Near Normal for April Weather

By Russell Russ

April’s weather this year was fairly normal. Just like it was last April. The first half of the month was on the cool and snowy side and felt more March-like than March. By April 10, Norfolk had already exceeded

March’s extremely low snowfall total of 0.8 inch. By April 12, the snowfall total was up to 6.4 inches.
Plants began to flower and leaf out at about the same time as average. At the lilac study plot near the weather station, the lilac leaf out was April 14-18, about average over the last 57 years but two to 10 days later than the last several years. Lilac phenology observations, when the plants leaf out and bloom, have been recorded near the weather station since the late 1960s. Phenology observations are a critical contributor to global climate research. This year we were about average.

With an average monthly mean temperature of 45.6 degrees, the month of April was 2.5 degrees above normal. A little above normal, but not high ranking for warmth. April’s low temperature of 21 degrees was observed on April 9 and the high of 80 was observed on April 19. There were no daily temperature records set this month. Norfolk’s warmest April was in 2010 with 49.4 degrees and the coldest was in 1943 with 36.8 degrees.

The total precipitation recorded for the month was 4.22 inches, just 0.06 inch below normal. The largest rainfall came April 26-27 when we picked up 1.65 inches. Overall, it was very average for precipitation, but most days were cloudy, especially during the first half of the month.

March was a windy month and April followed that by also having numerous windy days. What is up with that wind? Through April, the total precipitation for the year was 12.33 inches, 3.94 inches below normal. Last year through April, Norfolk was 6.28 inches above normal. Norfolk’s driest April was in 1941 with 1.15 inches, the wettest was in 1983 with 10.79 inches.

The total snowfall for the month was 6.4 inches, 0.3 inch above normal. There were seven days with light snow or flurries. From the evening of April 10 into the morning of April 12, we picked up 5.8 inches of snow. It was plowable for town and state roads and even for some homeowners. Norfolk’s average April snowfall amount is 6.1 inches. There have been many Aprils with very little or no snowfall. The snowiest April was in 1997 with 31.1 inches.

The 2024-25 winter season (October to April) snowfall total of 45.6 inches was 43.1 inches below normal. Assuming there is no snowfall in May (there was none through May 21), this winter season will rank as Norfolk’s seventh least snowy winter on record. Last winter’s 45.5 inches ranks a close sixth, meaning we’ve had two winters in a row with nearly identical (paltry) snowfall totals. Norfolk’s top three least snowy winters are: 2015-16 with 35.5 inches; 1994-95 with 40.9 inches; and 2021-22 with 43.7 inches. Norfolk’s snowiest winter season was in 1955-56 with 177.4 inches.

A look at May’s weather through two-thirds of the month showed that May’s weather was not all that nice. It was cool, cloudy and rainy during many days. There were very few sunny days, but at least the wind was not as bad as in previous months. With a precipitation total of 4.81 inches through May 21 and up to two inches more rain in the near-term forecast, May will be a wet month, perhaps taking a good bite out of the 2025 running deficit. While it felt cool for May, temperatures were actually running about 2.5 degrees above normal. We all might be getting accustomed to the seemingly perpetual warmer-than-normal conditions when average or even a little above average temperatures feel cool to us. Or maybe it is just that cloudy and rainy days get you down.

Weather observations are recorded by the Great Mountain Forest at Norfolk’s National Weather Service Cooperative Weather Observer Station, Norfolk 2SW.