Greetings,
I will be visiting England, Edinburgh and maybe Paris from March 30 thru April 12. I would like to know what to pack. What is the weather like? Should I be packing sweaters and coats or something light. Should I dress on layers?
Thank you all
Susy
You'll need some sort of warm layer and a waterproof outer layer, for sure. All of those places are likely to feel sort of damp at that time of year, which adds to the chill factor.
Underneath, I'd probably wear long sleeves, and I'd travel with a set of lightweight long johns. But I'm quite cold-natured. I'd also want something warm I could put on my head (though I might not need to use it) and gloves. Depending on the neckline of your warm layer and waterproof layer, a scarf might be a good idea.
One thing to keep in mind is that you may encounter some very warm interiors, so give some thought to how you'll cope when you have to start peeling off layers.
You can take a look at actual day-by-day historical weather data (much better than monthly averages) at wunderground.com. After entering your target city, choose "History" and enter April 1 of a recent year. Scroll down just a bit and click on the "Monthly" tab. Scroll down some more for a graph of temperature over the course of the month. Repeat for other years to get a better idea of the range of temperatures you might expect.
As you get close to your departure date you can use your favorite weather website (or wunderground) to see what's happening at your first stop.
Edited to add: I've just remembered that people with off-season experience in that area have discouraged dependence on umbrellas for rainy days because of the wind. They suggested a hooded waterproof outer layer instead.
If in northern England and in the hills there's a decent chance of snow showers, "lambing snows".
That also said it might be 70 degrees....the former is more likely
Check out climatedata.eu for average high and low temps as well as precipitation and sunny days. The problem is that the actual weather will be the average +/- ten degrees and it will be bright sunny skies unless,of course, it is dark and rainy. Three years ago we were in London in September and it was 85 degrees and sunny, but I would bet on it next year. You need to be able to dress in layers, as many or few as the day calls for, and have rain protection just in case.
"March winds and April showers bring forth the sweet May flowers." - an old saying I learned in School. Even with Global Warming, there is a lot of truth in it.
When we traveled from London to Edinburgh in April we had a variety of weather...mostly dampish, but not raining all the time. The clouds tend to scuttle by. It did snow when we crossed the border into Scotland. Layers is the correct answer. I wore a semi water resistant quilted Chinese silk jacket over a fleece pullover and knit turtleneck. Knit pants. I brought an all weather car coat just in case of foul weather. Wear water resistant shoes with good soles. Oxfords worked great most of the time. Bring or buy a long wool scarf and a pull on knit hat because it is mostly windy that time of year. Don't expect many flowers except for some early daffodils as it is just barely Spring then.
In the past few years, when we have been in England in April, temperatures have ranged from around 40 F degrees at night to the mid-70s F during the day. We dress in layers. I bring mostly short sleeve shirts, a couple long sleeve shirts (that can be worn by themselves or under the short sleeve shirts if needed), a cardigan, long pants, a skirt or two just in case there is a warm spell, an autumn/spring jacket with a hood, an easily packable raincoat with a hood that can be worn by itself or under (for warmth) or over (for rain protection) the light jacket, wool socks, closed-toe shoes, sandals (just in case!), and one pair of gloves/mittens.
