Awash in April: Showers brought record rainfall

April ended on a whopping wet note, with rainfall setting a record, according to the National Weather Service.

The month concluded Tuesday with rainfall about 2 inches above average, and temperatures up to 3 degrees above normal.

Of the 30 days in the month, there were 19 soggy days of measurable rain — a record for April, weather service records show.

Danbury had 6.2 inches of rain, about 2 inches above average, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center.

But that’s well below the record 11.69 April rainfall set in 1983. So it could have been worse. Although 19 days of rain is one thing, volume is another, and it avoided being a serious flood month.

But there were weeks this April when it rained five consecutive, monotonous days in a row. And, there was only one weekend — April 6-7 — when it didn’t rain.

The wettest day of the month was April 26, when up to 2.5 inches of rain fell across Connecticut.

April started out cold with temperatures falling as low as 21 degrees April 2 — more than 8 degrees below normal.

The warmest day of the month was April 19 when a summery high of 75 set a record in Danbury.

Along the shoreline that day, New Haven also set a record with 72 degrees. Farther inland, Hartford reached 78 degrees.

So now that we’re drying out, how is May looking? On Tuesday, the Climate Prediction Center said Connecticut has a 60 percent chance of above-normal temperatures.

Last May, we had our first 90-degree day on May 3. There were seven days when temperatures were in the 80s and 13 days when the high was in the 70s.

Last May also saw the last of 30-degree nights with a low of 31 in Danbury, and no more nights like that until October.

Before we see those warm and sunny days of May, however, the forecast calls for showers all the way through Tuesday.

So brace for gray and overcast skies this week.