April 2017 Recap: Second Mildest April, Featuring Second Warmest Easter
With four days in the 80s and no truly cold days (the chilliest was five degrees below average), April 2017 became the second mildest April on record (4.2 degrees above average), pushing April 1941 to third place (57.2° vs 56.9°). This was a rebound from March, which was 3.3 degrees colder than average. April's coldest low was 37° on 4/1, which was only three degrees colder than average. This was the "mildest coldest" reading since April 2010 (the mildest April on record). The warmest reading of the month, 87°, occurred on Easter Sunday (4/16), which was the second warmest temperature every experienced during the holiday.
Interestingly, despite it being the second mildest overall, eight other Aprils had warmer average highs than April 2017. However, this April was the mildest of them all in terms of average low, even ahead of New York's mildest April (2010) by a comfortable margin.
Other observations of interest:
- The four 80-degree days were the most since April 2009, when there were also four (the most for any April is five, which happened in four years: 2002, 1985, 1962 and 1941). This years summery high temperatures occurred on 4/11 (80°), 4/16 (87°), 4/28 (85°) and 4/29 (85°).
- Although there were two days in the mid-80s at the end of April, the most extended period of above average temperatures occurred from 4/10 thru 4/17 when temperatures were 13 degrees above average.
- Although Easter Sunday had the warmest high temperature, the day with the warmest mean temperature (average of the high and low) was 4/29, which had a high/low of 85°/64°, 1.5 degrees degrees warmer than Easter (87°/59°).
- The month's two biggest rainstorms produced nearly identical amounts - 1.21" in the pre-dawn hours of 4/4, and 1.25" on the night of 4/25 into the early AM hours of the 26th.
- Finally, for what it's worth, the warmest and coldest readings of April 2005 were the same as April 2017 (87°/37°), but 2015 is ranked as 14th mildest.