Rare April In Burlington, Vermont: Only 13th April In 120 Years With Just Trace Of Snow

A snowstorm buries garden flowers in St. Albans, Vermont 
in April, 2021. Pretty much no snow this April, though. 

 It's a given that it always snows during April in Vermont.  But not this year, at least in parts of the state. 

Even in banana-belt Burlington, Vermont, you can expect at least some light accumulations. This year is a rare exception. Unless we see a HUGE surprise between now and Sunday, this will be only the 12th April in 121 years with just a trace or no snow. 

In order to qualify for a trace of snow, you need at least a snowflake or two hitting the ground. That happened on April 2 this year in Burlington, when a few light snowflakes floated down before dawn. 

It didn't stick, of course.

Only two Aprils - in 1941 and 2005 -  couldn't even muster a flurry. Those were the only Aprils in the past 120 years without so much as a snowflake drifting down in Burlington. 

With climate change, you'd expect Aprils to become less snowy. But looking at the stats, I really didn't see much of a trend with April snows. There's no increase in the frequency of virtually snow-free Aprils.  

Average April snowfall in Burlington is 4.0 inches.Twelve out of the past 30 Aprils in Burlington have had above average snow. That's nearly even steven, so I don't really see a trend. 

By the way, the snowiest April on record was in 1983, when we got plastered by 21.3 inches of snow. April, 2000 was close with 19.1 inches. 

Unless we get a snowy surprise in May, Burlington's snow total for this past season looks like it will amount to 72.8 inches. That's right around normal if you take into account the average over more than 120 years.

However, "normal" is regarded by the National Weather Service as the average for the 30-year period ending 2010.  That era was snowier, with a mean annual snowfall of about 88 inches, so we technically regard this past winter as a little on the light side with snow.

That's not to say we can't get more snow in May, just not often. In the past 120 years or so, Burlington has seen measurable snow in 12 Mays, the most recent being in 2020, with a whopping 0.1 inches. Before 2020, the last time Burlington had measurable snow in May was back in 1996, when 0.3 inches fell.

The snowiest May in Burlington was in 1966, when 3.9 inches fell during the month.  May, 1966 was a rough one in Vermont.  All but three nights in the first 14 days of the month had sharp freezes, and that includes a reading of 24 degrees on May 3, which to this day remains the coldest May temperature on record in Burlington. 

Montpelier was well below freezing each morning from May 2 through 13 with readings as low as 20 degrees. Brrr!!

I'm pretty sure we won't see anything like that this May. Fingers crossed it also won't except on the mountain tops, where it always does in May. It's hard to entirely escape winter in Vermont.