Prince George, B.C.- The old saying is “April showers will bring May flowers”, but  April 2017   in Prince George may be one  for  the record books.

Snow flurries,  rain, and cool temperatures have set this April  apart from  a typical April in P.G.

“We are mired in a cool air mass for the last little while” says Environment Canada Meteorologist Alyssa Charbonneau.  “The Arctic air has been pushing south,  and  parts of  the northeast have been really cold, but even Prince George  is seeing  temperatures that are colder than normal.  The normal  for this time of the year is   a high of plus 14 and a low of  around plus one.”

The  flurries  are not  unusual  says Charbonneau “We do normally see some snow in April,  so  it’s  normal to see about  7.4 centimeters as  an average snowfall in April.”    But it has been unusually wet.   Charbonneau says  the average April would see about  36 mm of  precipitation for the  whole month.   So far,  Prince George has  had  more than double that,  with 76.3 mm of precipitation, and there are still eleven days to go before  this month comes to an end.

According to the records, the worst single day for snowfall in April  was April 10th 1966  when 21.8 cm fell  on the city.  The most snow depth, (snow on the ground)  was April 1st 1982 when the snow depth was  49 centimeters.

Typically in April,  the month  has 10.3 days with precipitation.   This month,  16 of the 17 days  for which  there is data,   had  precipitation.

“The good news is we do have a bit of a warming coming back” says Charbonneau “Temperatures are going to be closer to  seasonal,  especially Thursday Friday,  with Friday  having a high of 14 and sunny. and then it cools down a bit on Saturday  and Sunday  although temperatures will still be in the double digits  at  ten or so. Then again,  next week,  we are back to the seasonal  high of 14.”  But,  there may be  snow overnight Saturday into Sunday  which   could also see  periods of snow in the morning.

She says the long term trend shows  no  “big huge warming”  on the horizon.   She says  the balance  of April will likely be  near seasonal with near to freezing  lows overnight  and that means a potential for  flurries