Recently, there have been quite a few questions in the Camping Under Canvas Forum along the lines of "Is it warm enough to camp in April?" and "How early can I start camping?"
To a large extent the answer always depends on how warm any one individual likes to be. But we should also consider what the temperature and the weather is likely to be. Although there can be large fluctuations in temperature from year to year, a useful guide is the Met Office long term yearly averages; these are published for many locations across the UK.
Have a look at this Met Office web page - it makes interesting reading for early- and late-season campers.
For example, in April the average temperatures in Cornwall are 11.6C maximum, 5.5C minimum and only half a day of air frost. By contrast, in north-east Scotland the April average is a max of 10C, an average minimum of 1.4C and eight days with air frost.
As well as temperature and days of frost, the Met Office page lists monthly averages for hours of sunshine, amount of rainfall, days of rain, and average wind speed.
That's very useful Skep. The answer for my region is April at the earliest with May being the best month. Of course our climate has changed a bit since the year 2000 but it's still an interesting read.
My experience of the last few years camping is that early summer has the best time and the summer gets wetter as it goes on. I went camping on the last weekend in June which is the weekend my kids break up from school. We had 35 degrees and we found the heat difficult to bear. Then it went downhill as the summer continued, being wet and warm. That was three years ago, and the next summer was the same. I got so sick of the previous years rain that I went to England instead for my main summer break in July 2010- and guess what - it rained!
The Met Office averages page is a handy link to bookmark for future reference, I reckon.
I must say that, speaking purely personally, I always reckon May is ideal for camping. May is nearly as dry as June but not as hot. Bank holidays apart, the campsites are quiet in May. Also, in early May there are still lots of spring flowers in bloom.
I camp throughout the summer but July is often uncomfortably hot (I prefer cooler weather) and by August there's more chance of rain (I hate rain).
You're right Dyson + Co, we camped that week in Sussex and boy did it rain!! We also camped in May and July and it rained then too! We are going end of April first outing this year so fingers crossed.
Its not the rain that bothers me, I can live with rain, but high winds are a nightmare and this was something that we had to encounter last july when camping - despite there being not a mention of them on the weather.
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Yes high winds put us off too. Our tent has stood up to some bad storms before without a problem but lying in bed listening to the wind shaking the tent makes me really nervous!
I need lots of layers at night, even in summer, but we live up North and often camp close to home. When we camped in Cornwall last August we did notice a difference in temperature at night. We have camped in April before when it got down to -2 and that was a whole new experience - and not a pleasant one!!
We are going camping in Scotland end of April. We both hate the cold but insulation under air bed blanket then sleeping bag and duvet keeps us warm. We always work on the theory when it gets ca ca cold its bed time nether have had electric. Last year we were in Yorkshire woke up with ice on the outside of the tent but we were fine. Mrs is from Jamaica and if she can keep warm us English roses have no excuses. Go enjoy you only live once
Quote: Of course our climate has changed a bit since the year 2000 but it's still an interesting read.
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with this.
It's too soon to tell if our climate has changed.
The weather patterns may have changed, but climate is something that changes over tens of thousands of years, not dozens. In 10,000 years - probably after the next ice age - we'll know if the climate in the last decade has changed or not.
Quote: Of course our climate has changed a bit since the year 2000 but it's still an interesting read.
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with this.
It's too soon to tell if our climate has changed.
The weather patterns may have changed, but climate is something that changes over tens of thousands of years, not dozens. In 10,000 years - probably after the next ice age - we'll know if the climate in the last decade has changed or not.
If you're against these climate change nutters then I'll agree with you, but I would say that it has chilled slightly over the last decade.
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Topic: Early season weather questions answered
