April was a month of contrasts, with ten nights dipping below zero – with one night down to -8 degrees Celsius – and 12 days where the daytime high exceeded 15 C, with five of those above 20 C. Winter coats one day, and T-shirts the next.
Those very varied highs and lows were probably a significant contributor to what is being reported as a record season for the volume of maple sap in the area, accompanied by higher than normal (2 per cent) sugar content. How sweet it is!
The average temperature for April jumped a full degree in the last week to reach 7.4 C, which is almost a degree above the normal of 6.5 C.
21 millimetres of rain fell in the last week, bringing total precipitation for the month to 90 mm, including the 2 mm of water that derived from the 1 centimetre of snow that was recorded at the beginning of the month. Precipitation was slightly above average but then jumps considerably for the spring period if you count the 22 mm of rain that fell on March 31.
Assuming that it won’t snow in May, total snowfall for the winter of 2025-2026 (November to April) was 204 cm, which is about normal, even if it seemed a lot more during January and February when it seemed to snow every second day.
The several days of warm weather at the end of the month were offset by cooler temperatures at night, such that the soil temperature is still cold at about 9 C (49 degrees Fahrenheit), hence limited activity by farmers out in the fields.
So far in 2026, the average temperature is 0.2 C above normal, and precipitation is, despite what seemed like a lot of snow since the new year, 15 per cent below normal. With the exception of the first few days of May, the forecast is for below normal temperatures for both daytime highs and nighttime lows, with rain or shower activity throughout the month.