ALPENA — Alpena received its May showers in April this year.

According to the National Weather Service, last month was the fourth wettest April on record for the Alpena area and it is forecasted the rain is going to stick around for at least the next couple weeks.

In many regards, last month’s weather in Northeast Michigan was more like May rather than April.

Warm temperatures were common and rainfall was well above the long-term average. Last month’s weather report released by the National Weather Service on Wednesday shows April had many days in the 50-degree range, five days in the 60s, one day that climbed over 70 degrees, and on April 27 the temperature climbed to 80 degrees in Alpena.

For the month, the average high temperature was 55.3 degrees, which was a touch more than one degree above the long-term average. The average low temperature was more than three degrees warmer than the average.

On April 26, Alpena tied its low-temperature record for that day when the Mercury dipped to 20 degrees at the Alpena County Regional Airport.

Overall, the Alpena area’s average temperature was four degrees above the norm.

The warm temperatures, which were often followed by cooler ones, led to rainfall that well exceeded the long-term average.

Alpena received 5.45 inches of precipitation last month, while easily topping the 2.93 inches average. The ground was never in any danger of turning white, as snow stayed away and the ice melted quickly from the lakes and rivers in the area.

Nearly all of the precipitation was rain, as Alpena only received a trace of snow, which was about six inches below the average for April. The long term average for snow in April, in Alpena, is 6.6 inches.

Meteorologist Andy Sullivan said the last several years, there has been little snow in April. He said the average is so high because every year or so, there is a large snowstorm that boosts the average, but often, that is the only measurable snowfall for all of April.

“Once in a while, we get one large snowstorm and receive more than a foot at one time and that’s all we get for the entire month,” he said. “That kind of skews the average and doesn’t tell the entire story. It’s not like we get a bunch of smaller snow showers to get to the half of a foot average.”

Sullivan said a pattern developed for almost the entire month of April that featured warm temperatures that were followed by rain showers every few days.

“There were a lot of systems to our northwest and that produced a lot of rain,” he said. “It was a continuous cycle for almost the entire month.”

Last largest rainfall amount for one day was recorded on April 12, when nearly an inch of rain fell in Alpena.

Looking out the next few weeks, Sullivan said people should start thinking about getting their lawnmowers ready for action. He said the weather pattern Northeast Michigan had last month, is expected to continue for at least the first half of May.

“It is going to be more of the same, mild temperatures and then rain showers,” Sullivan said. “I don’t see any significant changes right now, just more warm and wet.”