We usually experience our first 70° day in April. However, the average date of the first 70° day at the National Weather Service near Negaunee is late in the month: April 26. Last year, it occurred on April 24. The year before, after a mild winter with light snowfall, there were three consecutive 70° days early in the month: April 5, 6, and 7. April 2020 and 2019 were cold and had no 70° temperatures at all.
Looking back, in 2010, after a nearly snowless March, the first week of April came in 18° above average with a high of 75° on April 2.
One of the most outstanding early April warm spells occurred in 1991. This was another winter with light snowfall that led to a quick surge into spring. There were three consecutive record highs in the mid- to upper-70s again on April 5, 6, and 7. These records still stand over 30 years later.
The most spectacular April warm spell in the last 50 years happened late in the month. On April 22, 1990, the high hit 79°. The high stayed above 70° for a whole week, including three straight days of record highs in the 80s.
Our early April warm spell will continue through the end of the week as a large, warm, upper-level ridge of high pressure slowly drifts eastward. Late this weekend, the ridge will be replaced by a deep, cold trough. By Sunday, temperatures should dip back to seasonable levels– back to the type of spring weather we’ve become accustomed to.
