Highlighted by a record-setting spell of heat, April "was a bit on the fickle side with some very changeable conditions," Environment Canada meteorologist Jim Steele summarized in a synopsis of the month's weather.
"These ranged from very warm to on the chilly side," Steele said. "Throw in a bit of rain, a bit of snow and even a thunderstorm and you have it covered."
Following a normal start to the month, temperatures cooled dramatically during the second week, with the daytime high dropping to 3.5 C on April 9. But five days later "a burst of early summer" raised temperatures into the upper teens and low 20s.
It led to three straight days of record-setting highs -- 19.3 on April 18, eclipsing 19.0 set in 1991, 23.5 on April 19, well above 20.8 set in 1991, and 23.0 on April 20, compared to 21.1 set in 2005.
Temperatures returned to normal late-April values for the last week and in the end "with the combination of the cool spell and the warm spell, monthly temperatures ended up just about right on normal," said Steele.
The average daily high of 12.2 was above the normal of 11.4, the average daily low of -1.7 was below the normal of -1.1 and the mean temperature of 5.3 was near the normal of 5.2 .
Looking at precipitation, a total of 35 mm fell, slightly above the normal of 32.2 while total snowfall of 4.0 cm was slightly below the normal of 6.3 cm.
April 24 witnessed the month's greatest snowfall, at 3.0 cm, and greatest rainfall, at 8.0 mm.
Total precipitation for the year to date is 94.4 mm, below the normal of 149.0 mm.
