Although this crazy mix of rain, snow, sun and clouds has everyone wondering, “What’s going on?” sources say all this weather is normal.
From Easter weekend until the middle of the month, the state of Ohio got cold temperatures and even snow. Meteorologists say it is normal to have some snow fall, even in the month of April.
Arthur Samel, associate professor in the University’s geology department said it has to do with the air masses coming from different directions.
“In the spring, the air masses are coming from different directions, so there may be some abnormal activity going on,” he said.
Though weather in the Midwest tends to be unpredictable, the same could be said about this month.
In terms of snow, the state of Ohio did see a lot of snow, a total of 28.5 inches, according to Will Kubina, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Cleveland.
He also said it is normal for almost every area in Ohio to get snow, averaging 2-3 inches.
“From Sandusky westward on, the areas usually get snow-actually this year, we were 8.8 inches below the normal snowfall,” Kubina said.
The most snow fallen came from February, averaging 14.2 inches. The averages for the other winter months include: January at 6.74 inches, March at 3.6 inches, and April at 2.4 inches.
Since there has been an unusual snowfall for this month, the question is, why did this occur? The answer was answered by another meteorologist from the National Weather Service.
“There was a jet stream which dropped from Canada and the temperatures were cold enough for it to produce snow, instead of rain,” meteorologist Brian Mitchell said.
He also mentioned that when there is a jet stream like that, it would normally produce rain.
Compared to years before, the snowfall for this month was not in the top ten list for having the most amount of snowfall for the Toledo area.
“Back in 1970, there was 4 and a half inches and in 1957 some 12 inches fell,” Mitchell said. ” So, this 2.4 amount that fell a few weeks ago is from that jet stream.”
For the month of April, the Toledo and surrounding areas only got 1.29 inches of rain. This is below normal, according to Mitchell.
Usually, 3.2 inches would fall in the month of April. For though year though, the total average of rainfall is 7.27 inches.
