April 2024's Weather and Climate Summary For the Capital Region - WRGB

April 2024's Weather and Climate Summary For the Capital Region

April in some ways behaved like a March often does, coming in like a lion of sorts with a period of cold and snowy weather that peaked with a major storm that brought rain, sleet and snow from the 3rd into the 4th. The full 2.6" of snow that fell at Albany in April fell in this event on the 4th, with the storm dropping much higher amounts of snow in higher elevation areas both west and east of the Hudson valley and across the southern Adirondacks where 6"-14" was observed. Additionally, the storm generated a significant damaging downslope wind event across southern Vermont, the Berkshires, and the west facing slopes of the Taconics with some pockets of 60-70 mph gusts observed in places in and around North Adams, MA, Williamstown, MA, Copake, Stephentown, and Bennington, VT.

But in typical April fashion the cold quickly melted away with an almost fifty degree temperature swing from the lowest temperature observed for the month of 28 degrees the morning of the 8th to the highest temperature at Albany observed for the month of 77 degrees the next afternoon on the 9th. That 77 degree high tied the record high for the day last set in 1991.

Temperatures the remainder of the month, however, were fairly unremarkable switching from somewhat cooler to somewhat warmer than average at regular intervals with passing weather systems which is typical. There were, however, two particularly chilly periods, mainly at night, that included the 21st and the 22nd and again from the 25th to the 26th when temperature dropped into the 20s in many areas outside of the immediate Capital Region.

In all, the high temperature at Albany reached or exceeded 70 degrees on four of April's days with fourteen other days coming in with high temperatures into the 60s. Cool days were fewer but there were six of them where the high temperature failed to reach 50 degrees. Overall the milder days out numbered the cooler ones with the monthly average temperature at Albany coming in at 49.5 degrees which was 1.4 degrees warmer than the 1991-2020 thirty year average for April.

The daily mean temperature departure graph better illustrates the normal cyclical ups and downs through the month with more days (17) coming in warmer than each day's average versus colder (11 days.) (A daily mean temperature is calculated by adding the observed high and low temperature for any day then dividing by two. That value is then compared to the thirty year average mean temperature for a day to calculate the degree to which any day was warmer or cooler than average.)

April 2024 Monthly Mean Temperature Departures at the Five Local Climate Sites

The preceding mild winter and warm March, especially the first 17 days, had buds swelling through St. Patrick's Day weekend with a lot of concern that any subsequent significant cold snap would once again freeze flowers and diminish the spring bloom, which in the last 15 years, to date, has been occurring with increasing frequency. However, the weather pattern shifted to a much cooler one through the second half of March into the first week of April which put the brakes on the bud breakout, but with temperatures not dropping low enough to cause any significant widespread damage to plants.

The result was a nearly normal spring flower and green-up schedule with the forsythia making a huge comeback from practically no blooms in 2023 to a brilliant long lasting show that began in early April and persisted into early May.

And likely as a result of winter 2023-24 being the warmest on record, to date, along with no widespread damaging sharp cold snaps during the winter as well as through March and April, the bloom from April into May was particularly spectacular with flowering trees and shrubs packed with a high density of blossoms.

Forsythia in full bloom - Mid April - Clifton Park - Saratoga County

PJM Variety Rhododendron in full bloom - Late April - Clifton Park - Saratoga County

The perception by many was that April, like March, was wet. And although not nearly as wet as March, which came in with 6.34" of precipitation (3rd wettest March on record, to date,) the perception was largely correct as there was at least a trace of rain on all but ten of April's days at Albany.

However, the wetter part of the month was through the first two weeks when the majority of the month's precipitation accumulated. Through the first 14 days, 2.74" of the observed total of 3.54" of precipitation fell at Albany with the remaining 0.80" falling between the 15th and the 30th. So April certainly did trend much drier through the last two weeks.

The monthly precipitation total of 3.54" at Albany was only in surplus by a small amount, 0.43". And in fact, a slightly drier than average April was observed at Glens Falls, Pittsfield, MA, and Poughkeepsie.

The snow that fell in April, which is not uncommon, fell early in the month with the major storm that impacted the region from the 3rd to the 4th with trace amounts observed on the 5th and 6th at Albany. Moderate to heavy amounts of snow fell in the higher elevations throughout the Adirondacks, Catskills, Vermont, and the northern Berkshires with the early month storm, which is also not unusual for early April.

The snowfall season, although not technically complete until the end of May, typically is over in the valleys by the end of April with measurable snowfall in May possible, but rare at Albany. So for that reason I've included the seasonal snowfall graphic for the 2023-24 season here.

Snowfall for the season (through April 30) at Albany came in at paltry 38.1", 27.3" below the 1991-2020 thirty year average and ranking as the 19th least snowy (October-April) since 1874. Every month except January and April featured below to much below average snowfall, which was not surprising with what was a strong El Nino on going in the equatorial Pacific ocean through the season.