April the third warmest since 1932
By Russell Russ

Here is a summary of April’s weather recorded at Norfolk’s National Weather Service
Cooperative Weather Observer Station by the Great Mountain Forest Corporation.
April 19 and 23 experienced the month's high temperature of 77 degrees. The low
temperature of 23 degrees was observed on April 3.
The average for the month was 47.5 degrees, which was almost 5 degrees above
average. In fact, it was the third warmest April since we began keeping records in 1932.
The warmest April was in 1945 with 48.7 degrees. The second warmest was in 2002
with 48.6 degrees.
Total precipitation for the month was 3.67 inches, 0.77 inches below normal. Only a
trace of snowfall was observed this month. The April average snowfall amount is 7.1
inches, but it is not uncommon to see only a trace. The weather station lost its
measurable snow cover on March 31, but kept a trace on the ground until April 4. The
snow cover was then gone for the season.
Total snowfall for this winter season, November through April, was 79.1 inches. This
was 16.5 inches below normal. But the total precipitation recorded thus far for 2008 is
21.83 inches, 5.19 inches above normal.
The ice disappeared on Wangum Lake on April 1, followed by Pond Hill and Tobey
Ponds on April 5. April was blessed with 18 days of pleasantly warm temperatures,
mostly clear skies and no precipitation. One could really enjoy the first week or so of
these sunny days, and then the black flies came out. The lack of precipitation did raise
the fire danger level during the second half of the month, but it was relatively short
lived. It was a great year for forsythia blooms.