April 2003 Weather In Muskegon

Muskegon's temperatures in April were -.1 below normal. This means all 4 months have been below normal. This is the closes that the average temperature has come to matching the normal since September of 1999 when temperatures were only .13° below normal.

For the month the average temperature was 44.8 degrees. There was a wide spread in high and low temperatures. Twice (15th, 19th) the high of 77° was registered. On the 6th the monthly low of 16° occurred.

Muskegon received 2.04 inches of rain. This is .87 inches below normal. Rainiest day was the 4th when .63 inches of rain fell.

April was quite a windy month. The average wind speed was 11.1 knots a full knot above the normal. The windiest day was the 3rd when the average wind speed was 19.9 knots. I described that windy day this way, "In the 30's with big rigging rattling easterly on." A week later the daily minimum average wind speed of 3.4 knots was recorded.

Here's a sure sign that winter in Muskegon has ended. The majority of days,17, were considered clear. On the cloudy side 6 were partly cloudy and 7 cloudy.

April was a month where days often started below freezing and then warmed by afternoon. The elements mixed, contrasted and varied. Here's a day that sums up the month, "Perfect clear sky. Sun has noticeable affect. Occasionally a chill gust of wind from the west."

For the year Muskegon temperatures are 1.2° below normal. This is far behind recent years when temperatures were as much at +1.8 degrees through April.

May brings the final month of meteorological spring, the first full month of spring as judged by the Sun, and Memorial Day the official beginning of summer for many with it's 3 day weekend.

May can be a wet month as seen May 2000 when a May record 7.45 inches of rain fell. It should give us first exposure to temperatures in the 80's and our last feel of what freezing temps feel like for a few months.