It Might Seem Odd, But April Is The Snowiest Month Of The Year In Parts Of The US

Where April Is The Snowiest Month

April brings to mind blooming flowers and greening vegetation, but for some, it can deliver blankets of wet, heavy snow, especially in one region where it's oddly the snowiest month of the year.

Big Picture

• April's Snowy Sweet Spot: The northern and central Rockies and adjacent High Plains, particularly the Black Hills of South Dakota, are the regions where the month is snowiest, based on the 1991-2020 average from data compiled by Alaska-based climatologist Brian Brettschneider. You can see these general regions in bright pink below, which shows where the month ranks in terms of average snowfall across North America. Some of these places will see snowfall late this week.
• Why Is It So Snowy? Higher elevations like these areas are colder, so they are prone to seeing snowfall from low-pressure systems that might be producing heavy rain and severe storms elsewhere in the central states. In addition, winds around those lows glide upslope through the higher elevations, which helps enhance precipitation, and therefore, snowfall.
• Snow Is Typical in April For Many Others: Depending on the weather pattern in a given year, snowflakes can still blanket most other areas across the nation's northern tier and Mountain West. For example, April ranks as the 5th or 6th snowiest month for a majority of the Midwest and Northeast.

In Detail

• Cities Where April Is Snowiest: In South Dakota's Black Hills, the town of Lead averages a stunning 29 inches of snow each April, and once was buried in 86.7 inches of snow in April 1984. It's also the snowiest month by at least a small margin in the following locations: Cheyenne, Wyoming (11.3 inches); Breckenridge, Colorado (28 inches); and Red Lodge, Montana (25.5 inches).
• Not Far Behind: Denver's snow history is complicated since observing sites have moved over the years. But, for all those sites combined dating to 1882 April ranks second snowiest (8.7 inches) behind March (11.4 inches). In Rapid City, South Dakota, April is second snowiest with 10 inches, which right behind March with 10.4 inches.

More To Know

• April Brings Last Snow Of Season To Many: April is when the average last snow of the season (0.1 inches or greater) occurs from northern New England and parts of the interior Northeast to the Great Lakes, upper Midwest and Northern Plains. That includes Minneapolis/St. Paul, Detroit and Burlington, Vermont. Some cities in the West also see their average last measurable snow in the month, including Denver and Salt Lake City.
• April Snow Can Be Damaging: Since late-season snowfall is often wet and heavy, it can be a concern for causing tree damage and power outages. Early April 2024 featured a winter storm that brought heavy snow which, in combination with strong winds, downed trees and knocked out power in parts of several states, from Wisconsin and northern Michigan to upstate New York and northern New England.

Chris Dolce has been a senior digital meteorologist with weather.com for nearly 15 years after beginning his career with The Weather Channel in the early 2000s.