How is April and 2016 treating us?

We are just past the halfway point of the month of April. Let's take a look at how it is treating us so far in terms of weather. Currently we are dealing with the 3rd coldest April on record here in the RoCo.

The good news with temperatures being so cool during the month of April is the fact that we are not having to use the A/C to keep our homes cool so far this Spring season. This April ranks at 1st all time in the RoCo so far.

The importance of this is the number of hours a day you spend above 65º each day. So far we have not had a day this April where we have had temperatures above 65º for any significant amount of time. Now of course we have had a few warm days this month but the highest temperature so far this April has been 70º Which to this point is the coldest high temperature ever recorded for the month of April in RoCo history.

Now the argument could be made about Heating your home with these cool temperatures. So let's take a quick look at the days where the temperature has spent a significant amount of time below 65º and how we rank overall in history for the RoCo.

As you can see 68 hours so far this month have been the amount of time based on averages that each home has potentially had their heat on to warm their homes. This is also the lowest in recorded history for the RoCo in the month of April. Good news for your wallet!

Now the real devastating statistic is the amount of rain we have received so far in the month of April. With less than an inch of rain so far this month we are currently experiencing the 5th driest April of all time in the RoCo.

With the forecast through the end of this week there is only around a tenth of an inch expected over the next week here in the county. We continue to move through a very dry Spring. As a matter of fact we are trending toward the driest Spring in recorded history for the county as we currently hold the mark for the driest Spring in history for the county.

How does this stack up for the year? When comparing time periods of Jan 1st - April 16th this is currently the 3rd driest year on record in the county to this point. 

Now we know last year was pretty dry how does this year stack up to the amount of rain we had in 2015 through April 16th?

We are around 4.5 inches below the amount of rainfall we had to this same point last year/ 

I predicted a dry Spring for the county in my long range forecast I released on March 20th and unfortunately that is actually occurring. 

If you would like to see my long range Spring forecast you can see it at http://rowancountyweather.com/blog/2016/03/20/how-spring-going-treat-us

Hopefully some things turn around and we get some very much needed rain. I will as always continue to update you with weather conditions and forecast on Facebook, Twitter and right here on Rowan County Weather's website. 

As always thank you for following Rowan County Weather!