March 2010

A review of the unusual winter weather which continued throughout March 2010...

March started out with a huge storm looming off the New England coast and a deep trough over Texas.
On March 8th, a polar high pressure cell of 1035 mb was located over the British Isles:
A similar pattern developed on January 26th and was noted in this post.

The Midwest had a very persistent and deep snow cover lasting well into March.
On February 2nd, the National Weather Service in Des Moines issued this statement:

...RECORD CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF 5 INCH SNOW DEPTH AT DES MOINES AI...

AS OF MONDAY FEBRUARY 1ST...THE OFFICIAL OBSERVING SITE AT THE DES MOINES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT REPORTED AT LEAST 5 INCHES OF SNOW ON THE GROUND FOR A RECORD 55 CONSECUTIVE DAYS. THE STREAK BEGAN ON THE 9TH OF DECEMBER 2009 AND BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 54 CONSECUTIVE DAYS SET FROM 12 DECEMBER 1961 TO 3 FEBRUARY 1962. THE LAST TIME WE CAME EVEN REMOTELY CLOSE TO A STRETCH THIS LONG WITH AT LEAST 5 INCHES OF SNOW ON THE GROUND WAS 43 CONSECUTIVE DAYS FROM 12 DECEMBER 2000 TO 23 JANUARY 2001.

THE CURRENT SNOW DEPTH IS 10 INCHES...SO EXPECT THIS NEW RECORD TO BE EXTENDED MANY MORE DAYS.

The streak of at least 5" of snow on the ground was extended all the way to March 8th - 90 days - beating the old record of 54 days by 36.

On March 13th an East Coast storm of 992 mb produced an extremely tight pressure gradient across southern New England.
The New York City area had winds gust up to 78 mph causing widespread damage and at least 5 fatalities. A 75 mph gust was recorded right at JFK Airport. The Boston area received up to 10.35 inches of rain.

On March 21st, this late season snowstorm hit Shreveport, LA with measurable snow.
Winter storm warnings (pink) can be seen into northeast Texas:
Northwest Arkansas had up to 13 inches of snow and northeast Texas had up to 10.1 inches. Palestine, TX - about 50 miles further south than Shreveport - got a half inch.

There were very few tornadoes reported in March, and a major factor was the cold water in the Gulf of Mexico.
The water temperature anomalies in the Gulf of Mexico which were approaching -5C, were the largest in world at the time. Buoy 42035 near Galveston was recording water temperatures of 53.1F as late as March 4th and 58.1F as late as March 22nd.

On March 30th, this Nor'easter dumped up to 9.97 inches of rain on Rhode Island.
On March 31st, a very late season snowstorm hit northern Ireland with heavy snow and high winds, cutting power to 20,000 homes. Details here.