CARIBOU, Maine — After an unrelenting winter that included more than 150 inches of snow in northern Maine, forecasters at the National Weather Service in Caribou said Monday that residents throughout the state will see a gradual warm up this month.
NWS Meteorologist Tony Mignone said Monday that the average temperature undergoes the largest increase in April of any month of the year, climbing from an average high of 40 degrees on April 1 to 56 degrees by the end of the month.
The average low temperature rises from 23 degrees on April 1 to 36 degrees by the end of the month.
The warmest temperature ever observed during the month was 86 degrees on April 27, 1990. The coldest temperature recorded during the month was 4 degrees below zero on April 6, 2015.
And while calendar spring has arrived, snow is still a possibility in April, according to forecasters. An average of 7.4 inches of snow falls during the month. Since 1940, snowfall has ranged from a trace in 1955 and 1968 to 36.4 inches in 1982. The snowiest April on record occurred in 1982, when 36.4 inches fell, followed by 2007, when 29 inches of snow was recorded.
The average precipitation for the month is 2.66 inches, according to Mignone.
The greatest 24 hour snowfall observed in April was 21.1 inches in 1982.
The wettest April day on record in Caribou occurred in 2005, when 6.19 inches was recorded.
The driest April on record occurred in 1967, when 0.54 inches of precipitation fell.
In most years, the snowpack melts out during the first half of April, but snow may remain on the ground in wooded areas for a couple of weeks after the snow has melted in town and in open fields. In some years, however, it hasn’t disappeared from the open fields until early May.
