TEMPERATURES

April started off quite cool as the maximum on the 1^st remained in the 40s, fooling any thinking that Spring was soon on its way. Minimum temperatures during the first 3 days fell into the 30s, even allowing for some light snow on the morning of the 2^nd. Maximums recovered into the 60s for several days but chilly weather was never far off, returning to only the 40s and 50s from the 11^th-17^th as warm air continued staying far from the area. It wasn’t until the final week of the month that warmth finally sprang into action, reaching 72.9° on the 23^rd, the warmest reading since Sept. 28, 2017 when it hit 83.9°. This was quickly outdone as maximums soared over 80° for the next 3 days (24^th-26^th), a very rare occurrence here in April. The Portland Airport set or tied 3 consecutive maximum temperature records on these 3 days, also all in the 80s, topping out at 86° on the 26^th, which tied for the 5^th highest reading ever for the month of April there (data period-of-record back to 1940). Following the reading of 84.9° here in Happy Valley on the 26^th,, a cold front swept through and drastically dropped temperatures to below normal as the maximum on the 27^th was only 56.5°, a 28.4° drop from the previous day. (This maximum of 56.5° occurred right at midnight, the beginning of that day – the afternoon maximum on the 27th was only 55.8°, actually a 29.1° drop from the previous day.) The final day of the month managed to reach a maximum of just 55.1°.  The late-in-the-month warmth turned what would have been a below-normal month into one that was a bit above normal.

 

 

It was a fairly cool, cloudy, and damp first half of the month, followed by a rather dry second half. The first 17 days saw 5.59” of precipitation, 86% of the monthly rainfall. The heaviest calendar-day rainfall occurred on the 7^th with 1.92”, the highest daily amount since 2.42” fell on Feb. 5, 2017. This was followed the next day with 0.79” (on the 8th). The amount of the 7th was also the first daily rainfall of ≥1.00” since Nov. 15, 2017. Two periods of light snow fell on the morning of the 2^nd, but just a Trace was “measured” as temperatures remained a bit above freezing.

For the 9-day period 18^th-26^th it was dry (except for the 21^st when a barely measurable 0.01” of rain fell), a welcome respite from the steadier winter rain and snow. The final 4 days of the month contained the remaining 0.70” of the April total of 6.30”.

 

 

Link to the monthly weather form: Happy Valley Weather: April 2018