I am a fellow who lived in Albuquerque from 2003-July 2007 and moved away in July. I miss my old hometown and all that it offers a tremendous deal. I realize that ABQ isn't for "everyone"...and fortunately so for those that live there and love there. They get it all to themselves.
I started recently a series with posts describing what I love about ABQ each and every month of the year, as I think that ABQ is a real treasure as a city in the US in that I believe it offers some outstanding YEAR-ROUND very quality living. I did so first with posts describing what I loved in February and March:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/albuq...-february.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/albuq...que-march.html
Now, I guess I should head on to April. As always, I invite others to chime in as openly and freely as they would like.
Albuquerque is great in...April
***April is my favorite month of the year in Albuquerque. If I could only be in ABQ for one month out of the 12, April would be my choice. My wife feels the same way.
I often feel that the locals / long-time Albuquerqueans grossly underestimate / under-appreciate just what a tremendous time of the year April is in ABQ.
I. Personal anecdote
I moved to ABQ originally in early April. This is applicable because it demonstrates just how nice April is in ABQ.
When I set out with the moving truck from Milwaukee, WI, things weren't freezing cold in MKE, however, they were just starting to show signs of warming up, and temps were still only in the upper 40s / low 50s. When you get temps like that in February or March in ABQ, people complain about how "cold" it is. When you get temps like that in the north in April, people are out in short sleeves, eating lunches outside, and soaking up the non-freezing weather!
Anyway, "winter" signs were still, as common, in MKE at that point - trees and plants were still dormant, etc. The skies still had some bursts of gray in them. While things were "starting to turn for the better", it was the beginning of the process.
Drove the truck largely through Iowa, Nebraska, etc., a hare warmer climes than WI, but not much, and thus the landscapes were largely the same. The air still tinged a bit with the end-of-winter chill and gray, the landscape still working to start to green.
Yet, once I got through Northern New Mexico, past Santa Fe, and "down the hill" from Santa Fe and into the 5000-foot altitude range of ABQ, spring had more than sprung everywhere. The leaves were on the trees. The grass was fully green everywhere. The flowers were all out. The "spring smells" were beyond full force. The sun was shining bright, warm, and strong, and the temps I was formerly in with the low 40s and 50s were replaced with the high-60s and mid-70s.
I marveled at the perfection of the temps of ABQ at this time of the year: warm, sunny days in the 60s and 70s and even some low 80s at the end of the month but still crisp, cool evenings and early mornings into the high 40s at their lowest or 50s.
There is something nearly perfect with spending a Saturday in the burning Albuquerque April sun with toasty warm temps in the 70s, then hitting a restaurant in the early evening in the cooling-off, soft-breezed ABQ evening air that has wafted into the high 60s with a setting sun; equally, there is something about waking up the ensuing morning in the crisp, cool, ABQ morning air - so clear, so pure, so fresh - and needing a sweatshirt to go for a walk or run, watching the sun rise over the Sandias, and seeing the city brighten up, soon to be warmed again.
II. Temps
Did I mention that the temps in ABQ are nearly perfect in April? Everyone in ABQ always seems to point to May for "ideal" temps, but I don't get that.
High temps range in ABQ in April from the 60s through the 70s into the low 80s, depending upon the time of the month. To me, for high temps, those are ideal / perfect temps.
Nighttime lows still into the 40s, however, typically the temps are felt in the 50s. A perfect crisp/cool balance to the warmed days.
April is a sunny and dry month through and through in ABQ, and with those near-perfect temps, it is hard to beat for outdoor recreation like golf, running/walking, or just "getting out".
Official average high / lows: [
]weather.com – current local weather, radar, and forecasts from The Weather Channel
APRIL 1: HIGH 67 / LOW 37 [record: 80 degrees in 2002]
APRIL 15: HIGH 70 / LOW 40 [record: 86 degrees in 1937]
APRIL 30: HIGH 75 / LOW 45 [record: 88 degrees in 1981]
IIa. Important Note
---Now...the "overrated" factor.
The common reason that I differ respectfully and good-naturedly from my fellow ABQ brethren on their sometimes less-enthusiastic views of ABQ in April is that in this region, the big weather complaint is the "spring winds".
