April

April began on the mild side, with highs in the 50s and 60s and a mix of fair weather and rain through the 3rd. Nationally, on April 2nd, another significant tornado outbreak occurred in the Midwest. Strong winds blew out skyscraper windows in Indianapolis and dozens of tornadoes were reported from Illinois and Iowa southward to Tennessee and Arkansas. More details can be found in this Wiki article.

Back here in CNY, we turned a bit chilly from the 4th through the 6th. Some light snow showers caused some accumulation, especially up north. Another dose of rain got us on the 7th. This coincided with yet another Midwest and Plains tornado outbreak that occurred from April 6-8.

Dry, pleasant weather moved in from the 8th through the 13th. Some thunderstorms just glanced us on the afternoon of the 13th. On the night of the 14th, some pretty strong thunderstorms developed to our west and rolled through on the morning of Tax Day. The setup looked like this in the very early morning hours. The result was this:

(Click to enlarge)

Severe thunderstorms dropped southeastward through CNY after midnight. Hail and localized flooding were reported in Madison, Otsego and southern Oneida Counties from this cluster of storms. This led to a period of dry, mild weather from the 15th onward. Then a spring rainstorm arrived on the 22nd through the 24th. Most of our area was spared the heaviest rainfall. But, areas to the east of Utica saw a fairly significant amount of rain from this system. This would foretell much of the next 5-7 months in the east.

April ended on a high and dry note however, with temperatures cracking 70 once again on the 30th.