REMARKS 



While the month of April provided considerable cloudy weather 

 and only 179 hours of bright sunshine against a normal of 220, 

 precipitation continued to remain below normal with only 2.87 

 inches recorded against a normal of 3.35 inches. In spite of the 

 heavy snow cover from which little was lost to flooded streams, 

 moderately drouthy conditions are noticeable. The precipitation 

 for 1948 so far totals 10.87 inches against a normal of 13.85 inches 

 and the total received since last June 1 is but 33.40 inches. This 

 11-months' total is compared to our calendar year average of 

 43.70 inches for emphasis. April has next to lowest monthly aver- 

 age precipitation in our records, and it normally should not have 

 been expected to relieve the deficit in rainfall, but a greater burden 

 of providing moisture for growing crops is now placed upon the 

 precipitation which falls during the growing season. 



The cloudiness may have contributed to less extremes in tem- 

 peratures during the month as a range of 50.0 degrees against an 

 average range of 57.4 degrees was recorded. The normal high for 

 the month is 79.4 while in this month 73 degrees was attained 

 on the 5th. The normal minimum is 22 while 23 degrees was re* 

 corded the morning of the 11th. The mean daily temperature for 

 the month was 47.2 degrees, 1.5 degrees above the average. This 

 higher mean daily temperature provided a heating load of 530 

 degree-days for the month against an average of 579. to bring the 

 season's total to 6664 against a normal of 6511 degree-days. With 

 the normal heating season 95% completed by April 30, warm 

 weather through May and early June could make the total for 

 the current season fall very little over average in heating load. 



The wind velocity of 40 mph attained on the 9th ties the record 

 for the month attained in 1938 and equalled in 1940 and 1945. There 

 was more wind movement than normal and on 11 days velocities 

 of 20 mph or above were recorded with 4 days recording maximum 

 velocities above 3 mph. 



W. H. Thies, Extension Professor of Horticulture, contributes 

 the following report : "Weather conditions during April have been 

 favorable to apple growers in at least two ways. (1) Relatively 

 cool weather has retarded fruit bud development enough to mini- 

 mize the danger of frost injury during the blossoming season. 

 (2') Continued dry weather has greatl}'' decreased the danger of 

 pre-blossom infections of apple scab. With Mcintosh buds now in 

 the pink stage, we have had only one rainy period of sufficient 

 duration to result in scab infection. Tremendous numbers of 

 scab spores are mature, however, and will be released during the 

 next rain. 



Present prospects indicate a heavy apple bloom and, in orchards 

 of good location, a moderate peach bloom. No frost injury to fruit 

 buds has apparently occurred during the past month. With favor- 

 able conditions for bee activity during bloom and an absence of 

 damaging frosts during the next three weeks, a larger than nor- 

 mal apple crop may be expected. On lighter soils, newlv set fruit 

 trees have required liberal watering." 



