April temperature outlook: likely chilly for remainder of month

Temperatures for the next 10 days are forecast to be below normal for this time in April.

Each month, the Climate Prediction Center releases an outlook for temperature-- this is a forecast of whether temperatures for an area will be higher or lower than normal. At the beginning of April, the outlook was for a warmer than normal month. We started off on the right track. Six of the first seven days of the month had warmer than normal temperatures.

April 7th became the warmest day of 2020 at 78 degrees. This is 21 degrees warmer than the normal temperature for the day.

Now, the outlook for the next six to ten days (April 13-18) shows a very high likelihood that temperatures will be below normal. The normal high for this period is around 59 degrees. The forecast high temperature during this time is only in the mid 40s.

The April 16-22 outlook doesn’t offer much relief from chilly April temperatures-- they are still predicted to be below normal, and with slightly more confidence.

To finish the month, temperatures are also forecast below normal, but the certainty for three to four weeks away is not as high.

Having cold stretches like this in April is not very common. The last time there was a stretch of six days with a high below 50 degrees was in 2007. Before that, the longest stretch was in 1982 with eight consecutive days below 50 degrees.

The spring temperature outlook predicted warmer than normal temperatures for the entire spring season, so it is possible that temperatures will still be warmer than normal during the month of May. For example, by May 15, the high is normally 70 degrees. If temperatures are above normal in May 2020, we would expect a high above 70 degrees. The CPC’s May outlook has not been released yet.