News Photo by Alyssa Ochss Two playful dogs chase each other at the dog park on Monday.

ALPENA — Last month was cooler and wetter than normal for the month of April, but the Alpena area received less snow than the historical average, the National Weather Service says.

The average temperature of 38.6 degrees ended below the long-term April average of 41.2 degrees.

The warmest day of the month was April 24, when the thermometer that tracks weather data at the Alpena County Regional Airport climbed to 77 degrees. The lowest temperature reading was on April 2 when the mercury dipped to 17 degrees overnight.

For the month the average high temperature was only 48.1 degrees which is below the 52.2 degree average for April.

Although there were many days and nights temperatures were cold enough to produce snow, the area received little of it compared to normal. In total, Alpena received 4.2 inches of snow which was lower than the 6.6 inch historical average. About three of those inches came over a two-day span on April 18-19.

Most of the precipitation the area received was in the form of rain. For the month Alpena received 3.5 inches of precipitation, which eclipsed the historic average of 2.9 inches. The largest amount of rain received in Alpena was on April 23, when a touch more than an inch of rain fell over a 24-hour period.

It may seem that spring has been slow to arrive in Northeast Michigan, but the extended forecast points to a warming trend.

After a cool and rainy day today, temperature will stabilize in the low to mid 50s and then by the middle of next week, it is predicted the area will warm to 60 degrees or more.

Night and morning temperatures will remain chilly over the next two weeks. It is predicted temperatures will continue to fall into the high 30s and low 40s during the overnight hours.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.