While many of you lucky souls in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland enjoy a bank holiday day off today, across Scotland it's back to work for the majority.

So how was your Easter? The weather, it has to be said, was pretty non-descript for the majority, with a good deal of cloud stopping the annual rush to the nation's beaches for a bit of sunbathing.

Sunbathing was also definitely off the cards in parts of North America. Many in Colorado and New Mexico awoke to a snowy scene on Easter morning. An active area of low pressure in the New Mexico area dumped around 15 cm (6 inches) of snow in some cities. Even more snow fell on the mountains, with around 30 cm (12 inches) reported in places.

This certainly had an impact on the public Easter services. These usually take place outdoors in such places as local amphitheatres and local football grounds. Many though had to be moved indoors. It was better news for the children. The snow cover made it easier for them to find their Easter eggs during the annual Easter egg hunts.

Despite the recent snowfall, the drought situation in Colorado is not expected to ease. Lower-than-normal snow amounts so far means that the state is set to head into its fifth year of drought.

A spell of heavy and persistent rain would probably be more welcome - much as we saw on Easter Day in Texas. The same area of low pressure, that brought snow further west, resulted in some torrential thunderstorms.

At Houston, 77 mm (3 inches) of rain fell in just 12 hours, accompanied by hail in many parts. This was close to their average for the whole of April, which stands at 90 mm (3.5 inches).

Closer to home, rain has also continued to be a problem in parts of the Mediterranean. For those who were spending their Easter on the Costa Blanca not only was it wet, but it was also rather chilly. At Alicante, the air temperature stood at only 9.1 Celsius (48 F), at 1200 GMT. This was well below their average daytime maximum for April of 20.9 Celsius (70 F). Meanwhile, at Murcia, 13 mm (0.5 inches) of rain fell in 6 hours, which is half what they would expect for the whole month.

Weather News from the last five days:
11/04/2004
10/04/2004
09/04/2004
08/04/2004
07/04/2004

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