* National Coastwatch Institution.

It would seem that rainfall and also in this period, snowfall, were again variable across our two counties and "catching" a heavy shower, or not, is largely a matter of chance. However, Drayton is again top of the rainfall league with Caister well down at the bottom.

Judging by the number of woody plants that have either died or have been severely curtailed, we have had a cold winter and the climate averages for East Anglia bear this out. The mean average temperature for each of January, February and March was 2.9˚C with a total of 42.5 days with an air frost over the three months.

Sunshine hours for the three months were also well below average at 77.6% of normal. April was a bit colder than average, but it did have a welcome 117% of normal sunshine.

Peter George