OSWEGO, NY – It was a warm, wet April, according to Bill Gregway, local observer for the National Weather Service.
The average temperature last month was 47.0 degrees. That is 2.3 degrees warmer than average.
The highest temperature was 81 degrees on the 27th and the lowest was 30 degrees on the 6th and 15th.
There was one record set – 78 degrees on the 11th. That broke the old mark of 76 degrees set in 1945.
The 81 reading was the only day temperatures made it into the 80s last month. There were 3 days the high made it into the 70s and 5 times it was in the 60s.
There were 6 times the mercury slipped to 32 degrees or lower.
“The last frost, so far, was April 22, 31 degrees,” Gregway said. “That might change. We have a few cold nights ahead this week.”
Total precipitation for April is 6.66 inches. That’s 3.34 inches higher than normal.
The greatest precipitation in a 24-hour period was 1.36 inches on the 20th.
“We had a few other biggies last month, too. It all seemed to come in big globs,” Gregway noted.
There were 14 days of measurable precipitation last month, with 2 streaks of 5 in a row.
April saw a trace of precipitation 5 times.
And, there was no precipitation on 11 days, with a run of 4 days in a row.
“From the 6th to the 9th it was a dry spell. The 10th and 11th had just a trace and then the 12th was also dry,” Gregway said. “So, we actually had a pretty good little run of nice dry weather for 7 consecutive days early in the month. The last third was wetter.”
Since the first of the year, precipitation stands at 16.98 inches. That is 3.68 inches above average.
The area received just a trace of snow 3 times last month. That is 4.3 inches below average.
It appears that the winter of 2010 – 2011 will end at 178.3 inches (27.5 inches greater than average). But Gregway points out; it has snowed on Mother’s Day before.
There was 1 instance of ice pellets last month, he added.
April saw 36 percent of the possible amount of sunshine.
That is 15 percentages below normal.
The number of cloudy days, 15, was 5 above average.
The number of partly cloudy days, 7, was 1 below average.
The number of clear days, 4, was 4 below average.
There were 3 thunderstorms. That is 2 above average. And there were 3 foggy days, which is also 2 above average.
The highest barometric pressure last month was 30.49 on the 14th. The lowest was 29.25 on the 4th.
April’s strongest winds were greater than 35 mph from the west-northwest on the 20th.
“We had 10 days where the winds were in the 20-25 mph range,” Gregway said. “It was a windy month.”
The 6.66 inches of precipitation makes April 2011 the second wettest April going back to 1844.
The wettest is 7.03 inches in 1859.
The driest is 0.61-inch in 1915.
The warmest April is 52.0 degrees in 1878. Last year was second at 51.7 degrees; that’s 7 degrees higher than average.
The coldest April on record is 30.1 degrees in 1926.
The highest temperature recorded in April is 90 degrees in 1990 and the lowest is 11 degrees in 1923.
April 1983 is the snowiest (17.7 inches), Gregway said, adding that according to the records, 6 Aprils have been absolutely snow-free; April 2011 goes into the record book with a trace of snow.
Besides being very warm, April 2010 was dry – just 1.33 inches of precipitation. That is 1.99 inches below average.
At the end of April 2010, the precipitation for the year was 10.33 inches, which was 2.97 inches below average.
Sunshine last April was 8 percentages above average and had 9 clear days.
There was no snow last April until the 27th, Gregway said. “We got a lot of big, wet, sloppy flakes that just amounted to a trace for the month,” he said.
For the winter the snowfall (117.0 inches) was 33.8 inches below average, he added.
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