VIRGINIA

Annandale - "March was much warmer with near average precipitation but 56% of the month’s precipitation occurred on the 4^th and 5^th. The 2.31 inches of precipitation that occurred in this 24 hour period was the greatest on record for March since 24 hour precipitation records were started in 1997; the previous record was 2.29 inches in 2003. The March total precipitation was 4.11 inches, which was the 15^th driest March on record in the last 28 years with a departure of only - 0.05 inches. On March 4^th between 2215 and 2315 a very intense rainfall occurred for March of 1.21 inches in one hour. The old 17-year record was only 0.86 inches in 1998 (Records since 1991). Between 2240 and 2245 a new five minute rainfall record was also set of 0.27 inches. The old 17-year record was 0.19 inches set in 2005 (Records since 1991). The average March mean temperature was 47.3 °F a departure of only + 2.3°F but was the 4^th highest in the past 28 years. (Three other years were near this year’s average.) The highest temperature was 74 °F on the 28^th and the lowest temperature was only 26 °F on the 9^th. This 26°F reading was the second highest March monthly minimum temperature on record in the past 28 years. Only March of 1997 had a higher March minimum temperature of 27 °F. The lowest maximum reading for March was 46 °F on the 9^th; the previous 28-year record was only 42°F set in 2000. Also the lowest daily mean temperature was only 36°F, which was a new 28-year record; the old record was 34 °F in 2006. Only 11 days were freezing or below which was the least since 2002 and only 6 of the past 28 years have had less. The average total snowfall for March is 2.8 inches and not even a trace of snow occurred this March for the first time since 2002. A trace was recorded in 2004. It is only the third time in the past 28 years that not even a trace of snow was recorded in the month. This was a very poor year for snow lovers. The minimum barometric pressure this month was 29.26 inches on the 8^th, which was the lowest pressure recorded in March since 2005 when 29.16 inches. The maximum wind gust was 39 mph from the west on the 20^th at 0222 hours. March 20^th with a wind run of 191.7 miles was the windiest day since April 16, 2007. 4 daily records set! March DAILY Records Tied or Broken- 1 daily HIGH minimum 28-year temperature record for the date: 4; 2 HIGH temperature records: 3, 28; 1 HIGH precipitation: 5." - [ + -/+ ] – report from Lowell

Arlington – "March continued the trend of above normal temperatures. Eleven of the last thirteen months have averaged above normal. The last month of below normal temperatures was April of 2007. March precipitation averaged below normal and there was no snowfall reported for the entire month. For the winter 2007-8 season...only 4.9 inches of snow has fallen. If no measurable snow occurs for the rest of the season then this winter would be tied for the tenth least snowiest season dating back to 1885. " - [ + - ] – notes from NWS LWX in Sterling

Bridgewater - "The dry weather is continuing. The water in rivers and ponds is rather low. However, at the beginning of April, there is the promise of some heavy rains. At the time of this report, it is raining steadily. The snowfall this past winter is much below normal. We usually get around 22 inches. I don't look for any more snow this early spring season. My cutoff day for any measurable snow is April 15. It has been a boring winter. " - [ + - ] – report from Clayton

Centreville - "Winter, winter everywhere but hardly a flake to be found. With winter weather just about history for the 2007/2008 season, we have managed to amass a whooping 28% of the expected 24.1" of snowfall. The past three seasons were remarkably sparse for total snow accumulation with 2006 yielding 20.2", and 2007 producing 17.8". Gone are the days of blowing snow twenty feet in the air clear across the street and into my neighbor’s yard at midnight. Maybe next year friends; maybe next year... The average monthly temperature was entered in our logbook as 46.7°; 4.6° above the 42.1° normal for March with the average highs and lows playing a nearly equally part for this month. Usually the average low temperature contributes significantly in swaying the monthly average to above normal but that was not necessarily the case for March. The average minimum this month was 36.5°. This was 5.6° above the 30.9° average low normal and the least deviation since November 2007. We recorded 28° as our low for the month which occurred on the 9^th and 10^th. Nine days had lows of 32° or below. For high temperatures, 71° took the prize on the 4^th and 28^th with an average high for March working out to be 56.8°. Along with a shortage of snow, rain was also in short supply. Our greatest 24-hour accumulation of 1.14" fell on March 4^th and 5^th and gave us 28% of our 2.74" monthly total. After the last tip of the bucket for the month echoed in the night, we managed to account for just 72% or our normal leaving us 3.02" shy of our 10.24" expected for the year to date. April showers brings more wet grass folks. That ought to keep me away from dangerous yard equipment for a while." [ + - ] – notes from Paul

Chantilly – "A mild and snowless March. The average temperature was 3.1° above normal. A record high minimum temperature occurred on the 4th (61.0°). Snowfall for the month was 3.4" below average, with not a trace for the entire month. Total snowfall for the season was only 7.9", which was only about one third of our average snowfall amount of 22.8". Dense fog was observed on the 8th and 11th. *Please note, anemometer is currently partially obstructed from the Southeast " - [ + - ] – Russ reports

Dulles – "March continued the trend of above normal temperatures. Twelve of the last thirteen months have averaged above normal. The last month of below normal temperatures was in April of 2007. March precipitation averaged below normal and there was no snowfall reported for the entire month. For the winter 2007-8 season...only 6.5 inches of snow has fallen. If no measurable snowfall occurs for the rest of the season then this winter would be the third least snowiest season dating back to 1963." - [ + - ] – report from NWS Sterling LWX

Falls Church – " March certainly lived up to its reputation for being the windiest month!!! Other than that my temperatures and rainfall for the month were about average. I had no snowfall this month." - [ -/+ -/+ ] – notes from Windie

