April Records

April 2018 will go down in the history books as one of the coldest on record for Little Rock.  The only question is where?  We have about a week to go with no extreme warmth and no extreme cold so I would not expect what you see below to change much, but it will change.  Regardless, this will be an historic month known for record cold, snow, and tornadoes.  

While I don't have the official stats off hand, I'm willing to bet this is the fastest start to tornado season since 2011.  While this year is active, 2011 was off the charts and so was 2008.  

Here's we stand today, but remember, this will change a little.  All of these records are for Little Rock and our weather records date back to the 1870s.

AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE

1.  1983  63.7°
2.  1907  63.9°
3.  2018 66.7°

AVERAGE LOW TEMPERATURE 

1. 2018  42.6°
2. 1983  45.1°
3. 1971  45.5°

AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE

1. 1983  54.4°
2. 2018  54.7°
3. 1907  55.7°

NUMBER OF DAYS LESS THAN 40°  (We'll finish #2 on this list)

1.  11 days in 1983
2.  10 days in 2018
3.  8 days in 1971

NUMBER OF DAYS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO 32°  (We will tie for #1 on this list)

1.  3 days in 2018
2.  3 days in 1971
3.  2 days in 1987

The remainder of April should be quiet with a chance for rain and storms Wednesday.  The chance for any severe weather is very, very low.  There will be a small chance for showers again Friday.

As we head into May and the last month of our primary severe weather season, I expect it to become active once again.  There are signs already pointing towards severe weather the 1st week of the month.  That's not unusual.  We have had 22 tornadoes and Oklahoma 0 this year.  That's remarkable, but sadly, it would be extremely unusual for Oklahoma to go through May without these numbers changing significantly.