April 2013 Boards forecast contest

So, will the medieval chill continue in April, or will we see a return to more normal weather conditions?

Here are the details for the April forecast contest ...

1. Predict the IMT, an average of five selected stations, which has averaged 8.6 C for the 30-yr period 1981 to 2010 (it was 8.0 C for 1961-90 and 8.2 for 1971-2000, those figures courtesy of Deep Easterly).

2. Predict the highest daily maximum at any reporting (met.ie) station.

3. Predict the lowest daily minimum at any reporting (met.ie) station.

4. Predict the monthly precip as a percentage of normal (for 11 reporting stations in met.ie Monthly Summary)

5. Predict the monthly sunshine as a percentage of normal (for 6 reporting stations in met.ie Monthly Summary)

6. Bonus -- Predict the maximum temperature on Sunday 14th at Belmullet.

Deadlines for entry ... you have until the end of the day on Monday 1st of April, to enter without penalty. The actual deadline is set at 0300h on Tuesday 2nd of April. After that, it's five point penalties for each half-day late, 0300 to 1500 and 1500 to 0300h used to determine half days.

You can enter by using this form which has been kindly supplied and updated by Sponge Bob. I will check the thread for any old-fashioned entries too.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dElyZTJQeUJzVjdnQ1JBcThYdHpCSEE6MQ#gid=1

Just follow the instructions in the form, and see the link provided there for reviewing other forecasts. I will publish the usual table of entries once we have them all in.

Good luck, and remember, Ireland is in the northern hemisphere, in theory, it should begin to warm up some time soon.