View from the Rear Window - April 2026 ~ Crafty Cabbage

Tact is the art of making guests feel at home when that's really where you wish they were - George Bergman

April 2026 was warm, sunny and dry; in other words, very similar to the previous month, March. There was an unsettled period in the middle of the month when most of the rain fell but otherwise it was very pleasant. The fourth named storm of the season (Dave) occurred early in the month (4th/5th) and impacted Northern Ireland and Scotland; we didn't notice it in Herefordshire.

This month's garden photos were taken on the 4th, 19th and 26th of the month to show the rapid changes during springtime. Early in the month of April (Photo 1) we see the new season leaves appearing. The white cherry blossom is out; both on our neighbour's ornamental tree (peeking above the roof line in the top right of the picture) and on our eating cherry (left of centre). Meanwhile, the tulips bring a splash of vibrant colour to the flower beds. There is plenty of activity on the patio as I'm busy cleaning and sterilising plant pots, ready for the new growing season.

Photo 1: Back Garden on 4th April 2026

By the middle of the month (Photo 2), everything is looking verdant; the tulips have gone but we have the bold purple colour of the acer (centre, foreground) and the appearance of wisteria flowers in the distance.

Photo 2: Back Garden on 19th April 2026

The final garden photo was taken towards the end of the month (26th April) when the wisteria was full of blossom (Photo 3). Just to the left of the wisteria, is the purple-leaved crab apple tree which has recovered well from a drastic pruning after it appeared to be dying a year or two ago. Unfortunately, the Photinia bush at the end of the garden has somewhat mysteriously died.

Photo 3: Back Garden on 26th April 2026

Daily garden photos for April 2026 are collated in Video 1 ...

Video 1: Daily Photos of the Rear Garden (April 2026)

Table 1 summarises some weather stats for our garden location collected by our Davis Weather Station. No frosts although it did get close on one occasion in the middle of the month. Precipitation was low with more than half the monthly rainfall falling within a single 24 hour period (11th/12th).

Table 1: Summary Weather Statistics for April 2026
Weather Parameter	Value	Dates
Average Monthly Temperature	11 oC
Maximum Monthly Temperature	26 oC	8th & 30th
Minimum Monthly Temperature	0 oC	13th
Number of Air Frost Days	0
Number of Hot Days (> 25 oC)	3
Monthly Precipitation	24.0 mm
Greatest 24 h Precipitation	14.0 mm	11th - 12th
Number of Dry Days	20
Monthly Sunshine Hours (estimated)	179
Highest Wind Speed	48 km/h	11th
Heating Degree Days	220.9
Cooling Degree Days	9.4

Daily min/max temperatures for April 2026 are plotted in Figure 1 (click to see a larger image). No frosty night although the overnight temperature dripped to 0 ℃ on the 13th; so a good month for gardeners! Daytime maxima ranged from 12 - 26 ℃ in what turned out to be a pleasantly warm and not too hot month.

Figure 1: Daily Min/Max Temperatures (April 2026)

Daily rainfall and solar radiation (W/m²) - a proxy for sunshine hours - are shown in Figure 2. What little rain there was in April was confined to the middle of the month. The last 10 to 12 days of the month were dry and sunny.

Figure 2: Daily Rainfall & Sunshine (April 2026)

We now have 7 years of Hereford city weather data for the month of April covering the years 2020 - 2026. This information is summarised in Figure 3 and Figure 4. Although weather is still highly variable in April, there is a general trend towards warmer conditions (2020 is an outlier perhaps due, in part, to the Covid pandemic shutdown reducing air traffic by 90%). Certainly, the last three months of April (2024 - 2026) have been frost-free.

Figure 3: Time Series (2020 - 2026) of April Temperature Data (Hereford City)

Figure 4 shows rainfall is generally low in Hereford during the month of April but also highly variable. It does mean some additional irrigation is needed most years as the gardener/farmer starts sowing/planting out during April (the first, generally, frost-free month). Low rainfall usually goes hand-in-hand with more dry days and higher levels of sunshine; except for the usual suspect, 2020, which was abundant in both rain and sunshine.

Figure 4: Time Series (2020 - 2026) of April Rain, Sun & Wind Data (Hereford City)

The following three figures are taken from the UK Met Office's monthly report for April 2026. The headline for this report read 'April showers in short supply, but sunshine plentiful for many'. This was certainly true for Hereford city (i.e. my back garden). April saw the fourth named storm (Dave) of the current season (4th/5th April); it passed largely unnoticed in Hereford with perhaps a stiff breeze and a drop of rain. As Figure 5 indicates, most of the UK was warmer than normal and this included Herefordshire. Our local long-term weather station at Credenhill reports a mean daily temperature for April of 9 ℃; 2 ℃ lower than the monthly average recorded by my back garden Davis Weather Station (Table 1). According to Figure 5, the Met Office data suggests somewhere between 9.5 ℃ and 10.5 ℃; so not far from my own data.

Figure 5: UK Mean Temperature Anomalies (April 2026)

Rainfall in England and Wales during April was low, especially in eastern England (Figure 6). Credenhill, just 4 miles outside Hereford, reports a typical April rainfall of 50.21 mm. Hence the 24 mm recorded in my back garden represents about 50% of the expected rainfall - in good agreement with Figure 6. Rainfall in Northern Ireland and Scotland was close to normal; boosted by heavy rainfall from Storm Dave on top of an essentially dry month for the whole of the UK.

Figure 6: Relative UK Rainfall (April 2026)

UK sunshine levels (Figure 7) were generally about 150% the expected levels for April. Table 1 infers sunshine levels in our backgarden (Table 1) were only 115% of the normal levels for the Midlands. Maybe I need to check the calibration of my solar radiation detector again.