Spring washout in the East

Double rainbow at Ballingdon near Sudbury during one of the wettest Aprils on record. Credit: ITV Anglia viewer Bernie Buck

After Britain's wettest ever April - it's now turning into a really miserable May. Not only is it the coldest spring for 16 years but we've also had five times more rain than this time last year.

The spring season of March, April and May in 2011 was the hottest and driest on record in East Anglia with daytime temperatures averaging 16C (61F). In contrast temperatures this spring are at around 12C (54F).

The warmest day of the year so far was back in March when it reached 21.2C at Santon Downham on the Suffolk-Norfolk border.

Spring 2012 got off to a good start with a dry, warm and very sunny March. But then the April showers arrived with a vengeance and, coincidentally, at the same time as a hosepipe ban was enforced across much of the Anglia region.

April was the wettest on record across the UK and the second wettest on record in East Anglia (1998 was wetter).

With the rest of May to go, this is how spring 2012 is shaping up:

  • The average temperature so far this spring is 7.9C making it the coldest spring since 1996

  • The average daily sunshine has been 4 hours - one hour lower than normal.

  • The rainfall total up to 13 May is 141 mm - the normal total for March to May is 140 mm