April Climate Summary

Average temperatures were near or slightly above normal for April across the entire state. Departures from normal ranged from normal at Key West to 3.5˚F at Tallahassee. While March 2012 was extremely warm for much of the state, average temperatures for April saw a return to normal, partly due to the weakening La Niña. There were numerous records broken during April, both maximum and minimum temperatures.

Table 1: April average temperatures and departures from normal (° F) for selected cities.

Rainfall totals varied statewide in April. Rainfall totals varied statewide in April (Table 2). Most stations saw below normal rainfall, while Key West, Miami, and Tampa saw above normal rainfall totals for the month. April 2012 was the 7th wettest on record at Miami and the 6th wettest April from the 142-year-long record at Key West. It was also the 4th wettest April on record at Fort Lauderdale (Appendix 1). Heavy rains mainly impacted southeast portions of the state during two separate rain events, and some rainfall records were broken toward the end of the month (Table 3). A Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow (CoCoRaHS) observer reported a total rainfall of 14.46” for the month of April in the Florida Keys, while another observer in Broward County reported a monthly total of 14.33”. Areal patterns of monthly rainfall relative to normal are depicted in Figure 1.

Table 2: April precipitation totals and departures from normal (inches) for selected cities.

Click on the header above for the complete summary.

Prepared by Melissa Griffin and David F. Zierden
Special thanks to A. Griffin and R. Worsnop
Florida Climate Center
The Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL