April in Metro Atlanta: Don’t get fooled by the warmer weather!

Welcome to April!

Here in Metro Atlanta, Mother Nature sometimes likes to play “April Fools” with the temperatures and precipitation.

I remember the Easter Freeze of 2007 when all of my tomatoes, squash, and roses were nipped by freezing temperatures after a prolonged warm spell in March. That year, Easter was April 8, and since then, I learned to wait to plant my spring/summer garden until after April 15.

Which, April 15 is a good rule of thumb.

But did you know it has snowed - in Atlanta! - in late April?!

The latest freeze on record for Atlanta is April 25, 1910, when 1.5 inches of snow fell in the area.

In more recent history, a Southern snowstorm moved through Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas April 2-5, 1987.

I’m still trying to find reliable data for the Atlanta area, but the NOAA Regional Climate Center only has a “Trace” of snow recorded for Atlanta on April 3, 1987.

However, regional reports indicate as much as 7 inches of snow was recorded in the North Georgia Mountains.

And just 20 years later, the Easter Freeze of 2007 caused billions of damage across the Southeast.

Often, temperatures will swell into the upper 70s to mid 80s in February and March before crashing in early April. This happened in 2007 when temperatures trended well above average in March before crashing into the low to mid 20s in early April.

The April 6-9, 2007 killing freeze arrived just in time for the Easter holiday, when temperatures dropped into the mid 20s as far south as Middle Georgia.

According to NOAA, the Easter 2007 freeze resulted in a state-wide agricultural production value loss of $257.5 million, with peaches, blueberries and apples experiencing the most freeze damage.