By Jonathan Cohen 

Last week saw a couple of cool days, which were balanced out by a couple of warm days, so temperatures were right at average for the period.

However, precipitation was way above average, even though the average weekly precipitation has now climbed to about three quarters of an inch per week.

The big storm on Friday and early Saturday, May 2 and 3, did not bring any snow here, but parts of northern Minnesota saw some accumulation. Western South Dakota had blizzard conditions with more than a foot of snow accumulating in Rapid City with 2 feet or more in higher parts of the Black Hills.Looking back at April, it was generally cool and wet throughout, with a very chilly end. The extremes were fairly average with a high of 75 degrees on April 21 and a low of 20 degrees on April 2, but the average temperature was 42.6 degrees, which was 1.9 degrees below the long-term mean and 4 degrees below my average. This made it the coolest April here since 1996, the last time some northern lakes were still ice-covered for the fishing opener, something which is likely again this year. There were 17 days that saw freezing temperatures, which is about double normal.

Precipitation was 3.09 inches, which was about one third of an inch above my mean, but eight tenths of an inch above the long-term average. Though we had several days with accumulating snow, the total was only 2.1 inches, which was almost 1 inch below my mean and more than 3 inches below the long-term mean. Our seasonal total of 60.7 inches was above my mean by 2 inches. It was the snowiest winter since 2003-04, when almost 65 inches fell.

The outlook is for a return to cool, wet weather over the weekend for the opening of the fishing season and Mother’s Day, especially in the southern part of the state, as highs probably will only be in the 50s, though the average high is now in the mid- to upper 60s. Temperatures should return to about average next week, but there is a continuing chance of showers. Jonathan Cohen is the Prior Lake observer for the Scott County Soil and Water Conservation District.