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April Fool's Day: Weather events that are no joke!

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1 April 2024

April Fool's Day
Weather events that are no joke!

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It's April Fool's Day, so here are the top 4 most memorable weather events to have actually taken place in history on this date.

  • First newspaper weather map

April 1st 1875 saw the newspaper debut its first ever weather section in The London Times, as above.

The US didn't get their first newspaper publication until 1879. Nowadays though, you can get an instant forecast at your fingertips on Weather & Radar!

  • First weather satellite imagery
The first photo of Earth from a weather satellite, taken by the TIROS-1 satellite on April 1st 1960.The first photo of Earth from a weather satellite, taken by the TIROS-1 satellite on April 1st 1960. - © picture alliance

The TIROS 1, Television InfraRed Observational Satellite, became the first satellite to send images back from space in 1960. The satellite itself was only in operation for 78 days however.

  • Maximum date record

The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK on 1st April is 22.6°C in Wryde, Cambridgeshire from 1907. It's been a long old time since this date was beaten!

  • Minimum date record

The lowest temperature ever recorded in the UK on this date was -11.7°C in West Linton in the Scottish Borders. This record has also been held for a really long time, since 1917!

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