britain's wildlife get off to a flying start, with butterflies and bumblebees emerging, bluebells coming into bloom and resident and migrant birds settling down to breed several weeks earlier than usual.
But while this helped some creatures, ground feeding birds such as blackbirds and thrushes struggled to survive as the earth was so dry and hard.
The drought continued into May 2011, especially in East Anglia and southeast England, with less than half the normal rainfall. But the summer was a disappointment – the fifth poor summer in a row – proving that a warm April does not necessarily lead to a fine year.
Last April continued the trend set by March 2013: cool, dry and dominated by easterly winds, though these did turn southerly towards the middle of the month, bringing a welcome respite from the cold weather. Even so, last spring was one of the coolest and latest on record.