Mid-Columbia heat records fell like dominoes in April

April was a month for the record books in the Tri-Cities and at Hanford.

Several warm weather temperature records fell, some by significant margins.

The warmer-than-usual spring could continue. May also is expected to be warmer than usual in the Tri-Cities, according to the National Weather Service.

It was the hottest April recorded in Kennewick. The average temperature was 60.9 degrees, which was 6.6 degrees above normal. The past record was 60.4 degrees set in 1934. Temperature records stretch back to 1894, although about five scattered years of data are missing.

At the Hanford Meteorology Station, 13 records were broken in April.

The average temperature of 61 for the month surpassed the previous record for warm weather of 58.2 degrees, set in 1994, according to the Hanford Meteorological Service.

The average high was 75.2, beating the old record of 72.6 set in 1977. The average low was 46.7, beating the warmest average low of 45.2 for April recorded in 1994. Records are kept back to 1945.

New daily temperature records at the Hanford Meteorology Station were recorded on these dates:

▪  April 3, the high of 77 degrees beat the high of 76 recorded most recently in 2000.

▪  April 8, the high of 84 beat the record of 82 set in 1996. The low of 56 beat the previous warmest low of 50 recorded in 1996.

▪  April 9, the high of 82 beat the record of 80 set in 1985. The low of 58 beat the previous warmest low for the date of 57 recorded in 1996.

▪  April 10, the low of 53 was warmer than the previous warmest low for the date, 52 in 2012.

▪  April 11, the high of 80 was warmer than the previous record of 81 set in 2010.

▪  April 12, the low of 51 beat the warmest low of 49 recorded in 2000.

▪  April 19, the high of 87 was warmer than the previous record high for the date, 81 in 2010.

▪  April 20, the high of 89 was warmer than the record of 84, last recorded in 2009.

May is starting out much warmer than usual in the Tri-Cities.

Normal highs for the Tri-Cities increase from 70 at the start of the month to 78 at the end of the month, the weather service said. Normal lows rise from 45 to 53.

Precipitation is expected to be near the normal of 0.64 inch.

In April, precipitation in the Tri-Cities totaled 0.21 inch, which was less than half of normal. But precipitation for the water year, which starts in October, is close to normal at 5.84 inches.

The peak wind gust in April, as measured in Kennewick, was 41 mph on April 4. At Hanford, it was 43 mph on the same day.

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Mid-Columbia heat records fell like dominoes in April."