Review – April Showers (What There Was) Bring May Flowers, Drier Than Usual – and that snow day ….

May 2, 2020

Chilliwack – April Showers Bring May Flowers.

Well, for 2020, not so much. In his monthly report for FVN and chillTV, Environment Canada’s Roger Pannett noted the lack of rain for April 2020.

The month started cool and sunny before an upper trough of low pressure, coupled with the proximity of an Arctic front, produced a rare heavy April snowfall on April 3^rd. It was the snowiest April day in Chilliwack since the 15 cm snowfall on April 11^th, 1981.

A building ridge of High pressure, only interspersed once on April 11^th by a passing weak trough of low pressure, resulted in 17 days of dry & mostly sunny weather conditions. After two frosty lows of 0.0 ⁰C on April 2^nd & 4^th, temperatures peaked for the month at 21.8 ⁰°C (7.6°C above normal) on April 16^th with a low relative humidity at 19%. (This temperature was far below the record max for the day of 30.6 ⁰C in 1897). In dry outflow east winds & beneath clear sunny skies, on April 11^th & 12^th the relative humidity dropped to a very dry 11% & 12%.

During the last week of the month, typical damp and showery conditions returned. On April 25^th the passage of a cold front produced heavy showers, hail and low elevation mountain snowfalls.

With mean temperatures for the month 1.33°C above normal (+ or – 1.1°C standard deviation), it was the 9^th consecutive April with temperatures above normal.

The last frost of the season occurred on April 4^th, compared to the April 6^th average last frost date.

With total precipitation 36.6 % below normal it was the driest April in 4 years.

The 2020 precipitation total to date is 656.5 mm on 76 days compared to the average of 760.8 mm on 68 days.

April 2020

Data recorded by Roger Pannett, Volunteer Weather Observer for Environment Canada at Chilliwack, B.C.

Variable	April 2020	30 Year Average
Mean Maximum	15.95 C	14.5 C
Mean Minimum	5.72 C	4.4 C
Mean Temperature	10.83 C	9.5 C
Rainfall	66.3 mm	125.3 mm
Snowfall	13.7 cm	0.9 cm
Total Precipitation	80.0mm	126.2 mm
Days of Rain	11 days	14 days
Days of Snow	1 day	–
Total Days of Precipitation	11 days	14 days
Frosts	0	2
Relative humidity average	61.22%	.