Virginia:

Arlington - " THE BIG STORY THIS MARCH WAS THE RECORD WARMTH. WITH AN AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 56.8F /A DEPARTURE OF +10.0F FROM THE NORMAL MONTHLY AVERAGE/ ...MARCH 2012 WAS THE WARMEST MARCH ON RECORD FOR WASHINGTON DC. THE PREVIOUS WARMEST MARCH WAS 1945... WHEN THE MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURE WAS 56.2F. THE MARCH MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURE IN WASHINGTON DC EQUALED THE NORMAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR APRIL. MARCH WAS THE FIFTH CONSECUTIVE MONTH IN WASHINGTON WITH TEMPERATURES WELL-ABOVE NORMAL. THE MINIMUM TEMPERATURE AVERAGED 47.2F FOR THE MONTH...WHICH WAS THE WARMEST ON RECORD FOR MARCH. THE PREVIOUS WARMEST MARCH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE WAS 44.9F IN 1945. THE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE AVERAGED 66.4F FOR THE MONTH...WHICH WAS THE THIRD WARMEST ON RECORD FOR MARCH. ONLY MARCH 1945 /67.6F/ AND MARCH 1921 /66.7F/ WERE WARMER. ONE DAILY MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE RECORD IN WASHINGTON WAS BROKEN THIS MARCH. ON THE 15TH...82F BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 81F SET IN 1990. FOUR DAILY HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE RECORDS WERE EITHER TIED OR BROKEN IN MARCH...INCLUDING MARCH 19-21 AND MARCH 24. A TOTAL OF 272 HEATING DEGREE DAYS /HDD/ WAS RECORDED IN MARCH... WHICH BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD FOR LEAST NUMBER OF HDD FOR MARCH. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 321 HDD IN MARCH 1945. ON SIX DAYS THIS MONTH...THE DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURE TIED OR EXCEEDED THE NORMAL DAILY MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE. PRECIPITATION WAS WELL-BELOW NORMAL THIS MONTH. A MONTHLY RAINFALL TOTAL OF 1.02 INCH WAS THE 6TH DRIEST ON RECORD FOR MARCH. A TRACE OF SNOWFALL WAS OBSERVED ON THE 5TH. INCLUDING THIS MARCH...IT WAS THE 48TH MARCH IN WHICH NO MEASURABLE SNOWFALL WAS RECORDED IN WASHINGTON. " - [ + - ] - Notes from NWS Sterling, VA

Chantilly - Russ notes: " March was drier than average and our warmest on record, shattering the previous record set in 2010. We're on a five-month streak of abnormally high average temps. The mean monthly temperature was 55.2° (+11.8°). The mean high temperature was 66.5° (+11.6°) and the mean low temperature was 43.8° (+12.0°). We broke many records, with record high temps on the 15th (85.6°), 19th (76.0°) and a tie on the 23rd (82.7°). We had record a high minimum temp on the 13th (57.0°), and then seven consecutive record high minimum temps on the 18th (52.5°), 19th (53.4°), 20th (58.4°), 21st (57.2°), 22nd (56.3°), 23rd (56.4°), and 24th (55.6°). Precipitation was 2.05" below normal, and snow was 2.9" below normal. Winter was a no show this season, with less than 3" of snowfall for the season. *Please note, anemometer is currently partially obstructed from the North and East " - [ + - ]

