The first ten days of April in Latvia turned out to be 4.6 degrees warmer than normal

The average air temperature in Latvia in the first ten days of the month was +8.5 degrees, which is 4.6 degrees higher than the 1991-2020 figure, according to data from the Latvian Center for Environment, Geology and Meteorology, writes LETA.

In Ventspils, the beginning of April was only 2.2 degrees warmer than normal, and in Dagda and Rezekne the average temperature over the ten-day period rose 6.1 degrees above normal.

The lowest air temperature was -2.8 degrees on April 4 in Aluksne, the maximum temperature was +27.1 degrees on April 10 in Daugavpils.

73 heat records were broken, including on April 1, 2, 9 and 10 the record for the corresponding date was recorded throughout Latvia, the record for the first ten days of the month also changed several times, and the heat record on April 10 was broken by eight degrees at once.

The average rainfall in the first ten days of April was 20 millimeters or 144% of the norm. In Daugavpils the amount of precipitation reached 59 millimeters or 446% of the ten-year norm, and the least amount of precipitation was 7.5 millimeters in Kuldiga.

Dust from the Sahara Desert reached Latvia both at the beginning and at the end of the decade. At night and in the morning of April 3, thunderstorms occurred in the eastern part of Latvia, but in the evening of the same day snow cover formed in places.

The average relative humidity was 83% – from 78% in Jekabpils, Rezekne and Riga to 88% in Kolka and Ventspils. The strongest gusts of wind – 20.4 meters per second – were observed on April 3 in Ventspils.

Warm weather contributed to the unusually early leafing of some species of shrubs and trees. The first flowers of dandelions and primroses are visible.