April Vermont Summary: Another Warm Month; Precipitation Pretty Average

Though April was a rather warm month, a big snowstorm
on April 4-5 didn't inspire much hope for spring. 

 The figures are in for April and, despite a big snowstorm toward the beginning on the month, we had another warm one.   

The Warmth

Most weather stations in Vermont averaged around a degree warmer than normal, give or take. But this is a "new" climate change normal, which takes into account the mean of the past 30 years.  Those years are warmer than what was typical of the 20th century, so the figures are a big skewed.

Let's take Burlington for example. The average temperature for April, 2024 was 46.9 degrees, or 1.3 degrees warmer than this "new" normal. But of the past 133 Aprils in Burlington, I could only find 17 Aprils that were as warm or warmer than this one.

Five of the Aprils that were warmer than 2024's version have happened since 2008.  

Also note that under this "new" normal, only one of the past eight months has been cooler than average. El Nino, which tends to warm us up, no doubt contributed to the warmth over the past year. Still, this isn't your grandfather's climate here in Vermont. 

Precipitation

Rainfall in Vermont was a little below average in the east of the Green Mountains and perhaps in some sections of central Vermont. Much of western Vermont was a little one the wet side, but not by much. 

For instance, Burlington clocked in with 3.21 inches of rain, which is just 0.14 inches above normal. There's been a mini-trend toward wet Aprils in recent years. Six of the past eight of them in Burlington were on the wet side. 

But spring did arrive amid consistently mild 
temperatures most of the month. A hard freeze on
April 25-26 didn't cause much damage. 

It seems like it's been a wet year so far, and it has. However, it's not that wet. Precipitation in Burlington through April 30 is 10.92 inches, or 1.71 inches above normal for this spot on the calendar. 

The only extreme weather in Vermont during April, 2024 was the big snowstorm on April 4-5.  Burlington collected 10 inches of snow in that episode, which means the month tied for the tenth snowiest April on record. 

Most of central and northern Vermont had at least a foot of snow in that storm, with several spots closing in on two feet. That's very impressive for an April snowstorm. The storm left 33,000 Vermont homes and businesses without power.

Almost equally as impressive is how fast the snow melted away. Snow depth at my house in St. Albans, Vermont went from 14 inches on the morning of April 5 to pretty much nothing by the time the total eclipse of the sun arrived on the afternoon of April 8.

A little more snow announced the start of a spell of hard freezes o April 24, but pretty much nobody saw any accumulations. Most gardens managed to survive the subsequent two nights with temperatures well down into the 20s and even upper teens.

The Big Event

Ah yes, the eclipse.  Certainly the big event of April, 2024 and a huge event in our lifetimes.

Climatologically, we had an 80 percent chance of overcast skies at the time of the eclipse. Literally for years before the eclipse I was pessimistic about how cloudy the skies would be. 

During the total eclipse of the sun on April 8, shown here
in St. Albans, high thin clouds added some color to
the skies near the horizon, as if it were a sunset. 

 In the months leading up to the eclipse, I kept saying the weather on eclipse day would feature dense fog with freezing drizzle.

The forecast on the morning of April 8 was a nail biter, as clouds began to encroach in the hours before the big event. 

In turned out the clouds only enhanced the experience. The clouds didn't cover the whole sky, and they were quite thin and wispy.  They formed a neat halo around the sun as the moon's shadow began to take bites out of the sun's disc.

When the total eclipse hit, the high clouds added some beautiful colors to the horizon as northern Vermont plunged into darkness. You could still clearly see the edges of the sun peeking from behind the moon during that incredible afternoon. We got totally lucky, pardon the pun, with the weather on the afternoon of April 8. 

Looking Ahead

As I say every month, it's hard to tease out what the upcoming months weather will be like. Long range forecasts through most of the first half of May suggest temperatures and rainfall might be close to normal. But as always, there will be some surprises in that department. 

Usually, May brings us our first taste of true summer weather. You know, 80s with noticeable humidity. 

That kind of weather knocked on our doorstep early this week, but got cut off at the pass so that most of New England stayed cool. 

I don't see any signs of such summer weather in any of the forecasts for the foreseeable future. Enjoy the temperate weather while it lasts. Long range forecasts from the National Weather Service suggest we'll have a hot summer.

We shall see!