April Warmer and Drier than Average

April is in the books and it was a couple of degrees warmer on both ends of the daily observations. I had a mere 1.81 inches of rain in the bucket, no snowfall, and frankly a nice April.

I am a bit nervous about the rainfall totals as we started off with a wet January but are now again trending down. I'm running at -6.34 inches for the calendar year thus far.

Temps were surprisingly flat for April which is a month that typically rides the spring roller coaster. There was one classic spring 'coaster' moment following the monthly high of the warmest day; a beautiful 75.1° on the 17th under lovely sunshine, the 18th had a high of just 53° at 22.1° plunge. The coolest daytime high was a chilly but not cold for April 47.2° on the first of the month. The coldest morning low arrived on the 13th with a cool 35.1°. Outlying areas saw frost. The warmest overnight low was a moderate 51.2° on the 29th. April gave us 20 days at 60° or better, 3 days failed to hit 50°, and we had 4 days at 70° or more.

The rain bucket wasn't busy last month with just 8 days of rain against 11 days of sunshine. Just 4 days saw a quarter inch or more rain. The wettest day was the 5th of April with a 1/2 inch of rain. I'm a bit nervous about the mountain snow pack. Silver Star Mountain (4364') has barely any snow at all and that suggests that mid-elevation snow is well below average.

That snow pack provides ample water through the dry season for both hydro-electric power generation as well as keeping it green through mid-summer. Green is good as it helps shorten the fire season and keeps things extra pretty during our glorious summer. Higher up int he mountain Timberline at 5900 feet is reporting 128" of snow pack which may seem like a lot but not really.

I posted the final snow fall report on the website here. Snowfall in May is highly unlikely so my official 2019-2020 snow season is well below average at 5 inches. That said mountain snow can and routinely does fall in May and even June so there is still hope to pad those pack numbers before summer.

Warm Winter Lead to Cold Spring ? !

January 2020 was one of the warmest on record round these parts but Winter was apparently napping and woke up when spring was tapping on his shoulder. March was nippy to say the least and even brought more snow than the rest of the winter combined.

Now this past March wasn't the coldest I'v seen and certainly no records were ever in jeopardy. But it was a chilly March that managed to deliver three inches of snow which surprisingly was more than any of the "winter" months this season. Yes technically March 20 is the end of winter but most of the weather guys start doing the 'spring thing' on March 1.

Temps were a couple of degrees cooler top to bottom on average last month and rainfall was below average.

Temps rode the roller coaster like we expect in March with a balmy 65.8° on the 20th that was one of three days to punch through the 60 barrier. It is not at all uncommon to get a seventy or two in March, no such luck at my station this year. The chilliest afternoon high was a nippy 38.7° on the 14th which was accompanied by 3 inches of fluffy white snow. The coldest morning came on the 17th at 30.7°. The warmest overnight temp was the 46.7° mark on the 29th.

Wet precipitation was scarce for March producing only 3.74 inches of rain well below my typical 5.52 inches. Snowfall was above average for March but snow is not exactly a thing for us in March the total for the month just a tad above 3 inches which is more than triple the "normal" for March. In fact snow is rare enough in March that the 3 inches that fell made it the second snowiest March in my 19 snow seasons at this location. The record was a whopping 7.85 inches in March 2012. It also was enough to measurably move my 19 year average from 0.82 inch all the way to 0.94 inch.

Well enough about frozen precip, the wet form came in a typical constant series showers with the wettest day producing a mere .55 inch which was also the snowy day so the "wettest" really was the 29th when some t-storms dropped 0.31 inch of rain. Only 7 days saw more than a quarter inch and a total of 19 days with precipitation. Aside from the extra snow, this was actually a typical March now that I really ponder it :)

April has started off a bit chilly but this could be the month we turn the corner into "real" spring. Snow levels are still sagging down under 2000 feet which is pretty low for APRIL.

I wouldn't mind seeing some temps later in the month tickle the 80° mark so we can punch that corona virus in the face. I don't know if warm weather helps, but I guess we shall see and some nice summer like weather might cheer everyone up a bit :)

I normally tell you to soak it up, but maybe staying inside a wee bit longer is wise advice.