May flowers are on their way after final April showers

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — They say April showers bring May flowers, but Utah has been slacking this April in the shower department.

Luckily, the last storm to move through helped make up for a lot of it, so rest assured that May flowers are, in fact, on their way.

Weather cooling down with a slightly unsettled pattern

We had a bit of a dry stretch throughout the bulk of the month. In Salt Lake City, April generally brings around 2.09 inches of precipitation, but by the last week of April 2024, we were sitting at 0.35 inches.

This last storm was our saving grace as it dropped another 0.88 inches over the Salt Lake International Airport on April 26. That’s a new daily record, beating the 2021 record of 0.80 inches.

An additional 0.28 inches was reported from the airport the following day. For the statistic fanatics out there, that means about 77 percent of April’s precipitation fell in just two days.

We opened April up with the peak snowpack of 2024, topping out at 18.8 inches of snow water equivalent, which is about 18% above the average peak of 16.0 inches. However, the dry spell meant the snowpack briefly dropped below average just before the storm on the April 26.

As of April 30, the snowpack was back above seasonal norms at 9.9 inches, but not a far cry from the average of 9.0 inches.

This month’s temperatures were on a wild ride between warm and cold days, but that’s fairly typical for this time of year. Overall, temperatures remained above average in Salt Lake City.

April’s average temperature (including highs and lows) was 54.2 degrees — a few degrees above seasonal norms. While a few degrees above norms don’t seem that significant, it is nothing to sneeze at. We were actually closer to the 1992 record of 57.1° than the average 50.0°.

The warmest day in Salt Lake City was April 12, which topped out at 81 degrees. Usually, we don’t see our first 80-degree day until May. With how far ahead of schedule the high was, it’s no surprise that 81 degrees tied the old record set in 1936.

Salt Lake’s coldest day was only six days before the warmest. April 6 only reached 45 degrees, with a low just barely reaching freezing at 32 degrees.

We’re in full-blown warm weather season now, which means we can say goodbye to snow (probably) and hello to thunderstorms. We’re excited to see what kind of dynamic weather this May will have to offer!

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