As gardeners know to their cost, early April frosts can wipe out delicate plants and blooms in a single cold night, even when – according to the Met Office at least – we are more than a month into spring.

When March is noticeably colder than usual, as we experienced last year after the “beast from the east”, then most people are well prepared. But when we are lulled into a false sense of security by fine, sunny and warm weather in March, a sudden change to very cold nights can come as a shock.

Spring 1989 was just such a topsy-turvy time. March was mild, with temperatures generally above average, especially in London and the south-east. With high pressure in the final week of the month, conditions were more like summer than early spring, with Kent seeing a high of almost 21C.

But from the start of April, the winds turned from the south to the east, bringing moderate to heavy falls of snow across much of south-east England, including London, and up the east coast as far north as Yorkshire.

Indeed, the whole of April was cooler than usual, with not a single weather station across the whole of the UK breaking the 20C barrier. That did not happen again until 2006.