April weather was a mixed bag
May 6, 2021
In comparison to stations around the greater SE Montana and Northern Wyoming area, Broadus fell approximately in the middle when it came to precipitation in April. Precipitation hugged the Bighorn Mountains, dumping snow at higher elevations and contributed to a 2.60” April precip total in Sheridan, which is 1.00” above normal. In contrast, Miles City received 0.36” of moisture in April, which was 1.01” behind normal. Broadus had 1.15” of precip in April, which was 0.49” below normal.
The high temperature for the month was 87, on April 30, with a low of 19 on the night of the 21st. The average temperature for the month was 45.8, or 0.4 degrees below normal. The first week of the month was warm, with temps in the high 70s, while mid-month temps fell below normal before heating back up the last couple days of April.
The rural stations around the area followed the trend of more moisture to the south and west, and less to the north and east.
The Biddle 7 miles SW station records snowfall, and had 7.0” in total in April, contributing to 1.48” of precipitation on the month, which was still short of the 1.70” average from April. The monthly high came on April 30 at 83, with a low of 18 on April 21.
The Moorhead 9 miles NE station had 6.0” of snow in April, with a total of 1.10” of precip compared to a normal of 1.39”. The high for the month was 85, on April 30th, with a low of 20 on April 21.
The Sonnette 7 miles SW station had incomplete data for the 27th through the 30th, but from the 1st through the 26th of April the station collected 1.64” of moisture, compared to a normal monthly total of 1.69”. The high for the month (taking into account the high recorded around the rest of the area fell on the 30th and was not recorded at this station), was on April 4th, at 76 degrees. The low for the month was on April 21, at 12 degrees. 20.7” of snow was recorded at the station in April, with around 4” falling on several occasions throughout the month.
At the Fort Howes RAWS station on Otter Creek, 1.17” of precip fell in April, with a high of 85 recorded on April 30th, and a low of 17, on April 21. The highest wind speed recorded at the station in April came on April 8th, at 52.0 mph. Five days in April the average wind speed was over 10 mph at the station, including a windy period from April 10-13, where all four days had gusts above 30 mph, with the wind whipping as high as 46 on the 10th.
The Volborg station, which only records moisture, had 0.74” in the month of April.
The Powderville 8 miles NNE station had 3.6” of snow during April. The station recorded 1.12” of precip in total, compared to a normal of 1.48”. The high for the month of April fell on April 30th at 86 degrees, and fell as a low as 21, on April 21.
So far in 2021, Broadus has accumulated 2.55” of precip in 2021, around an inch behind the normal Jan-May 1 total. The year with the lowest accumulation of moisture through that period was in 1981, with 0.91”.
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