The temperature gradually increases arrived in April, while the rain drenched our March almost absent. However, some of our thunderstorms have brought icy, capable of causing record surprises.
April heating
Spring-like warmth, and sometimes even summer-like heat, arrives in April, raising our overall temperatures above normal for the month. The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) reports preliminary statewide average temperatures of XX,X°F and ours X-warmest month since 1895.
Locally, this was the second warmest April on record Raleigh5th hottest in Charlotteand 8th hottest in pecan. At all three locations, this was the warmest April since 2017.
The heat hit early last month, with temperature on April 2 climbing in the 80s from the mountains to the coast. The mercury rose as high as 88°F in Goldsborosetting a new daily record since 2000. Also that afternoon, New Bern And Raleigh reaching 86°F while Asheville the highest temperature was 84°F on the first 80°C day of the year.
Perhaps even more impressive is morning temperature that day. Fayetteville And Raleigh dropped to just 66°F – 20 degrees warmer than normal – that’s one Daily record warm low temperature at both locations.
The hottest weather arrived in the middle of the month high pressure set up in our south. On April 15, Temperatures hit 90 degrees first this year in North Carolina, including a high of 91°F in Smithfield And Clayton in Johnston County. For us ECONet station at DAQ Air Profiler, it was the earliest 90-degree day since hitting that mark on March 28, 2020.
Any winter chill was largely limited to one weekend last month. Morning temperature is low on April 7 dropped below freezing in parts of the Mountains and northwestern Piedmont, including a frigid 29°F in Mocksville And Yadkinville. In those areas, cooler weather occurs near or a little before Average freeze date last springSo while it’s not untimely, you may feel out of place because of the warm spring until then.
The next day brought another cooldown, but for an unusual reason. A partial solar eclipse can be seen across North Carolina on Monday afternoon, April 8 and us measured its impact come every minute with us ECONet.
All of our stations saw solar radiation values decrease by at least 75%, but the largest changes occurred further west. ABOVE Mount JeffersonWhere 88% of the sun obscured by the moon and scattered clouds moving by, we captured an impressive sight Reduces solar radiation by 98%..
When incoming sunlight decreases during a solar eclipse, our air temperature also decreases. On average across the network, we saw temperatures drop 4.4°F, with the largest changes occurring at two of our high-elevation locations in the Southern Range. Wayah Bald Mountain recorded a decrease of 10.3°F, and Frying Pan Mountain decreased by 11.7°Ffrom 64.4°F to 52.7°F that afternoon.
April showers come in short order
After one muddy March, April had more sunshine than rain, leaving much of the state drier than usual. NCEI recorded a preliminary statewide average rainfall of X.XX inchesranked as ours April is the 10th driest month over the past 130 years.
With only 0.55 inches of rain all month long Elizabeth CityThis is the third driest April on record here and the driest month since 1967. Plymouth only 0.84 inches, also the 3rd driest April in the past 76 years.
GreensboroIts 1.23 inches of rain caused the 10th driest April, while 1.16 inches of rain in Greenville and 1.02 inches in Raleigh ranked as the 8th driest April in both locations.
Areas in far western North Carolina fared slightly better thanks to heavier rain in one front walkway on April 12. Lake Toxaway has reached 2.50 inches that daywith 2.35 inches on Mount Mitchell and 1.98 inches in Boone.
That brought their monthly totals a little closer to normal levels, although most western localities remained somewhat dry in April. Boone 0.76 inches below the monthly average, Morganton 1.02 inches below average and Hendersonville 2.01 inches below average in the 21st driest April since 1899.
Despite a dry April, much of the state has seen near-normal rainfall so far this spring. Asheville slightly above the seasonal average of 8.78 inches so far, and the deficit in the western Piedmont is about an inch, with Charlotte 1.02 inches below normal and pecan 0.99 inches below normal so far.
Areas along the coast continued to have surpluses throughout the spring thanks to a wet March. Elizabeth Cityremains 3 inches above normal for March and April, for example, and is on track to record the 11th wettest spring on record.
The driest areas at this time of the season are in the eastern Piedmont and the western coastal plain. Greenville And Raleigh were 2.25 and 2.26 inches below normal during March and April, respectively, while Smithfield 2.51 inches below average.
That seasonal dryness is evident with abnormally dry conditions (D0) now covering more than half the state at the latest. US Drought Monitor map. While deeper soil moisture remained near normal in most areas thanks to our wet March, the upper soil layers has been dry due to warmer weather and many windy days last month.
While the initial dry days were helpful for farmers to get out into the fields and begin spring planting, continued dry conditions have slowed that progress in some areas. Flow level is also gradually decreasing and as we enter May, it’s safe to say that a little rain will be a welcome sight for crops and creeks alike.
Large hail from violent storm
Much of eastern North Carolina may have missed last month’s heaviest rain, but they got plenty of hail on Saturday, April 20, some of which rivaled the heaviest hail that we have ever seen in this state.
Thunderstorms that afternoon along the South Carolina border caused dozens of explosions. Reporting large hailinclude Hail the size of golf balls in Pembroke and softball-sized hail in downtown Lumberton, the National Weather Service office in Wilmington reported.
If verified, the largest hailstones of an estimated 4.5 inches in diameter would set a state record, based on data from the Storm Prediction Center. Since 1955, there have been seven other reports of 4.5-inch hail in North Carolina, with the most recent report occurring on May 24, 2000 in Burke County.
Although it’s not too surprising to see hail at this time of year – climatically, April to June is when we months that often have hail – it takes some special atmospheric ingredients to produce large hail like we saw last month.
On the Climate Blog, we have previously insured components of hail formation, including low freezing levels to create more vertical space for ice accumulation, strong updrafts to keep growing hailstones suspended in clouds, and high temperatures. wind shear at higher levels so that updrafts are offset from downdrafts that can push hailstones back toward the ground.
April 20 Environment highlights each of those components, incl low error rate that suggests rapid cooling on the ground and speeds of 40 to 50 knots wind shear above 6 km or 3.7 miles to the lowest level of the atmosphere.
But other factors also happened that day, each of which helped the hail get bigger and bigger. First, the overall instability in the atmosphere that day was very high. Convective available potential energy, or CAPE, is more than 2,000 Joules per kgnot too far from the extremes seen in major tornado outbreaks like the one above March 28, 1984.
And rain water – a measure of the depth of liquid if all the water vapor in the atmosphere above a point falls as precipitate – decline to the west of the maximum values along the coast, creating a drier midstream environment in which thunderstorms develop.
Although this may seem counterintuitive since hail is a form of precipitation, excess moisture in clouds can easily weigh down hailstones and cause them to fall prematurely as gravity pulls them down.
With those factors present in southeastern North Carolina, the end result is a different type of ice storm than what we typically see around these areas, but one that could be just as dangerous in the spring – and certainly as memorable – as any storm during our winter months.