Dulles - from NWS Sterling (KLWX): " THE BIG STORY THIS MARCH WAS THE RECORD WARMTH. WITH AN AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 54.3F /A DEPARTURE OF +10.1F FROM THE NORMAL MONTHLY AVERAGE/ ...MARCH 2012 WAS THE WARMEST MARCH ON RECORD FOR DULLES. THE PREVIOUS WARMEST MARCH WAS 2010...WHEN THE MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURE WAS 49.5F. THE MARCH MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURE AT DULLES NEARLY EQUALED THE NORMAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR APRIL. MARCH WAS THE FIFTH CONSECUTIVE MONTH AT DULLES WITH TEMPERATURES WELL-ABOVE NORMAL. THE MINIMUM TEMPERATURE AVERAGED 42.7F FOR THE MONTH...WHICH WAS THE WARMEST ON RECORD FOR MARCH. THE PREVIOUS WARMEST MARCH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE WAS 38.9F IN 2010. THE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE AVERAGED 65.9F FOR THE MONTH...WHICH WAS THE WARMEST ON RECORD FOR MARCH. THE PREVIOUS WARMEST MARCH MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE WAS 61.2F IN 1977. THREE DAILY MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE RECORDS WERE EITHER TIED OR BROKEN IN MARCH...INCLUDING MARCH 15...19 AND 23. EIGHT DAILY HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE RECORDS WERE EITHER TIED OR BROKEN IN MARCH...INCLUDING SEVEN CONSECUTIVE DAYS FROM MARCH 18-24. A TOTAL OF 335 HEATING DEGREE DAYS /HDD/ WAS RECORDED IN MARCH... WHICH BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD FOR LEAST NUMBER OF HDD FOR MARCH. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 473 HDD IN MARCH 2010. ON TWO DAYS THIS MONTH...THE DAILY MINIMUM TEMPERATURE TIED OR EXCEEDED THE NORMAL DAILY MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE. PRECIPITATION WAS WELL-BELOW NORMAL THIS MONTH. A MONTHLY RAINFALL TOTAL OF 1.52 INCH WAS THE 7TH DRIEST ON RECORD FOR MARCH. A TRACE OF SNOWFALL WAS OBSERVED ON THE 5TH. INCLUDING THIS MARCH...IT WAS THE 14TH MARCH IN WHICH NO MEASURABLE SNOWFALL WAS RECORDED AT DULLES. " - [ + - ]

Glen Allen - Lowell sends these additional notes: " March was the warmest and driest on record at Glen Allen as the monthly mean temperature was 58.2°F, a 9.7°F departure. The 2.31 inches of precipitation for March was a -2.44 inch departure. The maximum rainfall recorded in a day was 0.68 inches on the 24th. The total snowfall was only 1.7 inches for the month recorded on the 5th, which was a -1.7 inch departure. This March at the Richmond International Airport was +0.1°F warmer than the 30 year average temperature for April. Glen Allen had only 3 days the minimum temperature dropped below freezing and 6 days that the maximum temperature was 80°F or more. The maximum temperature for March was 85 degrees F on the 15th and 23rd. The maximum wind gust of 35 mph occurred on the 8th at 1551 hours from the SSW. The lowest barometric pressure was 29.53 inches on the 3rd and the highest pressure was 30.71 inches on the 6th, which was the highest since December 24, 2008 when it was also 30.71 inches. RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT RECORDS ARE NOTED HERE: When a month is so much above average as this March, three years of records at this Glen Allen Station, mean little so the longer 115 year Richmond data base was used for comparison.
1. The average maximum temperature for March was 69.9°F with only March 1945 being warmer with 71.0°F in the past 115 years.
2. The average minimum temperature for March was 46.7°F, which is now the 115-year record for March. The average minimum in 1945 was 46.2 degrees F.
3. The mean temperature was 58.3°F, which was only 0.2°F from the warmest March on record in 1945 with 58.5°F. The mean temperature for March was 9.7°F above the 30 year mean temperature for March and was +0.1°F warmer than the 30 year average temperature for April.
4. This March had 19 days that the high temperature was greater than or equal to 70°F that tied the 115-year record with 19 days in 1945. Richmond had 8 days of greater than or equal to 80°F; only 1945 had more with a total of ten 80°F days.
5. This March had only 3 days that the temperature was 32°F or less; the average is 10.5 days. Only 3 Marches in the past 115 years had less. (1945,1921,1903)
6. Two daily March records were noted - the record high temperature for March 15 is now 86°F. The previous record was 82°F in 2007 and 1972.
7. On March 25th the second daily record was tied with the low daily temperature range of 4°F, which also occurred 1965.
8. Only 13 Marches in the past 115 years have had a maximum temperature for March higher than the 86°F.
9. March, with 2.51 inches of precipitation, was the 35th driest in the past 125 years.
10. On March 28th a daily temperature range of 41°F occurred that was only 1°F shy of the record set in 1960.

