April 2013 Climate Report for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Highlights

New Records for April 2013

San Juan

Date New Record Previous Record
April 2013  April 2013 ended as the fifth warmest April on record with an average temperature of 80.8 °F. April 1984 continued to be the warmest April on record with an average temperature of 81.8°F. 

Saint Thomas 

Date New Record Previous Record
 April 16th A 24hr maximum rainfall of 1.12". This broke the previous record of 0.65" set back in 1981. 

Saint Croix   

Date New Record Previous Record
April 27th  A record low temperature of 70°F.  This tied the previous record of 70°F set back in 1982, 1957 and 1955. 

April 2013 Statistics

 Average April Temperatures/Precipitation (NCDC 1981-2010 averages):

  San Juan Saint Thomas Saint Croix
High 86.2°F 87.0°F
85.7°F
Low 74.4°F 74.3°F 74.2°F
Avg. T 80.3°F 80.6°F 80.0°F
Pcpn. 4.68" 2.74" 2.13"

  April 2013 Observations:

  San Juan Saint Thomas Saint Croix
High 87.1°F(+0.9°F) 85.0°F(-2.0°F)
85.3°F(-0.4°F)
Low 74.5°F(+0.1°F) 75.0°F(+0.7°F) 73.4°F(-0.8°F)
Avg. T 80.8°F(+0.5°F) 80.0°F(-0.6°F) 79.4°F(-0.6°F)
Pcpn. 4.19" (-0.49") 2.16" (-0.58") 1.00" (-1.13")

April 2013 Extremes:

  San Juan Saint Thomas Saint Croix
High 91°F April 7th, 4th and 2nd  87°F April 18th    80°F April 30th  
Low 71°F April 16th  72°F April 23rd   68°F April 26th  

Monthly Summary 

     A generally fair weather pattern prevailed across the local islands during most of the month with afternoon showers across portions of the Cordillera Central and western Puerto Rico each day. However, the limited low level moisture helped to suppress significant shower activity across the forecast area. Scattered to locally numerous showers and thunderstorms were finally seen across the local islands during the last week of the month. These showers were associated with an upper level trough across the local area combined with deep tropical moisture. During this period, considerable rainfall amounts were reported across central Puerto Rico, the San Juan Metro Area as well as Saint Croix.

Rainfall Accumulations Year to Date (YTD)    

 

Figure A – Graphical Display of precipitation for April 2013 across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands derived from a combination of rain gage and radar data.

 

Figure B – Graphical Display of YTD precipitation across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands derived from a combination of rain gage and radar data.

 

Figure C – Graphical display of departure from normal precipitation YTD.

April Historical Statistics        

Highest Temperatures on record:

San Juan Saint Thomas Saint Croix
97°F April 17th, 1983 96°F April 4th, 1996 93°F April 30th, 1973
95°F April 24th, 1983 96°F April 29th, 1994 93°F April 21st, 1961
95°F April 22nd, 1983 96°F April 30th, 1992 92°F April 19th, 1973

Lowest Temperatures on record:

San Juan Saint Thomas Saint Croix
64°F April 12th, 1968 62°F April 10th, 1984 62°F April 3rd, 1982
65°F April 8th, 1965 62°F April 11th, 1972 62°F April 2nd, 1982
65°F April 25th, 1963 65°F April 9th, 1984 62°F April 15th, 1974

Wettest Aprils:

San Juan Saint Thomas Saint Croix
15.00"  2005 11.20"  2003 8.53"  2003
13.71"  1915 9.07"  1983 8.24"  1983
10.37"  1988 6.66"  1978 5.38"  1952

 Driest Aprils:

San Juan Saint Thomas Saint Croix
0.08" 1997 0.23" 1953 0.00" 1988
0.28" 1984 0.48" 1985 0.02" 1997
0.42" 1935 0.54" 2004 0.22" 1953
   

Decadal April Observations for San Juan, Puerto Rico 

  2010-2013 2000’s 1990’s 1980’s 1970’s 1960’s
High 85.9°F 85.8°F 86.3°F 87.1°F 85.7°F 84.6°F
Low 73.8°F 73.5°F 73.3°F 73.3°F 73.7°F 71.5°F
Avg. T 79.9°F 79.6°F 79.8°F 80.2°F 79.7°F 78.1°F
Pcpn. 3.94" 6.32’’ 2.90’’ 4.71’’ 3.50’’ 3.55’’

Looking ahead toward the month of May

Average May Temperatures/Precipitation (NCDC 1981-2010 averages): 

  San Juan Saint Thomas Saint Croix
High 87.5°F 87.6°F
86.7°F
Low 76.3°F 76.2°F 76.1°F
Avg. T 81.9°F 81.9°F 81.4°F
Pcpn. 5.90" 3.06" 4.15"

Precipitation Outlook for May-June-July (click here for details)

 

El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion 

ENSO-neutral is favored into the late Northern Hemisphere summer 2013. (click here for details)

Moon/Sun/Tide Data for the month of May 2013

Sunrise/sunset data, phase of the moon, as well as tide data can all be found by going to the climate portion of the National Weather Service San Juan Climate homepage and then clicking on the astronomical tab.  

 

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