It has been confirmed that this month has been the warmest and sunniest April on record, and the third driest.

Statistics will continue to be taken until 9am tomorrow, but figures already show a mean maximum temperature for the month of 14C/57F, compared with an average for April of 10.6C/51F.

The total hours of sunshine for April 2007 will be about 230, beating the previous record, set in 1974, by about ten hours.

It is also set to be the driest April since 1980, with a total of 14.8 millimetres of rainfall.

The average for the month is 55 millimetres.

More detailed statistics will be provided by the Met. Office within the next couple of days.