...1857... A late season freeze brought snow to every state in the Union. Even as far south as Houston TX the mercury plunged to 21 degrees.

...1926... Lightning started a disastrous oil fire at San Luis Obispo, California with lasted 5 days, spread over 900 acres, and burned nearly 6 million barrels of oil. Flames reached 1000 feet and the fire temperature was estimated at 2500 degrees. The fire spawned thousands of whirlwinds with hundreds the size of small tornadoes. One vortex traveled one mile to the east-northeast of the blaze, destroying a small farm house and killing 2 people. Damage totaled 15 million dollars

...1929... Record heat prevailed across New England. Hartford CT reported an afternoon high of 90 degrees.

...1935... Amarillo TX reported dust obscuring visibility for twenty hours. Blowing dust was reported twenty-seven of thirty days in the month. On several days the visibility was reduced to near zero by the dust.

...1945... The barometric pressure peaked at 30.73 inches at Newport, Rhode Island, setting the record high for the date.

...1971... At Newport, Rhode Island the barometric pressure fell to 28.88 inches, breaking the record of 29.16 set in 1930 and 1958.

...1980... Severe thunderstorms spawned tornadoes which ripped through central Arkansas. The severe thunderstorms also produce high winds and baseball size hail. Five counties were declared disaster areas by President Carter.

...1982... It was a super cold day at Newport, Rhode Island on this day.  The low temperature dipped to 18 degrees, breaking the record of 20 degrees set in 1943, the day high temperature only rose to 26 degrees, shattering the record of 38 degrees set in 1926 and the wind chill plummeted to 1 degree below zero, breaking that record of 12 degrees set in 1950 and was the last zero or below wind chill for any season at the station.  The snow depth was 6 inches, breaking that record of 4 inches set back in 1898.

...1987... International Falls MN, with record warm afternoon high of 71 degrees, was warmer than Miami FL, where the high was a record cool 66 degrees.

...1988... High winds in the Middle Atlantic Coast Region gusted to 172 mph atop Grandfather Mountain NC. Twenty-nine cities in the southwest and north central U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date, including Yankton SD with a reading of 91 degrees.

...1989... Twenty-seven cities in the southwestern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Afternoon highs of 92 degrees in Downtown San Francisco and 104 degrees at Phoenix AZ established records for April. Highs of 78 degrees at Ely NV and 93 degrees at San Jose CA equaled April records.

...1990... Low pressure brought strong winds to the Alaska peninsula and the Aleutian Islands. Winds gusted to 68 mph at Port Heiden two days in a row. Unseasonably warm weather prevailed across central Alaska. Yakutat reported a record high of 54 degrees. Unseasonably cold weather prevailed over central sections of the Lower Forty-eight states. A dozen cities from Kansas to Indiana and Alabama reported record low temperatures for the date. Evansville IN equaled their record for April with a morning low of 23 degrees.

...1997... Billings, Montana recorded 6.8 inches of snow on this day to raise its seasonal snowfall to 95.5 inches to set a new seasonal snowfall record for the city. The previous snowfall record was 93.8 inches set in the 1954-55 season.

...2003... 2.8 inches of snow fell at Newport, Rhode Island, breaking the record of 2.1 inches set back in 1938.

...2010... The temperature at Newport, Rhode Island rose to 80 degrees, breaking the record of 75 degrees which was set back in 1929 and it was the earliest 80 degree plus day at the station.  A temperature of 80 degrees is measured on Grandfather Mountain, NC, the warmest ever measured in April and three degrees short of the all-time record high for any month.