Soggy and Chilly April ends Toasty

What a wild month we had in April. There was rain, there was snow, the was summer heat, and there were records broken.

Starting with the the temps, April was chilly by day and about average by night. The coldest morning low was a 32.9º mark on the 12th a day that saw an inch of sticking snow. The coldest afternoon high was a January like 42.3 and the coldest afternoon high I have ever recorded in April. There were two daily low max temps records last month along with 7 days that failed to reach 50º. The month stayed above freezing but delivered 11 days with low temps below 40º. 

March gave me my first 60º day of the year and April as expected delivered the first 70º day with a nice 74.8º mark on the 26th. That is pretty late for the first 70º+ day. It was the first 70º day since October 16th which was also the last time we saw an 80º day. April delivered pair of eighties on the 28th and 29th with 87.1º and 84.3º respectively both of which were daily high records. No where near the all time April record of 91º. Four days above 70º and eight days above 60º. On the evening side there was also a daily record warm overnight low with 57.7º on the 29th following that crispy 87.1º high on the 28th. 

As for precipitation, I did record the latest sticking snowfall ever, besting last years record of April 11th with an inch that fell the morning of the 12th. It stuck around for part of the day but was gone before sunset. Other than a brief tenth of an inch that stuck for about 10 minutes on the 3rd, that was it for frozen perception. There were a few days with wintry mix that didn't stick. Rainfall was plentiful so I'll assume those April showers will deliver lots of May flowers this month. I recorded more than 6 inches of rain compared to my average of 4.24 inches. 19 days with measurable precipitation is bit heavy for April, even in the soggy Northwest. 8 of those days saw a 1/4 inch or more but I didn't receive more than an inch on any one day. The wettest day got close with 0.95 inch on the 11th. 

April was wild on the weather side and its leaving me wondering what May will bring.

March was in like a Lion and Out the same way

March was pretty wild or so it seemed. The actual numbers show pretty normal precipitation both in wet and frozen varieties. Temps seemed much cooler than average and they were in the afternoon. Overnight lows were observed to be about 1º under 'normal' but daytime highs were a whopping 5º under 'normal' for the month. The month came in chilly and blustery with mixed winter precipitation dominating the weather. There was one spring-like patch but then the month ended on a cold and chilly note with wind, thunder, and mixed winter precipitation. The snow levels locally stayed under 2000 feet for nearly the whole month and dipped under 1000 feet at least 15 days of the month even finding sea level a few times.

On the temperature side of things the month had just two days with morning lows below freezing with one daily record low of 29.7º on the 16th which was the coldest temp of the month. No where near my all time low for March at 19.4º. 27 days had morning lows under 40º which is a tad cool for March. The warmest overnight temp was 44.3º on the 19th. 

Daytime highs really felt more like January with 18 days that failed to reach 50º and two that couldn't even muster 40º. There were four daily records for cold maximum temps. The chilliest was a high temp of 39º on the 12th. There were four days that managed to get above 60º with the warmest afternoon coming on the 18th with 66.1º.  

The real story was precipitation. Despite very close to normal rainfall and snowfall, March felt wet and wild. 5.34 inches of rain came down just a few tenths shy of typical for March. The frozen variety was a typical 0.60 inch a tad shy of normal. The only sticking snow fell over the 7th and 8th with about 1/2 inch on the ground on the 8th. The wettest day was the 14th when 1.18 inches fell which was one of 8 days with more than 1/4 inch of rain. March was uncharacteristically cloudy and damp with 22 days of measurable precipitation and just four sunny days. We were definitely living up to our reputation as a cloudy and soggy area.

April is starting out like March ended with mixed winter precipitation, cool temps and very low snow levels. The local weather experts are predicting a warm up of spring appropriate temps starting next week with some forecasts showing upper 70s by the end of next week. We shall see about that ;)