Brent McGrady: April 2012 Archives

A series of several freezing nights this past weekend will come to an end with one final chilly start on Monday morning. As the new work week commences, a warm up will begin with the approach of a warm front and temperatures returning to near average readings for late April.

The National Weather Service has issued a Freeze Warning for the Saratoga Springs and Glens Falls area from 2 AM to 8 AM Thursday. Overnight temperatures are forecast to drop into the lower 30's in town and upper 20's in the surrounding hill towns. Any sensitive vegetation will be vulnerable to widespread frost and potential damage on Thursday morning, so it would be wise to bring inside or cover up these plants.

After receiving some much needed rainfall over the weekend that nearly cut our yearly precipitation deficit in half, we will continue to be influenced by an unsettled and cool weather pattern with a chance of scattered showers through mid-week.

A trough of low pressure will slowly lift out of the northeast states by mid-week, but until then our weather will remain cool and showery. Image credit: AccuWeather.com

After a long stretch of relatively dry weather where we could barely buy a drop of rain in the Capital Region, a pattern change will arrive this weekend and linger into early next week with some welcome rainfall.

This past week saw quite a swing in temperatures and in short order. Monday's high temperature of 91 at Albany was a record high for the date, but the mercury this morning dropped to a chilly 41 degrees. That is exactly a 50 degree temperature swing in about 36 hours, pretty typical for April in upstate New York. Another typical form of spring weather in our region may also be returning this weekend in the form of some welcome rainfall, and maybe several inches of it.

A warm front will surge well north of the Saratoga region on Monday, placing the entire area in a warm sector ahead of a cold front over the Great Lakes region. This will send temperatures soaring through the 80's on Monday afternoon, with some record high's possible.

The unsettled weather pattern that greeted us with the new workweek in the Saratoga region has brought nothing more than a trace of rain since Monday, but Wednesday will bring a better chance of showers before dry and warm weather returns for the end of the week.

Our stretch of pleasant and dry weather will continue through the Easter weekend. A large area of high pressure will continue to dominate, but conditions will be a bit breezy at times due to the pressure gradient with an offshore storm system.

After recording the warmest March on record in Albany and Glens Falls, cities and towns across Saratoga county and the rest of the Capital Region look to start out April a bit more on the seasonable side with a relatively quiet weather pattern in place.