It has been the wettest April in the UK for over 100 years, with some areas seeing three times their usual average, figures from the Met Office show.
Some 121.8mm of rain has fallen, beating the previous record of 120.3mm which was set in 2000. It is in stark contrast to March, which was the fifth driest on record with 36.4mm of rain compared to the average of 95.9mm.
It has also been cool, with an average temperature of 6.1C (43F), compared with March's 7.7C (46F). No weather station recorded a temperature of 20C (68F), unlike the previous month when temperatures regularly broke the 20C barrier. Dave Britton from the Met Office said the weather was not set to improve next month. "Unfortunately it does look like the outlook remains rather unsettled. Further spells of rain to come certainly through May and remaining rather unsettled and temperatures a bit below average as well," he said.
Despite the heavy rain, swathes of England are still in drought, with warnings that the downpours were not enough to counteract the effects of two unusually dry winters.
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: "While we welcome the rain we have received recently, we cannot be complacent and still need everyone to save water where they can."