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Herndon - Randy sends these notes: " March was above well above normal for temperature and well below normal for precipitation. The temperatures ranged between a high of 84 and a low of 23 with periods of very warm temperatures during the middle of the month when we had three days with temps at or above 80. We averaged 9.1 degrees above normal for the month and the average high and low for the month were the highest ever recorded at my site. On the precipitation side, the month was 2.23" below normal with only 1.45" measured. We had scattered light to moderate periods of precipitation throughout the month; but the vast majority of the month's rain came on the 2nd with 0.77" recorded. We have now had just 6" for the year which is now 3.4" below normal for the year. We had a trace of snow on the 5th and ended our snow season with 2.6" of snow and well-below the normal. " - [ + - ]

Norfolk - from NWS AKQ Wakefield: " 2ND WARMEST MARCH ON RECORD AT NORFOLK - THE AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE FOR MARCH 2012 WAS 59.3 F...NEARLY 10 F ABOVE AVG AND RANKING AS THE 2ND WARMEST ON RECORD. THE WARMEST MARCH ON RECORD OCCURRED IN 1945...WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 59.5 F. BASED ON THE PERIOD 1981-2010...THE NORMAL MARCH VALUE IS 49.4 F. SOME NOTABLE RECORDS IN MARCH 2012: MAX TEMPERATURE OF 70-DEGREE (OR HIGHER): MARCH 2012 HAD 17 SUCH DAYS...2ND MOST ON RECORD...WITH MARCH 1945 HOLDING THE RECORD WITH 18 DAYS AT OR ABOVE 70 F (AVERAGE IS 6 DAYS). MAX TEMPERATURE OF 80-DEGREE (OR HIGHER): MARCH 2012 HAD 7 SUCH DAYS...THIS RANKS AS THE 2ND MOST ON RECORD...WITH MARCH 1945 AGAIN HOLDING THE RECORD WITH 8 DAYS AT OR ABOVE 80 F (AVERAGE IS 2 DAYS). TEMPERATURE RECORDS AT NORFOLK DATE BACK TO 1874. " - [ + - ]

Richmond - from NWS AKQ Wakefield: " 2ND WARMEST MARCH ON RECORD AT RICHMOND - THE AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE FOR MARCH 2012 WAS 58.3 F...NEARLY 10 F ABOVE AVG AND RANKING AS THE 2ND WARMEST ON RECORD. THE WARMEST MARCH ON RECORD OCCURRED IN 1945...WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 58.5 F. BASED ON THE PERIOD 1981-2010...THE NORMAL MARCH VALUE IS 48.6 F. SOME NOTABLE RECORDS IN MARCH 2012: MAX TEMPERATURE OF 70-DEGREE (OR HIGHER): MARCH 2012 HAD 19 SUCH DAYS...TYING WITH MARCH 1945 AS THE MOST ON RECORD (AVERAGE IS 7 DAYS). MARCH 2012 ALSO RECORDED THE LONGEST STREAK OF CONSECUTIVE DAYS WITH A MAX TEMPERATURE OF 70 F OR HIGHER...13 DAYS FROM MAR 12TH-24TH. MAX TEMPERATURE OF 80-DEGREE (OR HIGHER): MARCH 2012 HAD 8 SUCH DAYS...THIS RANKS AS THE 2ND MOST ON RECORD...WITH MARCH 1945 HOLDING THE RECORD WITH 10 DAYS AT OR ABOVE 80 F (AVERAGE IS 2 DAYS). TEMPERATURE RECORDS AT RICHMOND DATE BACK TO 1897 FOR DAILY TEMPERATURE DATA AND 1881 FOR AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE. " - [ + - ]

Portsmouth - " March 2012 was the warmest March in the station database to 1977. The top 5 warmest March's include: 1) 58.6° 2012 2) 54.0° 1977 3) 53.9° 1991 4) TIE 53.7° 1985 and 1990. March's average temperature (58.6°) was a whopping 8.6° ABOVE NORMAL. Precipitation was ABOVE NORMAL by 1.09" or 127% of normal relative to normal March's for the period from 1977 to 2011. Cold frontal passages occurred on the 1st, 5th, 9th, 16th, 17th, 27th, and 31st while warm frontal passages were recorded on the 2nd and 13th. STATION RECORDS: 1st - TEMP Max 78 [previous 75° 1991]; 3rd - RAINFALL 0.96" [prev 0.91" 1978); 15th - TEMP TIED Max 84° [prev 1990]; 19th - TEMP Max Min 55° [prev 52° 2007]; 21st - TEMP Max 78° [prev 76 1978]; 21st - TEMP Max Min 62° [prev 58° 2003]; 22nd - TEMP Max 79° [prev 76° 1991]; 22nd - TEMP Max Min 60° [prev 52° 2010]; 23rd - TEMP Max 84° [prev 83° 2007]; 23rd - TEMP TIED Max Min 59° [prev 2007]; 24th - TEMP Max Min 61° [prev 58° 1994]; 25th - TEMP Max Min 55° [prev 54° 1988]. At the end of the month, the yearly average temperature was 49.8° and that was 5.3° ABOVE normal while rainfall for the year was 10.44" or 0.45" BELOW normal (96% of normal). " - [ + + ] 