I have noted several times on these forums that - as a Midwesterner and self-proclaimed weather geek - the Southwestern spring winds are the most overrated "bad weather" event to complain about in any region of the nation annually.
Robin Marshmant, a long-time weatherperson in ABQ who like me was also originally from WI, wrote an article once giving similar insight into the "vaunted" spring winds of ABQ (and El Paso, etc.). She noted well that spring is a time of climatic change in the US with cold air being ushered out and warm air being ushered in. With these wind changes and pressure changes (from low to high, etc.), storm patterns develop. Spring just is a time of storm patterns across most all of the US...it is just how this world works.
However, in most regions of the nation, these spring storm patterns are manifested in: late spring blizzards and snowstorms or icestorms, severe thunderstorms and all-day rainstorms, flooding, tornadoes, even the start of hurricane season.
However, as she noted, while ABQ isn't exempt from these storms, it is typically too dry to permit the majority of these storms from occurring. Thus while a particular weather pattern may bring 12-inches of snow to Denver and severe thunderstorms/tornados to Oklahoma City and Dallas, it brings sunny strong winds to ABQ. NOTE: Winds are a factor from this same hypothetical (yet common) storm system in all four of the cities...it is just that in Denver, folks are more concerned with the 12-inches of snow and in Dallas/OKC more concerned with the severe rain, thunder, and tornadoes. In the desert of ABQ, it is still generally sunny and warmish, so you "notice" the winds the most, as they are the only thing occurring.
She also noted that in so much of the northern regions in April, in the northern regions of the nation, while some warm snaps can be mixed in, often there are still large stretches of temps in the 40s, 50s, and even 30s. When it is that chilly, who wants to be commonly out? Thus who really notices that wind? Whereas in ABQ, when it is in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, you are out, and you really notice the winds.
Look, I recognize that the springtime winds in the Albuquerque / El Paso corridor are real and do happen, and are sometimes a headache. However, when they are anything more than a nuisance happens only - at the most - a few times a year (and some years not that often if at all). Typically you get dust stuck in most regions you'd never realize dust could find, but beyond that, really typically few major problems (outside of occasionally some pretty bad traffic problems on I-40). I would say in April there will be two days "ruined" by weather...the winds. Most regions have far, far more crummy days in April ruined by the weather. And outside of those couple of days of wind, April is perfect in ABQ.
III. The lilacs / other plants
While the "heart" of spring plant life really occurs heaviest - at least in terms of new life - in March in ABQ, April brings alot of that spring life to full maturity. Rose bushes get rosy. Flower beds get full and...ummm...flowery. Lawns are fully greened (where xeriscaping isn't utilized). ABQ - for all of the talk of being "brown" as a desert city - just seems so full of color in April. The bosque / Cottonwoods are greened. Cacti get their respective beautiful blossoms.
My personal April favorite is the lilac bushes. In early April, the plentiful lilac bushes throughout ABQ have their fragrant purple flowers in full bloom. They all look quite beautiful, spring-like, and wonderful, and the aromas fill the air so nicely. Perfect opportunities abound for Easter-time photos!
IV. Isotopes Baseball
ABQ Isotpoes baseball gets in full-force again, and there is nothing quite as nice as watching an afternoon game at Isotopes park under a 68 or 72 degree sun with a plate of nachos and a frosty cold Isotopes Slammin' Amber in hand. Hooky from work was created because of this.
V. Patio season returns
While folks can sit on restaurant patios in ABQ fairly commonly in daytimes in March and November, and I have seen folks sitting on patios during the daytime often in the winter months in ABQ, the "real patio" season gets going for evenings, etc., during April, which is a real treat of living in ABQ - the extended "patio" season for a city still with a winter. There is nothing quite like sitting on a patio in April, enjoying the cooling air after picking up a slight sunburn during the day, enjoying a margarita, and watching the "Sandia time" of the setting sun against the Sandia Mountains in the evenings.
Golf and outdoor activities are custom-made temps-wise in April for ABQ, and with the first few kind of hot air blasts usually coming in at the very end of April, you can "feel" the days of summer rounding around the corner.
I know there are some windy days, but overall, to me it is hard to imagine a nicer time and place to be than April in Albuquerque, and as great a city ABQ is 12 months of the year, to me, it doesn't get much better than April.
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Albuquerque in...April
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