April typically is a smoother transition into spring than its neighboring month, March. While wintry precipitation is not unheard of in the beginning of April (anyone remember the April Fools Day Blizzard of '97?), a slow start to the winter season must have prompted Old Man Winter to want to go out with a bang. April featured multiple snowfall events, mainly up in New England, but even points as far south as Maryland saw roadway coverings as late as the 9th. Many areas in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast even witnessed one of their top ten coldest low temperatures on record for the 10th (although certainly not the latest freeze ever on record, even down in areas of Virginia). While majority of the region finally started to move into spring for the latter half of April, areas of New Hampshire did not have their last wintry threat until the 26th.
The first two days of the month featured spring-time warmth, but this would merely be a tease. By the 3rd-5th, an upper-level trough swung through and brought colder and snowier conditions in the form of two clipper systems. Two to four inches of snow with locally up to 6 inches fell across New England with the first clipper. Down into the mid-Atlantic, highs struggled to get out of the 30s and 40s, and even some mixed rain and snow showers resulted in coatings to a couple tenths of an inch of snow across these areas depending on the intensity of the snow. The second clipper was more robust than the last, dumping a widespread 3 to 6 inches with locally 8+ down in southeastern Massachusetts, plus up to a quarter inch of ice near the coast where precipitation transitioned to a period of freezing rain. The mid-Atlantic was relatively spared by this one, only receiving a few flurries or widely scattered dustings from some snow showers. Temperatures were well below normal, up to 10 to 30 degrees lower than average for this time period.
Snowfall in Wareham, MA on April 4th, 2016. Image courtesy of the National Weather Service in Boston, MA and David Lima.
The mid-Atlantic got its taste of the white stuff as colder air continued to filter in for another system from the 9th-10th. An area of moderate snow mixed with some rain and sleet moved in during the daytime, which normally would result in significant melting so late in the season. However, heavier pockets of snow were able to coat up roadways and pavements across southeastern Pennsylvania (including Philly!), extreme southern New Jersey, and even some areas of northeastern Maryland. The Northeast saw its last official snowfall on the 26th, as parts of southern New Hampshire picked up some coatings. It has been noted that many previous winters that did not have measurable snowfall from October through December often had a trace of snow or more in April, such as the 2006-2007 winter season.
While northern New England felt more like a typical November than April, the rest of the region saw gradually moderating to near summer-like temperatures during the latter half of the month. So while New York and points south saw yet another warmer than average month, New England experienced their first monthly negative temperature departure in quite some time.
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A tale of two cities: While both Boston (above) and Philadelphia (below) experienced cold and warm spells, the mid-Atlantic sneaked out with slightly above normal temperatures for the month, New England wound up slightly below average.
