April 2010 Revisited

Compared to historical averages, April in Hood River was cooler, way wetter, and pretty much average for wind.

April reversed the "warmer than average" trend of January through March of this year. April's average temperature (49.3°) was cooler than long term averages (49.8°), and cooler than more recent averages of 50.4° (2000-2009). This was the 2nd coolest April this century, with April 2008 being the coolest at 46.8°.

There was 3.32" of precipitation, compared to an average April total of 1.64". This was great news for skiers and those who depend on summer water supplies (everybody).

The average wind speed was slightly below average (2.9 mph vs 3.1 mph), continuing the trend of lower average wind speeds for the past 8 months.

There was one local weather record set in April. On 4/2, Hood River officially received 0.68" of rain. This broke the previous record of 0.59" in 1958.

The data below is from my home weather station. To view its April 2010 monthly summary and graphs at Weather Underground, click here.

The "historical average" numbers for temperature and rainfall are from the Hood River MCAREC data. Historical wind average is from my station's 2000 to 2009 data. Note that average wind speeds include all 24 hours of the day and night, which is why they are way lower than daytime peak winds. In addition, the wind speed at this station is considerably lower than on the Columbia River.

	High	Low	Average	Historical Average
Temperature (F)	75	30	49.3	49.8
Wind (mph)	33		2.9	3.1
Rainfall (in)	0.82		3.32 (total)	1.64