April ending up cooler than March, but still likely above average

Our friend Gino Izzi at the NWS Chicago loves to come up with interesting weather statistics and here is another one he found this morning:

...SPRING 2012 IS ABOUT TO PULL OFF AN EXTRAORDINARILY RARE FEAT...
AFTER RECORD SHATTERING WARMTH DURING THE MONTH OF MARCH THE REGION HAS SEEN TEMPERATURES RETURN TO SOMEWHAT MORE SEASONABLE LEVELS IN APRIL...THOUGH STILL WARMER THAN AVERAGE. TEMPERATURES FOR THE REMAINDER OF APRIL ARE FORECAST TO REMAIN GENERALLY NEAR TO BELOW AVERAGE WHICH ALL BUT GUARANTEES THAT APRIL`S AVERAGE TEMPERATURE IN ROCKFORD AND CHICAGO WILL END UP CONSIDERABLY COLDER THAN THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR MARCH.


IN ROCKFORD...NEVER BEFORE ON RECORD HAS THERE BEEN A MARCH THAT ENDED UP WARMER THAN APRIL. IN FACT...TYPICALLY APRIL AVERAGES ABOUT 13F WARMER THAN MARCH. THE CLOSEST ROCKFORD HAS EVER COME TO AN APRIL BEING COLDER THAN MARCH WAS BACK IN 1945 WHEN MARCH AVERAGED 48.2F AND APRIL 49.8F...MAKING IT ONLY 1.6 DEGREES WARMER. SO FAR THIS APRIL THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE HAS BEEN 50.2F AND GIVEN THE FORECAST FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE MONTH NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IS EXPECTED FROM THAT VALUE. MARCH 2012 IN ROCKFORD AVERAGE 52.4F WHICH WILL LIKELY END UP SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 2F AND 3F WARMER THAN THIS APRIL.


IN CHICAGO...ONLY ONCE BEFORE HAS A MARCH ENDED UP WARMER THAN APRIL AND THAT WAS BACK IN 1907 WHEN MARCH AVERAGED 42.6F FOLLOWED BY AN USUALLY CHILLY APRIL WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 39.8F. SO FAR THIS APRIL THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE IN CHICAGO HAS BEEN 50.9F...WHICH ALSO IS NOT FORECAST TO CHANGE SIGNIFICANTLY THE NEXT WEEK. THIS FOLLOWS THE RECORD WARM MARCH WHICH HAD AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 53.5F...SO MUCH LIKE ROCKFORD TEMPERATURES THIS MARCH WILL LIKELY END UP AVERAGING BETWEEN 2F AND 3F WARMER THAN APRIL.


ONE OF THE REMARKABLE THINGS ABOUT THIS EXTREMELY RARE FEAT IS THAT IT IS BEING ACCOMPLISHED WITH WHEN APRIL TEMPERATURES WILL LIKELY END THE MONTH ABOVE AVERAGE AS WELL. IT IS INCREDIBLE THAT APRIL WILL END UP ABOVE AVERAGE YET STILL COOLER THAN MARCH...WHICH IS JUST ANOTHER TESTAMENT TO HOW EXTRAORDINARILY UNUSUAL OUR MARCH WARMTH WAS THIS YEAR.