Weather in Edinburgh in April

A hard month. April is a hard month in Edinburgh, and worth planning around. Highs sit at 10.6 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

April ranks 6 of 12 in Edinburgh: past the worst of the year but short of August, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 12 days, 1 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 10.6 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

The averages here are honest — no hidden extremes worth planning around. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest April day reached 19.4 °C and the coldest night fell to -3.7 °C.

April is moderately variable: 13 mm in the driest year against 100 mm in the wettest, around an average of 53 mm. Roughly two Aprils in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 13.6 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 86%, which at 10.6 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How April sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 2.8 °C warmer than March, and May adds another 2.9 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in April

14.1 hours of daylight, gaining 2.3 hours across the month. That is between Edinburgh's extremes of 17.6 and 7 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 16.3 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

How busy it gets

Shoulder. The value months — prices ease off and you get the place closer to itself. April is the value pick for Edinburgh: it scores within 14 points of August without carrying August's prices.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

April in Edinburgh versus nearby

If Edinburgh is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Glasgow is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 4 days more rain. Manchester is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days more rain.

So: April works, with August the better month by 14 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Edinburgh

See all twelve months in Edinburgh, or where else to go in April.