April continued wet through to the middle of the month; however, forecasts indicate cloud cover but not much more than showers for the remainder of April. Temperatures dip below freezing at the beginning of this week but should be average for the remainder of the month.
22 millimetres of rain fell in the third week of April, bringing total precipitation for the month to 68 mm, including the 2 mm of water that was derived from the 1 centimetre of snow recorded in the previous week. Precipitation is now 36 per cent above normal for the month-to-date.
The average temperature for the third week of April jumped over two degrees from the previous week to settle at 6.7 degrees Celsius, which is 0.2 C above the normal of 6.5 C. This spurt of warm weather was thanks to several days at the end of last week which were well above normal, especially last Saturday which registered 26 C. Nighttime temperatures have also been well above normal throughout the month-to-date.
Even though there will be a couple of nights in the coming week that will dip to -3 or -4 C, it is unlikely that the maple sap will resume at this stage of the season with buds beginning to bloom. The grass is green and getting ready to shoot skyward, and once the tile drainage flows constantly and a bit of warm weather dries out the topsoil, another cropping season will get underway.