Coldest Easter in 42 years forecast

Mar 22 2008 by Robin Turner, Western Mail

SNOW, hail, claps of thunder, driving rain and sleet – just some of what the heavens threw at Wales on the start of the Easter Bank Holiday yesterday.

Snow fell on the hills just as forecasters predicted and brave visitors to the seaside on the Good Friday break were blasted by strong, icy, northerly winds and hail.

Easter hasn’t been this early since 1913; it won’t be this early again for well over 100 years.

Ashford Price, who runs the National Showcaves of Wales complex in the Upper Swansea Valley, said yesterday it was the coldest Good Friday he could remember in 40 years. “We have had quite a number of visitors and I must admit I admire their spirit,” he said. “They are all wrapped up sensibly and have made the effort to come out on what is an early Easter but what is clearly one of the coldest ones for many years.

“Some of our visitors are keeping warm by wearing their thermal skiing gear. I don’t blame them, as the northerly wind is biting.”

At the other end of the nation, at the indoor Rhyl Sun Centre, Denbighshire, staff were capitalising on the bad weather.

A spokesman there said, “I think some people have been put off coming out altogether but we are having a pretty good day because we’re indoors.

“It’s nice to be in a place where you can look out at the hail and rain but not actually be in it.”

Meanwhile Jill Lambert at the Brecon Beacons National Park Visitor Centre said yesterday staff were advising visitors not to walk far. She said, “It’s not the weather for a long walk in the hills. We have had plenty of Good Friday visitors but quite wisely they are not going far.”

In Mumbles, more than 100 parishioners braved hail and sleet in a church and chapel crucifixion procession and well-wrapped children enjoyed rides on the Mumbles land train.

Avril Morgan, at the Tourist Information Centre in Porthcawl, said, “There’s quite a few people about though not as many as you’d expect for a Bank Holiday.

“I’m afraid I’ve witnessed quite a few umbrellas being blown inside out. . . it’s that kind of day.”

Statistics show snow is more likely at Easter than at Christmas.

Years of Easter snowfall have included 1958, 1965, 1970, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1994 and 1998, the Met Office said.

Forecasters were yesterday predicting the coldest Easter weekend since 1964 (when Easter was on March 29 – and before that 1883 (March 25) – with snow expected to fall in many places. Maximum temperatures were 8C in many parts of Wales yesterday where sunny spells developed during the afternoon but strong northerly winds made it feel below freezing.

By contrast, Easter last year was on April 8, when the weather was sunny, with England enjoying higher temperatures than the Costa del Sol.

And Easter Sunday in 1984 (April 22) was the warmest Easter on record with temperatures climbing above 20C (68F).

On the roads, RAC spokeswoman Vicky Burn said traffic was “heavy but moving” on the M4 westbound yesterday morning as people came into Wales as well as on the A55 in North Wales.

Meanwhile, timetables on some of the busiest rail routes were slashed to one train an hour or less as more than 30 projects are carried out over Easter, with 6,000 people working 300,000 man hours laying new track, repairing bridges and updating signalling systems.

It is not likely to help the thousands of rugby fans travelling to Cardiff for today’s eagerly- awaited EDF Energy Cup semi- final clash at the Millennium Stadium between the Ospreys and English rivals Saracens.