NOTE – Rainfall and temperature information is based on data kept at Milford Lake by the Corps of Engineers. For more information contact Chuck Otte, 238-4161.
April 2017 Weather Summary
If April showers bring May flowers, then May should be beautiful this year. In spite of what the last few days of April may have felt like, we ended the month with slightly above average temperatures.
The average daily high for April was 64.7, 1.2 degrees below normal. However, the average overnight low was 46.9, 4.7 degrees above normal. This resulted in a monthly mean temperature of 55.8, 1.7 degrees above normal. The temperatures for the first week of April were below average and the last ten days of the month were average or below. But the days in between were enough above average that the month was a little above average. There were no temperature records set or tied during the month. The highest temperature for April was 80 degrees on April 15th, 18th, and 19th. The lowest temperature for the month was 31 degrees the morning of
April 10th. Assuming we have no other sub-freezing temperatures this spring, that will be the official last frost of the year, although scattered frost was observed around the area the morning of April 27th. The warmest April on record was in 1955 when we had a monthly mean temperature of 63.2. The coldest April was in 1983 when we had a chilly monthly mean temperature of only 45.9 degrees.
Out of 30 days in April, we had measurable precipitation on 17 of them. Average April rainfall is 2.95 inches. Milford Lake recorded 4.87 inches for the month and Junction City had 4.65 inches. Normal year to date precipitation through the end of April is 7.06 inches. Milford Lake has received 13.19 inches for the year and Junction City 11.07 inches. Fortunately we were a long ways off the wettest April on record. April of 1944 came in with 12.59 inches of rain. The driest April on record was in 1989 when only 0.36 inches of rain was tallied. While there was a trace of snow noted early in April, that was it for the month. This likely closes out our snowfall season with only 3 inches of snow recorded for the October through April snowfall season. Long term average is 18 inches.
May typically brings us closer to those summertime temperatures and is also our second wettest month of the year. Average daily highs in May range from 72 on May Day to 81 by the end of the month. Overnight lows begin May at 48 and by the 31st are up to 58 degrees. Long term average
rainfall for May is 4.79 inches making it the second wettest month of the year by the narrowest of margins. Average June rainfall is 4.80 inches!