Still felt like winter

By Russell Russ

Did you think March was cold this year? Many people did. Where were all those
70 degree days? Well, it was the coldest March since 2005, beaten only by 2001
and 1996. You have to go back to the early 1990’s to find a few in a row to match
this year. This is Norfolk, after all. Maybe we are getting soft here in the Icebox of
Connecticut when the usual normal feels cold.

Last year was the warmest March on record for us and with an average temperature
of 41.8 degrees it was an impressive 12 degrees warmer than this year. The month of
March is typically our transition month into spring, but unlike last year, spring was
mostly held in check throughout March. At month’s end, many warmer locations
around town may have lost snow cover, but at the weather station there was still a
solid eight inches on the ground and many local ponds had enough ice to walk on
safely.

March’s low temperature of 8 degrees was observed on the 18th and the high of 51
degrees occurred on March 31. The 50 degrees recorded on March 10 was the only
other time it reached 50 or higher. With an average temperature of 29.7 degrees it
was 0.9 degree cooler than normal. There have been many years where we have
recorded below zero temperatures in March. Not this year, in fact, this year we only
dipped into the single digits once. Unlike last year when the temperatures were often
too warm for the maple sap to flow, this year there were many days when it was just
too cold for it to flow.

The total precipitation recorded for the month was 2.63 inches, 1.91 inches below
normal. The 2013 calendar year total precipitation amount of 8.37 inches is 3.87
inches below normal. The monthly snowfall total was 19.8 inches, 1.6 inches above
normal. Our snowfall was fairly evenly distributed throughout the month with the
largest snowfall coming on March 7 and 8. The 2013 calendar year snowfall total
of 53.6 inches is 6.3 inches below normal. The snowfall total for this winter season,
October through March is 75.5 inches, 9.2 inches below normal for this time period,
but it is 20 inches more than last year.

Weather observations are recorded by the Great Mountain Forest Corporation at
Norfolk’s National Weather Service Cooperative Weather Observer Station, Norfolk
2 SW.