 April Precipitation
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The graph to the left is a time series depicting precipitation averaged across the contiguous U.S. Based upon preliminary precipitation data, April 2003 was slightly wetter than average, ranking 42nd wettest.
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Many states across the contiguous U.S. averaged wetter than the 109-year mean for April 2003, with five states ranking as having much above average wetness, and a further thirteen states which were significantly wetter than the mean, including West Virginia. One state (Texas) received much below average precipitation while eight more states were significantly drier than normal for April.
For more details on drought across the country, please click to the U.S. drought page.
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Puerto Rico also received heavy rains in April as the trailing cold front from the system which later became Tropical Storm Ana moved across the island. At least 3 deaths were blamed on flooding in Puerto Rico resulting from the heavy rains.
Significant storms occurred across parts of the country in April. Severe thunderstorms developed late on the 15th and produced 11 tornadoes in Texas and Oklahoma, along with numerous reports of damaging hail and strong winds. More severe weather including tornadoes affected the southern Plains eastward into parts of the Ohio and Tennessee Valley region during the 18th-20th
Some precipitation fell as snow in April. More details of snowfall in April and the season so far can be found on the snow season page.
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The graph to the left is a time series depicting precipitation from March-April 2003 averaged across the Primary Corn and Soybean Belt. The growing season runs from March to September for corn and soybean and preliminary data indicate that precipitation was below average for the growing season as of the end of April 2003.
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Precipitation Departures
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The map below, based on more than 500 airport stations, shows April 2003 total precipitation as a percent of the 1971-2000 station normals. Above normal precipitation was recorded in West and Southeast. Much of the remainder of the contiguous U.S. was drier than normal including southern Alaska and Hawaii.
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Some of the precipitation which fell in April was in the form of snow. Click to the snow page for more details on April and the season-to-date.
Many maximum monthly precipitation records were broken in April 2003, with cities such as Jackson, MS and Eureka, CA breaking previous monthly records by large margins (over an inch [25.4mm] for Jackson). At Willow Creek, CA a new rainfall record was set for the month of April 2003 with a total of 11.11 inches (282.2mm) of rain. This breaks the previous record of 10.47 inches (265.9mm) set in April of 1948. The normal rainfall total for April in Willow Creek is 3.16 inches(80.3mm). However, there was some record dryness in Hawaii. At Kahului airport, HI only 0.01 inches (0.25) of rain fell during the entire month, breaking the previous record of 0.06 inches (1.5mm) which occurred in April of 1990. The normal April rainfall total is 1.75 inches (44.5mm).
For more records during April 2003, see NCDC's Extremes Page.
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Past Three Months (February-April)
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The graph to the left is a time series depicting precipitation averaged across the contiguous U.S. Based upon preliminary precipitation data, February-April 2003 was wetter than average, ranking 31st wettest in the last 109 years.
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Three states along the eastern seaboard received much above average precipitation over February-April 2003, and Colorado in the West also ranked in the top ten wettest such periods. Virginia ranked as 3rd wettest February to April on record. Twenty three other states were significantly wetter than average. Eleven states ranked slightly drier than average for the three months, predominantly in the South and around the Great Lakes. Only ten states ranked as near the long-term mean for February-April 2003. Spring precipitation, especially in the West, helped improve drought conditions, though long-term drought remains for many western areas. See NCDC's drought pages for more information on U.S. drought.
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National Precipitation - May 2002-April 2003
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The graph to the left is a time series depicting precipitation averaged across the contiguous U.S. Based upon preliminary precipitation data, May 2002-April 2003 was near average, ranking 53rd driest in the last 108 such periods.
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Moderate dryness occurred across most of the western half of the contiguous U.S. over the last 12 months with contrasting wetness dominating the Southeast and East (except Maine and New Hampshire). The pattern of state-averaged annual precipitation can be seen in the map to the right. Extreme dryness across the West through much of 2002 was moderated by near normal precipitation during the spring of 2003. More information on drought analysis for the U.S. can be found on NCDC's Drought Pages.
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Questions?
For all climate questions other than questions concerning this report, please contact the National Climatic Data Center's Climate Services Division:
Climate Services Division
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4876
phone: 828-271-4800
email: questions@ncdc.noaa.gov
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For further information on the historical climate perspective presented in this report, contact:
Jay Lawrimore
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: Jay.Lawrimore@noaa.gov
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 NCDC / Climate Monitoring / Climate of 2003 / April / National Precip. / Search / Help
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Last Updated Friday, 18-Nov-2005 14:11:38 EST by Anne.Waple@noaa.gov
Please see the NCDC Contact Page if you have questions or comments.
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