April in Portland was the coldest in 36 years

April among the Northwest’s coldest; La Niña helped pushed temps lower; in Redmond, it was colder than March | | The Bulletin

National Weather Service stations around the region put the average temperature during April significantly below the historical average (between 1971 and 2000, the 30-year period on which that figure is based). In Redmond, April was actually colder than March, with average temperatures 6.3 degrees below normal.

Steve Pierce, vice president of the Oregon Chapter of the American Meteorology Society, said April in Portland was the coldest in 36 years, and while he hasn’t gone through all the data for Central Oregon, he expects it will look much the same.

“Six degrees below normal at Redmond — I would be shocked if there was another April that cold probably since the mid-’70s,” Pierce said. “1974, ’75 (there) was a very strong La Niña, and that was the last time a lot of cities in the Northwest set record lows.”