It’s May 1st and the state climatologist is looking back at an oddball April that saw both snowfall and summerlike heat. Harry Hillaker says when it’s all averaged out, April ended up being only one-half of one-degree cooler than normal, while precipitation was just slightly above normal — even though it ranged statewide from near-drought to floods.
He says precipitation is widely varied across the state as parts of northwest Iowa were much drier than normal while parts of central Iowa were extremely wet and got five inches of rain, and more, just in the past week — almost twice the usual rainfall amount. During April, Iowans had to bundle up in their winter coats to fend off the icy chill of snowstorms, but they were also able to go outside and ride their bikes in shorts.
Temperatures were dipping down into the teens in early April while towards the end of the month, some areas were downright hot, with Sioux City reporting a high of 92 degrees last week. As for the month ahead, Hillaker says so far, things appear to be on track for a relatively average May.
Seasonal normal temperatures are expected, at least for the start of May, with highs in the upper 60s and overnight lows in the mid-40s.