Last month was the second-coldest April since local recordkeeping began in 1966.
Forecaster Ron Lakeman at the Southeast Fire Centre in Castlegar says the average temperature was 6.3 degrees, compared to the normal 8.6. (April of 1972 remains the coldest at 6.1 degrees.)
A record daily low of –2.2 degrees was set on the 23rd, while the colest temperature for the month overall was –4.5 on the early morning of the 19th.
Yet it make come as a surprise that despite the frequency of rain — it occurred on 18 out of 30 days — the total amount was only 81 per cent of normal.
“More surprisingly the amount of snow recorded locally was also below normal, only 33 per cent of average for April,” Lakeman says.
As in March, sunny skies and mild temperatures were rare, but it did get up to 19.5 degrees on Easter Sunday, the peak for the month.