The old adage, April showers bring May flowers should make for many happy gardeners and gardens in Los Alamos and White Rock this month.
Above average precipitation was recorded in both towns last month, according to Laboratory meteorologist Jeremy Rishel of Meteorology and Air Quality (ENV-MAQ), continuing what has been a relatively wet winter-spring season.
In April, 1.28 inches of precipitation was recorded at the official White Rock measuring station near Pajarito Road and NM 4. The figure is nearly double the normal .69 inches of precipitation for April, he said.
And in Los Alamos last month, 1.45 inches of precipitation was recorded at the Technical Area 6 measuring station. The figure is 38 percent above the normal (1.05) for April, and three times greater than the meager .49 inches of precipitation recorded in Los Alamos in April 2003.
Since Jan. 1, Rishel said, 8.10 inches of precipitation has been recorded in Los Alamos, double the normal (4.04 inches) through the end of April. The 8-plus inches is the fourth highest recorded total for Los Alamos since record keeping began in 1911. Only 1916 (12.87 inches), 1915 (9.07) and 1919 (8.55) saw more precipitation fall in the January-April period, he said.
Likewise, White Rock had its second wettest January-to-April period with 6.27 inches of precipitation recorded. Only 1985 was wetter during this period (7.87 inches), Rishel said.
Los Alamos' mean temperature in April was 47 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 1 degree F above normal, said Rishel. The mean maximum temperature of 59 F was normal and the mean minimum of 34 F was 1 F above normal, he said.
To the east in White Rock in April, the mean maximum temperature of 64 F was 1 F above normal, while the mean and mean minimum temperatures were close to average. A low temperature of 16 F on April 1 broke the old low temperature record of 21 F set in 1985.
Wind gusts exceeding 40 miles per hour were recorded in Los Alamos on April 4, 5, 8, 28 and 29.
Wind gusts above 40 miles per hour were recorded April 4, 8 and 16 in White Rock.
The number of days in April during which gusts can be expected to exceed 40 miles per hour is 4.4 in Los Alamos and 3.4 in White Rock.
The seasonal forecast for May through July across New Mexico, as issued by the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), calls for a cooler and wetter-than-normal start to May, with no clear bias in either precipitation or temperature from the end of May through July.
More information about weather in the region can be found at http://weather.lanl.gov online.
