March Weather Records*

March wasn't quite lion enough to add to weather records

Warren Wolfe

Star Tribune

Published Apr 1, 2002

It was a cold March in the Twin Cities, but not quite cold enough to set yet another record in this season of extraordinary temperatures.

Had it been four-tenths of 1 degree colder, March would have been the coldest month of the winter for the first time since pioneers started recording weather data in 1820.

The average mean temperature in March was 24.9 degrees -- colder than February for the seventh time in 182 years, but warmer than January's 24.6 degrees. The 30-year average March temperature is 32.1 degrees.

March was the 17th-coldest March in modern records going back to 1891, following four months each of which was among the top 10 warmest months in 111 years.

Since the cold-weather season began last November, here's what the season has brought the Twin Cities:

• Record-warm season: Warmest November-January at 32.9 degrees; second-warmest "meteorological winter" of December-February at 26.9 degrees.

• Record-warm months: Warmest November at 46.4 degrees, 13.2 degrees above normal; ninth-warmest December at 27.6 degrees, 9.7 degrees above average; fourth-warmest January at 24.6 degrees, 11.5 degrees above normal; fifth-warmest February at 28.4 degrees, 8.3 degrees above average.

• Record-warm days: Nov. 5 (71 degrees), Nov. 12 (65), Dec. 5 (63), Jan. 9 (49). Feb. 8 (50),

• Record-warm nights: Nov. 13 (50 degrees), Nov. 24 (43), Dec. 5 (36), Jan. 9 (34), Feb. 14 (33), Feb. 18 (36).

• Record stretch of above-normal temperatures: Fifty-seven days, ending Dec. 23, 2001. The previous record was 42 days set in 1999 and 1987.

• Record-few below-zero days: Two, breaking the previous record of five days in 1930-31 and well below the average of 28 days with temperatures below zero. The temperature fell to 2 below on Jan. 18 and 3 below on March 3 (total time below zero was five hours).

• Latest below-zero day of winter: Jan. 18, at 2 below, two days later than the previous record set in 1955.

• Highest minimum winter temperature: 3 below on March 3. The previous record was 8 below on Feb. 7, 1983.

• March wakeup: Record-cold daytime temperature of 7 degrees on March 3. Record snowfall of 9 inches on March 14.

Warren Wolfe is at wolfe@startribune.com .

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