As we sit smugly in sunshine (or offices) and the IPL wades through South African rain, there is a temptation to raise two fingers in the direction of Lalit Modi. Yet the joke could, eventually, be on us – for it is a rarity that an excellent start to the summer continues through the main event. Back in 2007, when the warmest April on record gave way to virtual monsoon conditions in June, TWC was moved to publish the following article by Phillip Eden, vice-president of the Royal Meteorological Society.

The first signs that this summer might be out of the ordinary appeared in early spring where, for eight long weeks, there was little or no rain over large parts of the UK. April was the warmest recorded– and one of the driest. It all seems such a long time ago now.

But poor summers often follow spring droughts – and there is a reason for this. When a particular weather pattern becomes stuck over western Europe for several weeks in spring, there is a well-known tendency for it to shift westwards by early summer.

Thus the high-pressure system which dominated March and April slipped away into mid-Atlantic in May. This forced rain-laden Atlantic depressions to travel round the top of the high before plunging south-eastwards towards the British Isles. Apart from one short break in early June, this sequence continued into mid-July.

During the 20th century there were 10 outstandingly dry Aprils, and wet summers followed nine of them. So it may feel nice to start the season on hard wickets under blue skies but such conditions rarely augur well for the bulk of the summer.

It may not happen – there has been a fair quantity of rain amid the sun this April – but should the rain predicted in some quarters for this weekend materialise perhaps we should greet it with a little more gratitude. Apologies for ruining a lovely afternoon.

Sam Collins is website editor of thewisdencricketer.com