How Unusual is Late April Snow?

Wow! Yesterday was a wild weather day here in New England. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to post a forecast beforehand, but if I did, it certainly would have been a tricky one. We saw summer-like convective thunderstorms, hail, a tornado warning, and accumulating snow, and a freeze warning in one day! Here in Vermont, where I'm located, the big story was the snow. 

Unlike last week's elevation-dependent snowfall, this one brought accumulating snow to valley locations as well. 

(NWS Burlington)

You may be thinking, it's April 22, should we still be seeing accumulating snow? To answer your question, I'll look at the climatology behind late-season snow in Vermont.

To begin, let's take a look at a map of April snowfall climate normals for 1981-2010.

(Northeast Regional Climate Center)

Clearly, we can see that April is not a very snowy month in New England. Much of Vermont falls in the 3-5" range, with a few areas at elevation receiving more snow in a normal year. Yesterday, Burlington International Airport officially received 2.8 inches of snow. The monthly total is 3.5 inches so far, which falls just short of the April normal of 3.9 inches to date. So while April snow may feel like a surprise, it is certainly not unprecedented to see it, and we've actually seen less snow this year than in a normal April.

Last year, Burlington only saw 0.1 inches of snow in April, whereas in 1983 21.3 inches fell.

It does not look like we'll see any more snow this month.