Wild April gives way to mild May

In the photo, people walk on the Sacramento River Trail access from Hilltop Drive, which overlooks the Sundial Bridge, on a recent sunny afternoon.

The weather in April made some wild swings, going from rainy to hot to rainy to somewhat warm. In Redding, it got as chilly as 29 degrees on April 6 and as hot as 90 degrees on April 20, according to the National Weather Service.

But May is looking to be mostly sunny with highs in the 80s in the north state, save for a few days of light showers, according to AccuWeather's long-range forecast. The NWS' Climate Prediction Center shows above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation for most of the West over the next month at least.

“We should be sliding into summer,” said Kathy Hoxsie, the National Weather Service's warning coordinator in Sacramento. “We should see maybe a few more of these brush-by's across Northern California … but they're going to be less and less.”

Here are the April and seasonal rainfall totals and comparisons to normal for selected California cities, according to the National Weather Service. Totals are as of yesterday:
Redding: Month to date 2.73 inches (normal 2.48 inches); season to date 22.75 inches (normal 32.08 inches)
Eureka: Month to date 4.76 inches (normal 3.32 inches); season to date 38.04 inches (normal 37.8 inches)
Sacramento: Month to date 2.42 inches (normal 1.15 inches); season to date 12.18 inches (normal 17.63 inches)
Modesto: Month to date 2.25 inches (normal 0.97 inches); season to date 8.44 inches (normal 12.36 inches)
Salinas: Month to date 2.12 inches (normal 2.09 inches); season to date 23.1 inches (normal 34.71 inches)
Fresno: Month to date 2.02 inches (normal 0.95 inches); season to date 8.15 inches (normal 10.86 inches)

For my story on how the weather is affecting crop development, check CapitalPress.com soon.