Herndon – " MARCH WAS SLIGTHLY ABOVE NORMAL IN TEMPERATURE, AND SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL IN PRECIPITATION. THE PRECIPITATION FELL ON AND OFF THE ENTIRE MONTH. HOWEVER, TWO-THIRDS OF THIS AMOUNT FELL BETWEEN THE 4TH AND THE 8TH OF THE MONTH. WE RECEIVED NO SNOW DURING THE MONTH. THE TOTAL PRECEIP FOR THE MONTH WAS 3.30 INCHES WHICH IS A HALF INCH BELOW NORMAL. FOR THE YEAR WE HAVE HAD 7.95 INCHES WHICH IS NOW ALMOST TWO INCHES BELOW NORMAL. AS FOR THE TEMPERATURES, BOTH THE AVERAGE HIGH AND LOW WERE ALMOST 1 DEGREE ABOVE NORMAL. THE WARM TEMPERATURES AND FREQUENT RAINFALL DURING THE MONTH HAS REALLY BROUGHT OUT THE SPRING FLOWERS IN ALL OF THEIR COLORS." - [ +/- + ] – report from Randy

Ladysmith – "March temperatures finished slightly above normal, making it the 9th out of the last 11 months with above normal temperatures. Precipitation finished well below normal for the 14th time in the last 16 months." - [+ -] – report from Danny

Portsmouth – "March 2008 continued the above normal temps of the first two months of the year; for the year, the average temperature was a whopping 2.9° ABOVE normal. Rainfall in March was below normal (-1.36") and the year-to-date rainfall was only 66% of the normal through March or –3.70" with February the only month so far with above normal rainfall. Colder temps as the end of the month produced some frozen precip across Southeastern Virginia, but none was noted at this site. The apparent last frost of the winter occurred on the 3^rd and this was only a light and scattered event in the vicinity. Nine (9) active frontal passages were noted throughout the month giving indication that weather activity picked up. STATION RECORDS included: 4th - TEMPERATURE - MAXIMUM MINIMUM 53° [previous 52° 2004]; 5th - RAINFALL - 1.22" [previous 0.42" 2003]; 8th - WIND GUST - 46 mph [previous 39 mph 1984]; 19th - TEMPERATURE - MAXIMUM 77° [previous 76° set in 1986]; 30th - TEMPEARTURE - MINIMUM MAXIMUM 48° [previous 51° 1983]."

NORTH CAROLINA

Greensboro– "The March 2008 North Carolina Weather Review is located here: (http://www.erh.noaa.gov/rah/ncsummaries/MonthlySummary.Mar.2008.doc) [when available]. [ + - ] – notes from NWS Raleigh RAH

Raleigh-Durham RDU – "4th...a record rainfall of 2.00 inches was set. This broke the old record of 1.50 inches set in 1966. ...Temperatures were generally slightly above normal… …Rainfall returned to above normal levels over central North Carolina in March 2008… …Extreme to exceptional drought conditions began to lessen and reservoirs began to fill… There were several significant rain events that occurred across North Carolina during March. These rain events were spaced rather evenly throughout the month, with the heaviest rainfall totals coming on or around March 4, March 7-8, March 15, and March 29-31. The March rainfall totals generally ranged between 4 and 5 inches across the western and central sections of the state, lowering to between 2 and 3.5 inches along the coast. These totals were generally around an inch above normal over the interior of North Carolina, ranging to 1 to 2 inches below normal along the coast. Those greatly benefiting from the above normal rainfall in March included Raleigh-Durham, which totaled 5.53 inches of rain (1.50 inches above normal), and Greensboro, which totaled 4.31 inches of rainfall (0.46 inches above normal). Coastal areas were drier with the majority of locations reporting below normal rainfall totals. These locations included Elizabeth City, Cape Hatteras, and Wilmington. Cape Hatteras tallied only 3.49 inches, which was 1.56 inches below normal. March 2008 temperatures generally turned out to be near normal over the western sections of the state, and slightly above normal over the central and eastern sections. For example, Charlotte averaged 0.5 degrees below normal, while Raleigh and Cape Hatteras averaged 2.6 degrees above normal. In central North Carolina, Raleigh-Durham (RDU) averaged 53.3 degrees for March 2008, which was 2.6 degrees above normal. There were no daily record temperatures set this month at RDU. Greensboro (GSO) averaged 51.5 degrees in March, which was 2.4 degrees above normal. There were no daily record temperatures set this month at GSO. The March 2008 North Carolina Weather Review is located here: (http://www.erh.noaa.gov/rah/ncsummaries/MonthlySummary.Mar.2008.doc) [when available]. " - [ + + ] – notes from NWS Raleigh RAH.

Raleigh RAL – Bob sends these additional notes: " Drought conditions lessened in March due to 5.83" of rain (+1.80" above normal) during the month. The average daily temperature was 2.3 degrees above normal, with the first 80-degree reading of the season recorded on March 28th. Thunder was observed on two days, but no severe weather was observed in the immediate area. " - [ + + ]

NEARBY CITIES

Tri-Cities (TN) – " The monthly average temperature at Tri-Cities was 46.2 degrees, which was 0.3 degrees below normal. It ranked in the middle one-third of observations taken at Tri-Cities in March. The coldest March at Tri-Cities was back in 1960, when the average temperature was 33.5 degrees. Tri-Cities received 3.84 inches of precipitation in March, which was 0.07 inches below normal. It ranked in the middle one-third of the 71 years of observations taken at Tri-Cities in March. Measurable precipitation occurred on eleven days, and three of those days had more than one-half of an inch of precipitation. The heaviest precipitation fell on the 4th when 1.33 inches was reported, which broke the old daily precipitation record of 1 inch set in 1953. The driest March at Tri-Cities was back in 1985, when only 1.31 inches was recorded. " - [ - - ] notes from NWS Morristown, TN MRX