In message , Col
writes
On 01/04/2017 15:45, Norman Lynagh wrote:
Col wrote:

There were some around earlier but i seem to have missed most of showery
activity that was around in NW England earlier this morning.

But why do we have the term 'April showers' anyway? Convective shower
activity is surely prevalent in all months of the year, is there any
evidence
that in April it makes up a larger proportion of total rainfall, compared to
frontal rain?

It's the month when the first of the 'home-grown' heavy showers and
thunderstorms start to develop over the land as a result of solar heating of
the land. Earlier in the year, much of the shower activity develops over the
relatively warm sea. In other words, April is the month when the
summer regime
first presents itself.

Yes, April is certainly the time when 'heat' showers first develop.
However to the public a shower is just a shower and they wouldn't know
if it was generated over the land or sea. So why not March, June or
November showers? What I was getting at was is showery activity in
April commoner than in other months?


Away from the coast, I think showers tend to be relatively rare in the
winter months, and first become noticeable around April. Also the
contribution of frontal rain tends to become less as we move into
spring. Arguably the "March winds" part of the rhyme is less reliable.
--
John Hall
"One can certainly imagine the myriad of uses
for a hand-held iguana maker"
Hobbes (the tiger, not the philosopher!)

On 02/04/17 10:52, John Hall wrote:
Away from the coast, I think showers tend to be relatively rare in the
winter months, and first become noticeable around April. Also the
contribution of frontal rain tends to become less as we move into
spring. Arguably the "March winds" part of the rhyme is less reliable.

Also "February fill-dyke" probably refers to snow-melt, not excess rain
as I believe it's one of the drier months.

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks. [Retd meteorologist/programmer]
Web-site: http://www.scarlet-jade.com/
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear,
or an idiot from any direction! [Irish proverb]

On 02/04/2017 10:52, John Hall wrote:
In message , Col
writes


Yes, April is certainly the time when 'heat' showers first develop.
However to the public a shower is just a shower and they wouldn't know
if it was generated over the land or sea. So why not March, June or
November showers? What I was getting at was is showery activity in
April commoner than in other months?


Away from the coast, I think showers tend to be relatively rare in the
winter months, and first become noticeable around April. Also the
contribution of frontal rain tends to become less as we move into
spring. Arguably the "March winds" part of the rhyme is less reliable.

Relatively rare in the south and east perhaps. However I'm nowhere near
the coast but regularly get battered by heavy showers in strong NW
airstreams during the winter months. Though admittedly not so much this
winter just past.
--
Col

Bolton, Lancashire
160m asl
Snow videos:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3QvmL4UWBmHFMKWiwYm_gg

I imagine that "April showers Bring forth May flowers" is merely a metaphor about optimism, like every cloud having a silver lining. I'm no horticulturalist but I imagine a lot of things bloom in May which might struggle if it didn't rain in April. As is the way with these things, the phrase has just got truncated.

Mind you, in 1557 Thomas Tusser wrote "A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry". One of these was "April Husbandry" which included "Sweet April showers Do spring May flowers", kind of echoing the opening lines of Chaucer's prologue to the Canterbury Tales.

Given the poetic rather than meteorological source I don't think that the phrase making any effort to distinguish between convective and dynamic rainfall. Does anyone have a better idea than I of 16th and 14th century British rainfall climatology? Maybe April used to be wetter and March drier, as Chaucer implies. It was colder than now, I think (Little Ice Age) but I don't know about precipitation.

Stephen
Indianapolis IN

On Sunday, 2 April 2017 17:06:00 UTC+1, Stephen Davenport wrote:
I imagine that "April showers Bring forth May flowers" is merely a metaphor about optimism, like every cloud having a silver lining. I'm no horticulturalist but I imagine a lot of things bloom in May which might struggle if it didn't rain in April. As is the way with these things, the phrase has just got truncated.

Mind you, in 1557 Thomas Tusser wrote "A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry". One of these was "April Husbandry" which included "Sweet April showers Do spring May flowers", kind of echoing the opening lines of Chaucer's prologue to the Canterbury Tales.

Given the poetic rather than meteorological source I don't think that the phrase making any effort to distinguish between convective and dynamic rainfall. Does anyone have a better idea than I of 16th and 14th century British rainfall climatology? Maybe April used to be wetter and March drier, as Chaucer implies. It was colder than now, I think (Little Ice Age) but I don't know about precipitation.

Stephen
Indianapolis IN

I think it is a truncation of Thomas Tusser's rhyme too. If he'd written 'Sweet May showers/Do spring May flowers' we'd have been talking about May showers, Nothing more than a folk saying, methinks!