April 2011 Revisited
Compared to historical averages, April 2011 in Hood River was colder, cloudier, and wetter, with about average winds.
All in all, April was a lot like March. Snow piled up in the mountains, rain piled up in the lowlands, and complaints piled up amongst those of us who, quite frankly, would really like an occasional warm, dry spell this time of the year.
The average temperature of 46.2° was colder than long term averages (49.8°), and also colder than the more recent (2001-2010) average of 49.6°. Interestingly, Springs here have been cooler than the long term averages for the past 4 years. The maximum temperature was 66°, and the minimum was 29°. The high heat index for the month was 65°, and the low wind chill was 29°.
Going along with the continued cloudy trend this Spring, solar radiation averaged 419 Ly/day, compared to an average April of 439 Ly/day.
Official precipitation totaled 3.88", compared to an April average of 1.64". My station recorded 5.13". It rained on 16 of the 30 days in the month, which, if one does the math, is... half of the time. The maximum daily rainfall (1.12") occurred mostly on April 4th, but gets associated with April 5th, because that's the way these things are done. Don't ask me why.
The 24 hour average wind speed for April at my somewhat sheltered weather station was 3.2 mph, compared to the historical average of 3.1 mph. The peak wind gust was 29 mph on April 1st. Wind speeds at other less sheltered locations, such as the Columbia River, were undoubtedly higher. Barometric pressure peaked at 30.44", with a low of 29.59".
There were 3 local weather records in April, all related to rain. On April 5th, MCAREC received 1.12" of rain, blasting by the old record of 0.78 set in 2009. On April 16th, rain totaled 0.81, breaking the old record of 0.49" in 1996. And on April 26th, 0.52" of rain, which surpassed the old record of 0.43" in 1978.
These monthly summaries use the official NOAA data from MCAREC when available. Some data isn't available there, so that comes from my station located near May and Rand Streets in Hood River. To view my weather station's data for April 2011, click here.
