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Pittsburgh Weather: April To Bring Warmer Temperatures, More Sunshine, Severe Weather Risk

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Who is ready for warmer weather?

If that's you, April may be your favorite month of the year.

Why is that?

No month in the year sees a larger gain from one month to the next as we do from March to April.

The average temperature in March is 39.6 degrees. The average temperature for the month of April is 50.9 degrees. The more than 11 degree increase in temperatures bests the next closest month difference (April-May) by nearly two degrees.

seven-day-temperatures
(Photo Credit: KDKA)

But there's more when it comes to why April is such an awesome month.

We get more daylight too! How much more? A little more than an extra hour and 16 minutes of daylight, the time between sunrise and sunset.

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The extra sunshine is one of the reasons why temperatures normally increase on average by 11 degrees over March. The sun angle also increases, what some call a "stronger sun" will be super fit by the end of the month. The sun's angle increases by about 14 degrees from the start to the end of the month. That's also the most of any month. Since the length of day is directly related to "day light," you also see the largest gain in daylight over the course of April than any other month of the year.

With longer days comes the chance and risk for tornadoes in the state, and April officially begins the severe weather season for Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania. On average, the state sees about two tornadoes every April. The state averages less than one in March and peaks with an average of four every July.

Interesting enough, the state averages less than one tornado in October, but that goes up to an average of one tornado every November.

April is tied for the sixth wettest month in Pittsburgh with May, June, July and August all being wetter than April on average. Of note, November is wetter on average than April even though October is not. While snow shouldn't be considered that common in April, we still see accumulating snow about half of all Aprils and average 1.5 inch of snow per April.

Those are the stats and averages, but every April is different. This April is expected to be warmer than average, along with near average when it comes to rain, according to the Climate Prediction Center. KDKA Meteorologist Ron Smiley says he's looking forward to reviewing the month in about 29 days.

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