North Carolina:

Greensboro - from NWS Raleigh RAH: " THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH AT THE PIEDMONT TRIAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS 59.0 DEGREES. THIS BREAKS THE RECORD FOR THE WARMEST MARCH ON RECORD. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 58.4 DEGREES SET IN 1945. ON MARCH 1...THE HIGH TEMPERATURE AT PIEDMONT TRIAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS 77 DEGREES. THIS TIED THE OLD RECORD LAST SET IN 2006. ON MARCH 14...THE HIGH TEMPERATURE AT PIEDMONT TRIAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS 82 DEGREES. THIS TIED THE OLD RECORD LAST SET IN 1990. ON MARCH 18...THE MINIMUM TEMPERATURE AT THE PIEDMONT TRIAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS 56 DEGREES. THIS TIED THE OLD RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE LAST SET IN 2003. ON MARCH 23...THE HIGH TEMPERATURE AT PIEDMONT TRIAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS 82 DEGREES. THIS BROKE THE OLD RECORD OF 81 DEGREES SET IN 2007. " - [ + - ]

Raleigh - Bob reports: " THE AVERAGE DAILY TEMPERATURE FOR MARCH WAS 59.7 DEGREES WHICH IS OVER 9 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. (THE AVERAGE DAILY TEMPERATURE AT RDU WAS THE WARMEST MARCH ACCORDING TO NWS RECORDS). THE HIGH TEMPERATURE ON THE 14TH SOARED TO 84 DEGREES. PRECIPITATION WAS ALSO ABOVE NORMAL WITH 5.45" MEASURED. NO SEVERE WEATHER WAS OBSERVED, BUT THUNDERSTORMS WERE NOTED ON FOUR (4) DAYS. THERE WAS NO WINTER PRECIPITATION DURING MARCH. " - [ + + ]

Raleigh - from NWS Raleigh RAH: " THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH AT THE RALEIGH-DURHAM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS 60.4 DEGREES. THIS BREAKS THE RECORD FOR THE WARMEST MARCH ON RECORD. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 60.2 DEGREES SET IN 1945. ON MARCH 20...1.58 INCHES OF RAIN FELL AT RALEIGH-DURHAM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. THIS BROKE THE OLD DAILY RAINFALL RECORD OF 1.57 SET IN 2003. ON MARCH 23...THE HIGH TEMPERATURE AT RALEIGH-DURHAM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS 83 DEGREES. THIS TIED THE OLD RECORD LAST SET IN 2011. " - [ + + ]

Nearby Locations:

Tri-Cities - from NWS MRX, Morristown, TN: " The monthly-averaged temperature at Tri-Cities in March was 56.9 degrees which was 10.2 degrees above normal. It ranked as the warmest March on record. A new record high temperature was set on the 15th when the temperature reached 78 degrees breaking the previous record of 77 degrees set in 1967. In addition, an old record high temperature was shattered on the 20th when the temperature reached 85 degrees topping the previous record of 78 degrees set in 1948. On the next day, a record high temperature was tied when the temperature peaked at 80 degrees equaling the previous record set in 1968. At long last, another record was tied on the next day again when the high temperature rose to 80 degrees tying the previous record set in 1966. The previous warmest March at Tri-Cities was in 1945 when the average temperature was 56.0 degrees. Tri-Cities received 2.58 inches of precipitation in March, which was 0.86 inches below normal. It ranked as 16th driest March on record. Measurable precipitation occurred on 14 days and five of those days had more than one-quarter of an inch of precipitation. The heaviest precipitation fell on the 8th when 0.45 inches of precipitation was reported. The driest March of the 73 years of observations taken at Tri-Cities was in 1985 when 1.31 inches of precipitation was recorded. " - [ + - ]