First of all a quick look back at April. It certainly was a changeable month - so typical of Spring - with a mix of cold, wet and windy spells as well as a very warm period.
Overall, temperatures were above average and St. James' Park in central London recorded 29.1C on the 19th, making it the hottest April day since 1949. Most places recorded below average sunshine levels, but Stornoway and Tiree did us proud with over 200 hours of sunshine in April. More information about April's mixed weather across the UK can be found on the Met Office website and here for Ireland.
It was a warm month across mainland Europe, notably in Germany as the mean temperature was 4 degrees above the 1981-2010 average - making it the warmest April on record in Germany.
Before we leave the winter behind, I couldn't resist sharing this amazing photo (above) of the Scottish Highlands from the International Space Station, taken on 25 February. Skies were completely clear that day, making for a perfect view of the snow-capped mountains. (Credit: NASA)
As we look ahead to the next few weeks in May there are certainly some promising signs for much better weather. As always, there will be local exceptions, but the general pattern reveals a good chance for a high pressure anomaly to settle near to the UK from time to time.
The Early May bank holiday is expected to be warm and sunny in most places across the UK, although one or two brief wet and windy spells could impact the north and north west of Scotland. Generally, a very pleasant long weekend is likely and the temperatures will respond under the strengthening sunshine. Values could reach 25 Celsius in SE England, but more typically 17 to 21 degrees is the expected range.
This pattern is likely to persist for much of May - high pressure will often bring fine, warm Spring weather, especially to southern and central parts of the UK and Ireland. Occasionally, low pressure will move east to the north of Scotland, and this could bring changeable spells of weather to parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland - so here it's more of a mixed bag with brief wet and windy interludes followed by some nice, bright, warmer days.
The map on the main page gives an example of the expected weather pattern for the five days from 12 May. The main low pressure is centred to the west of Iceland, meanwhile high pressure covers most of mainland Europe as well as near to the Azores. (Map credit: MetDesk)
We'll be back in a few weeks to see if there are any signals for the weather patterns for the Summer months.
For more weather information you can follow our senior meteorologist, Simon Cardy on twitter weather_king.