By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The six inches of snow Hays residents woke up to Tuesday morning melted rapidly and was pretty much gone by the time people got home from work by 5:30 p.m.
The spring snow came during a hard overnight freeze Monday of 23 degrees.
Although April snow isn't unheard of in Hays, and larger amounts of snow have fallen during "the cruelest month," this is the latest date in April that Hays has seen the white stuff.
According to Joe Becker, agricultural tech supervisor at the K-State Agricultural Research Center and keeper of official weather records, the snow measured April 20 is the latest snowfall in April recorded in 152 years in Hays.
Becker's chart below shows a record eight inches of snow fell earlier in the month, on April 8, 1919. Previously, the latest April snowfall in Hays was on April 11, 1953, at 6.8 inches.
APRIL SNOWS IN HAYS - Above 5” in a 24-hr. period
April 08, 1919 8.0”
April 11, 1953 6.8”
April 07, 1916 6.5"
April 20, 2021 6.0”
April 05, 1994 5.5”
April 01, 1901 5.0”
April 09, 1956 5.0”
April 08, 1961 5.0”
April 01, 1970 5.0”