Reviewing April’s Weather

2014-04-30 19:29:16.000 – Tom Padham,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist

NULL

With the month of April now behind us, I decided to look back and see how this month compares to our average April. As of the time of this writing, the summit received 6.96 inches of liquid, and 25.7 inches of snow. A bit more rain is on the way through midnight as a large storm system over the center of the country continues to pull Gulf of Mexico moisture all the way up into New England. Our average liquid equivalent precipitation is 7.44 inches, and average snowfall is 35.6 inches. This month will likely end up well below average for snowfall, and near average for total liquid equivalent, making April very different than the very cold and snowy winter months much of New England saw this past winter. The summit also saw much of the extensive snow cover that built up over this winter melt greatly in the first 2 weeks of April, with roughly 27 inches of snow depth recorded on the first of the month falling to only about 1 inch on the 22nd and 23rd.

April is one of the windiest months on average for the summit, with a monthly wind speed of 34.7 mph, and our former world-record wind speed occurring on April 12th, 1934. This year April was slightly more windy than average, with a monthly average of 38.5 mph and a peak wind for the month of 106 mph occurring on the 24th from the north, an unusual direction for the summit. Fog was seen on 24 days of the month, or about 80% of the total month, and the summit only saw about 45% of the possible amount of possible sunshine for April. On the bright side, the days are getting longer as we move into May, and warmer weather and summer is just around the corner!

Tom Padham,  Weather Observer/Meteorologist