High Heaton Weather and Air Quality – April 2026 

Weather

Overall, April was a dry, sunny, and warm month, but it began very differently with the arrival of Storm Dave during the Easter weekend. Easter Eve (Saturday 4^th) been cold, cloudy, and quite breezy, but when Storm Dave arrived in the early evening the wind picked up significantly and continued at gale force during the night with a maximum gust of 47mph at 1.25am. However, by dawn on Easter Sunday the storm had departed over the North Sea, and the morning was bright and sunny with blue skies. Thus, the weather over the Easter weekend chimed in well with the Easter message! The rest of the month was largely sunny, and while it often felt warm in the sunshine, an easterly wind often kept the air temperature down. There was one very warm day for the time of year however – this was on Wednesday 8^th when the temperature reached 21.3°C at 2.30pm. The minimum temperature recorded was 0.7°C at 6.15am on Easter Monday, April 6^th. The average temperature for the month was 9.6°C which is 0.7°C above the April mean. Only 14mm of rain fell during April which is 37% of the average. The only day with significant rainfall was Wednesday 15^th when 8mm was recorded, most of it falling in the early evening. High pressure controlled the weather for the last two weeks of the month so there was virtually no rain in this period.

Air Quality

Air quality was much better in April than in recent months. The average PM2.5 particle concentration was 6µg/m³ which was below WHO target of 10µg/m³ for the first time this year. The Air Quality Index was at level 2 on five days and at level 1 on the other 25 days. Levels 1 to 3 are classed as ‘good’, meaning that vulnerable people don’t need to limit their activities. John Telfer

John Telfer