An unusually warm April in Iceland

April 2019 was unusually warm in Iceland. In most of the West and North it was the warmest one on record and the second warmest in the country as a whole. The average temeperature in Reykjavík was 6.5°C, +3.6°C higher than the 1961-1990 mean and +0.2°C higher than the previous record (in April 1974). In Stykkishólmur in the west the average in April was 5.8°C, +4.2°C above the 1961-1990 mean - also a new record. In Akureyri April was also the warmest of all time with an average of 6.9°C, +5.3°C above the 1961-1990 mean. 

The warm weather was "caused" by an unusually persistent spell of Southeasterly winds lasting almeost the whole month (except for the first few days). 

The map shows the average 500 hPa-height in April (ecmwf-analysis - map by Bolli Pálmason) and the very large deviation [colours], positive to the NE of Iceland and negative to the SW. 

On the 30th the temperature in Reykjavík reached a new record maximum for April, 17.1°C, the former record, 15.2°C was old, from April 29 1942. 

Some readers might want to check on links to texts about the situation in Icelandic [google translate might or might not be helpful]: The monthly report of the Icelandic Meteorological Office, Tíðarfar í apríl 2019, and two blogs on "hungurdiskar",  Óvenjulegur apríl í háloftunum [an unusual upper-air April] and Meir af apríl [More on April - a discussion of the circulation and its part in the record].