March 2018: Temperature Swings & Broken Records

The first day of March marks the start of meteorological spring and while the month began warmer than average in the Midwest, many of us were fooled into believing that warmer days were here to stay. It didn’t take long for a roller coaster of up and down temperature swings to unfold, bringing with it sporadic snow storms and a few record breaking precipitation events.

In the Chicago and Rockford area, it was average to begin the month with highs in the low 40s and lows in the mid 20s. Yet Chicago and Rockford began March 5 to 8 degrees above normal during the day and at night. Entering the second week of March, colder than average temperatures became the trend as we fluctuated 6 – 10 degrees below average in Rockford, with a few nights in the upper teens! Mid-month saw a mix of slightly above, slightly below, and average days with a brief warm spell on the 18th that prompted highs to jump 8 to 10 degrees above average. The temperature seesaw continued sinking negative on the 20th and then positive again for the last few days of the month with Chicago staying 5 to 8 degrees above average overnight. Despite the waves of warm and cold, the month was overall 2 to 3 degrees below normal.

It’s a similar story in the Ohio Valley if not a bit more extreme in deviations from normal. We started out the month a whopping 10 to 15 degrees above average when highs are usually in the mid-40s and lows in the upper 20s. It didn’t take long for trends to flip as we entered the second week of the month and temperatures were more consistently below average. At this juncture, the average high is usually near 50 but it was a struggle to reach 45 degrees. The same brief, mid-month warm-up occurred on the 19th with most spots seeing a high of 60 for the day (5 to 10 above average). This was short-lived as the roller coaster continued, dropping 5 to 10 degrees below average only to rise above average for the last few overnights. Not surprisingly, we ended 3 to 4 degrees below average for the month. 

 

Moving on to precipitation, Rockford / Chicago typically averages a tenth or two of snow on any given day of the month, with decreasing likelihood of seeing snow toward April. As such, both areas featured a few light rain/snow events the first half of the month. The most significant snow occurred on the 5th in Rockford (1-3”) and on the 13th in Chicago (1-3”) which even saw some thundersnow! After a week-long dry period from the 18th-25th, a few disturbances associated with a strung-out front brought measurable rainfall to the area the last few days of the month. All-in-all we were drier than normal with both liquid precipitation and snowfall ending at about half of what they normally are in Rockford and even less in Chicago.

 

 

 

In the Ohio Valley, it's average to see about a tenth of snow on any given day in March. The first half of the month saw a few light rain / snow events but it wasn’t until the second half of the month that more significant snow and rain systems occurred. These even broke a few precipitation records!

On March 20th - 21st, Cincinnati and Dayton received 2-4” of snow and while Columbus saw less, they managed to break the previous daily snowfall record of 0.8” set on March 21st, 1984 by 0.1” for a total of 0.9”. A few days later on March 24th, a narrow band of moisture supplied Indianapolis with a record breaking snowfall of 10.2”. This shattered the previous 2013 record of 6.2” as they received 5-times their total average March snowfall in just one day. Lastly, as the end of the month approached, rain took over as the 27th, 28th, and 29th had measurable rainfall. In fact, Dayton tied its March 29th, 1985 daily precipitation record, receiving 1.36” of rain. Overall, Dayton and Columbus finished near average for snowfall, while Cincinnati ended 4 - 7” above average and Indianapolis an entire 7 - 10” above thanks to that heavy hitting snowstorm. Total rainfall was about average for the month.