March Review

Even though April is almost over, let's take a look back at the month of March. NCDC (National Climatic Data Center) recently released their March climate summary. Take a look...

While the average temperature for the US ranked near average for the past 113 years, the average global land temperature was the warmest on record. Global ocean surface temperatures were also the 13th warmest. Global temperatures have been recorded since 1880. The US average temperature was 42°, which was 0.4° below the 2oth century mean. Only Rhode Island, New Mexico, and Arizona were warmer than average. Near-average temperatures occurred in 39 other states.

Precipitation highlights are a bit more exciting. The snowpack in the West is among the healthiest in more than a decade thanks to the heavy snow during December through February.
But in other parts of the West, such as Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California, dry conditions prevailed. March tied as the driest in 68 years at the Sacramento airport with only 0.05" all month.

Contrast that with...Missouri had its second wettest March on record thanks in part to the 13.84" of rain that fell in Cape Girardeau in just two days. Major flooding of rivers and streams took place from Missouri Ozarks into southern Indiana. Nine other states recorded wetter than average conditions. Here are some other stats:

• From March 7-9th, 8-12" of snow fell from Louisville, Ky., to central Ohio. In Columbus, an all-time greatest 24-hour snowfall of 15.5" broke the old record of 12.3 inches set on April 4, 1987.
• In the Southeast, a powerful tornado moved through downtown Atlanta on March 14, causing significant damage to many buildings. This was one of 90 tornado reports from the Southeast in March.
• Rainfall in the middle of March improved drought conditions in much of the Southeast, but moderate-to-extreme drought still remained in more than 59 percent of the region.

Thanks to NOAA and NCDC for the stats and information.