MONTHLY SUMMARY: MARCH 1996 PREPARED: 4-14-96 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hope your spring is progressing well! It's been a cold one here so far but the past few days have warmed-up and looks like the next week will be fairly seasonal. Most - if not all - stations noted a cold month with precip totals close to norm. Please keep sending in the data forms! They help me expedite matters much faster!! AKQ, can you average your max highs, lows, and compute your monthly mean for me, please? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTES FROM "AROUND THE LEAGUE"- Arlington - WBC noted that March 1996 was a cold, somewhat wet way to begin springtime. Snowfall was well above normal (big surprise!) This winter- so far- is the 2nd snowiest (46.0") here behind the record (1898-1899) of 54.4". Bridgewater - Clayton Towers reports: "I don't think I've ever seen such high and low extremes on the barometer in such a short period of time (11th [high] through the 19th [low])! On the 28th, the Shenandoah Valley was hit with a rain-sleet-ice storm with the temp hovering around 32 degrees most of the day. A mile or so outside of Bridgewater, heavy icing occurred with the ice causing tremendous damage in nearby Augusta County. Elevation was the main factor in causing the various types of precipitation. It was interesting to see the nearby hills covered with ice as if someone had put a white cap on them. We get a storm like this once every year or two." Centreville - Paul Bassett is using the Internet now to send some of his data! Great!! Any others want to come online? You better get in the groove!! During March, he noted that the daily max and daily min temps were withing 5 days of each other. There were 16 days with wind gusts of 30 mph or more. Also, the max barometric pressure deviation was 1.79 inches and occurred withing a 9-day period. (Editor's note: Many of us noted the extremely high barometer readings around the 10th.) Charlottesville - John Stewart reports that March was cool and slightly dry. No real extremes with the 3" of snow below normal. Nevertheless, the 20th Century record for seasonal snowfall set in 1995-1996 is noteworthy! Falls Church - Lowell Koontz noted that March was very cold but with near average precip and near record snow total (9.4" - second greatest recorded at this station for March) By-the-way, Lowell's article on measuring snowfall was picked-up by quite a few people at our ACON Internet site (http://www.infi.net/~bsmoot/acon.htm) Good work, Lowell! Fredericksburg - According to Ken McKneely: "Winter just won't quit! Another 4.5" of snow brings the season's total to over 50". The mean max, min, and month all averaged about 4 degrees below normal." Hampton - Dave Kessel reports, "All-time March record low set for this station with 14 degrees on the 9th!" Herndon - Robert Beall noted the poor forsythia showing (Editor's note: I noticed the very same here!) as springtime was nipped in the bud during the first two weeks. Mechanicsville - At Glenn Martin's station, a heavy wet snow fell on the 1st accumulated to 1 inch. Heavy rains and gusty winds were noted on the 19th. Thunderstorms- with some sharp lightning- moved through the area on the 15th just after noon (12:15 PM) Roanoke - Wendell Prillaman notes: Coldest March on record with an average of 41.6 degrees which was way below the norm of 46.8 degrees! Woodstock - Lauck Walton reported yet another very cold month - 2 of 11 years. The month was drier than usual but ground remained very wet from January snows. Brevard - Bob Keehn reported via e-mail that March was wet and cold with mean high temps 9 degrees below the norm (1900-1994) and rainfall twice the norm! Henderson - George Stevenson, Jr. note that March 1996 temps averaged 5 degrees below normal and that's a lot below normal!! The low dropped to 11 on the 9th with the all-time March low of 4 degrees on 3/1/1937. Rainfall was a little below the norm. Raleigh - Bob Woodson also noted the much below normal average temperatures (-5.3 degrees). March '96 was the 5th consecutive month with such temps. On the 10th, his barometric trace went off the chart!! Raleigh - NWS RDU noted three records set in March 1996: two record lows - on the 9th (17) and 10th (19) with a record low max of 40 on the 28th. Roxboro - "A cold month with both min/max temperatures averaging below normal. Precipitation averaged above normal. A mixture of weather and windy conditions as the winter seems to refuse to give-up its tight grip." (report from Merriell Jay) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATED MEMBERS' E-MAIL ADDRESSES: (posted by permission) BRE Bob Keehn robertk891@aol.com BRI Clayton Towers Ctowers@rica.net POR Bill Trotter wtrotter@pen.k12.va.us 71470.1535@compuserve.com wtrotter@whro.org FRD Matthew Michaelson mmichael@s850.mwc.edu RAL Bob Woodson woods@usa.pipeline.com CEN Paul Bassett III pbassett@nmaa.org -----------------------------------------------------------------------------