You can't trust April. I've said it a million times, but only because it's true. When it comes to weather, you just can't

Years ago, I was taking care of some business all over downtown Owensboro, and it snowed like crazy that day. It was in mid-April. A few years later, we drove to Lexington for an April day trip and dealt with snow the entire day. And I won't even go INTO the 1989 Kentucky Derby. It was May 6th and it was snowing. (I only mentioned the May event because who can talk about spring snow WITHOUT bringing it up?)

In none of the cases mentioned above did snow stick on the ground, but snow in April is always a little jarring, even if it isn't the rarest thing in the world that could happen

Now, let's jet back to 1987 when southeastern Kentucky bore the brunt of a full-on winter storm, and it was the first week of April.

The Worst April Snowstorm in Kentucky History

To be honest, snow in April--especially in this corner of the world--is often more a social media talking point than anything else. I don't recall spring snows being anything like what we've gotten in the dead of winter. But that wasn't the case from April 2nd through April 5th of 1987. This is what I call an ugly surprise:

National Weather Service/Jackson
National Weather Service/Jackson
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I know mountainous regions of the world deal with a lot of heavy snow during months when we never see any. But Appalachia RARELY faces the kind of "off-season" snow totals that the Rockies do, for example. Yet, Appalachia got strafed that year. TWENTY-SEVEN INCHES OF SNOW. And THREE FEET of it in Virginia

Even those in the North Carolina Appalachians got the unwanted shock of their lifetimes on April 3rd, 1987:

PERSON ONE: "Hey, your front yard igloo is dope; nice decor."
PERSON TWO: "That's no igloo; that's my Chevette."

Snow in the Deep South? In April?

But wait, there's more. Here's Birmingham AL saying "Hold my beer."

My thing is this...if it can snow AT ALL in Birmingham in April, just about anything is possible.

Like, say, snow in May for the Kentucky Derby.

LOOK: The most extreme temperatures in the history of every state

Stacker consulted 2021 data from the NOAA's State Climate Extremes Committee (SCEC) to illustrate the hottest and coldest temperatures ever recorded in each state. Each slide also reveals the all-time highest 24-hour precipitation record and all-time highest 24-hour snowfall.

Keep reading to find out individual state records in alphabetical order.

Gallery Credit: Anuradha Varanasi

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