It’s not unheard of for snow to fall in Reno during the month of April or even May, but after the winter we’ve had, for many of us snow is the last thing we want to see again. We’ve had a couple nice weekends with temperatures around 70 degrees, and this weekend looks to be nice as well. The only difference is that it won’t’ be short lived, extending into the upcoming work week too. Snow totals were fairly light Tuesday morning, but places like the Sierra Snow Lab picked up over seven inches of snow and the North Valleys picked up enough to coat the roadways and cause a lot of traffic delays.
On average, Reno sees just under a half inch of snow each April, and Tahoe City sees fourteen inches. A trace of snow fell last year at the Reno Airport in April, but 1.3 inches fell in 2020. Most of our snowiest Aprils on record at the Reno Airport happened in the 1960’s and 50’s. 7.5 inches of snow fell at the Reno Airport in 1958, making it the snowiest April on record. Rounding out the top three, 6.8 inches fell in 1967 and 6.6 inches fell in 1964. Keep in mind these values are just at the airport. Like we saw this past Tuesday, snow totals vary greatly within the Reno area, mainly because of a difference in elevation. Reno’s several inches that fell in 1958 is nothing compared to what Tahoe City picked up that April. Imagine getting an additional 75.5 inches of snow during the month of April alone. 61.5 inches fell in Tahoe City twenty years ago back in April of 2003.
Spring is a transition season, with frequent temperature swings and lots of wind. While this past winter was consistently cold and wet, this April has been both mild at times and cold. The good news is, if you’re tired of the cold weather the seven-day forecast shows multiple days with highs in the 70’s. Overnight lows will be slightly warmer as well. On average, the Reno area sees it’s last freezing temperature on April 27th and hard freeze (below 28°) on March 30th.
The Climate Prediction Center shows a good chance of having a warmer and drier extended forecast from April 26th through the 30th, but leaning wetter than normal from April 28th-May 4th. The average high in Reno during the month of May is 74 degrees, let’s hope that comes to fruition.
