Help Appreciated - End March or April in UK

I'm afraid there's no time of year that you can visit the UK and not encounter any rain. But the good news is that it's really unlikely to rain for days on end like it does in some other parts of the world - more likely, it might rain for a couple of hours out of any given day.

I was just in England in late February of this year, and I thought it was a great time to visit. The weather was fine for being outside with a sweater and a jacket, crowds were fairly small, and hotel rates were low. March should be similar.

Something to consider is that Easter (which falls on April 16 in 2017) is a big holiday weekend in the UK. The Friday and Monday of Easter weekend are both national holidays, so a lot of locals will be traveling, trains may be more crowded, some hotels may have minimum stays, and some stores and restaurants may be closed. I'd avoid that weekend if you have a choice.

Look at the UK Met climatic data for the regions of interest:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/regional-climates/

When you see the Met Climate graphs of precipitation per month, you will realize that there are drier months and wetter months, but no dry months in the UK. If you are in the UK for a week or more, you stand a very high probability of getting wet one or more days of your visit. Just remember the Norwegian saying: "There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing".

The UK does not have a wet season and dry season. The Met Office explanation for north east English weather is that:

The Atlantic lows are more vigorous in autumn and winter and bring
most of the rain that falls in these seasons. In summer, convection
caused by solar surface heating sometimes forms shower clouds and a
large proportion of rain falls from showers and thunderstorms then.

A further factor that greatly affects the rainfall distribution is
altitude. Moist air that is forced to ascend hills may be cooled to
the dew point to produce cloud and rain. A map of average annual
rainfall therefore looks similar to a topographic map.

I did two weeks of trekking/walking trips in the UK on two separate trips (different years), but both during May. May is suppose to be the drier month of the year. On both of our trips, we had multiple days of being drenched. Expect and be prepared for rain. That said, weather is part of the adventure.

Beyond precipitation considerations, April will be warmer on average than March. Better to be wet but warm(er) than wet and cold(er). Also consider more daylight hours in April than March.

Rain is possible at any time, so is sun. Its very common to have a beatiful sunny day, it will rain for an hour, then lovely sun again, it rarely rains all day. Use the local weather forecast and have a selection of wet day and dry day activities.

Delay your trip to as far in to April as possible for reasons given above. Scotland will still be cold regardless.

Much thanks to khbuzzard, Edgar, Mike J and djp_syd for sharing your experiences and your thoughts. I really appreciate it. It is always reassuring to hear the answers from people who have been there! I heard the Easter holidays is really crowded and school is on Easter break. Our choice would probably be after Easter then, towards the latter part of April. The graph is very interesting and I will look at it in more detail. We will just take the rain as part of what makes UK unique and tailor fit our activities to the weather for the day. :) I will iron out the dates and come back with an itinerary and hopefully you will also help me with this.

Sorry, but looking at average weather patterns doesn't really mean much these days. Two weeks ago, within a week, we had snow and a few days later, 20 degrees.

We have just had 2 consecutive mild but very wet winters, with flooding in Somerset last year and the Lake District this year.

On the whole, the weather should be better the further into the year you travel, as summer approaches. The eastern side of the country tends to be drier than the west and the south is warmer than the north. You are likely to see some rain in March or April.

It snowed in June in 1975 so it isn't just recent years that have their outlier events.

There is a great variation of average rainfall across the UK. As a rule of thumb it gets wetter the further west and north you are.

'April showers' is a well known phrase - certainly this year a lot of the rain came from those which tend to be short and sharp.

The UK Met climate webpage displaying a map of climatic data
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/climate#averagesMaps

illustrate's Maco's comments. You can check climatic variables such as average:
"Days of sleet/snow falling"
"Days of rain falling >= 10 mm"
etc for any given month.

And the regional data shows both mean and extreme data. For example, looking at NW England mean daily maximum and minimum temperatures
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/regional-climates/nw
Weather station at Ringway (69 masl) for March:
Min mean temp of +4C but Extreme min temp of -10C
High mean temp of +1-C and Extreme high of +22C.

Lesson for UK travel is look for the means but expect something higher/lower. That's what makes UK travel an adventure.

Thanks jennifer, emma, marco and edgar for your insights!

We did see how the weather changed from month to month, to the week and even by the day when we were in Eastern Europe last March. Light showers would be manageable for us and since it gets warmer and drier in April and March, we have set our dates from April 24 to May 6. I am excited about the trip and will start doing some planning even though it seems to be still so far away. Really thank you for everyone's help!