Record-Breaking March Much Warmer & Drier Than Normal

April started on a wet and cool note with just over a quarter-inch of rain yesterday and a high temperature in the lower 50s. That's a far cry from what we experienced last month. The official weather statistics for March have been tabulated and, not surprisingly, it was, by far, the warmest March on record. In addition, it was one of the driest on record, too, with just a little more than an inch of rain.

The average temperature last month was 47.1 degrees, which is nearly eight degrees above the normal (39.3 degrees) and well above the previous record of 43.0 degrees set in 1979. Incredibly, 28 of the 31 days were warmer than normal, and 14 days were at least 10 degrees above normal. The highest temperature was 71 degrees on March 22 and 23. There were five record high temperatures established last month.

It marked the 13th straight warmer-than-normal month across southwestern Connecticut. That's quite a streak. The last time we had an average monthly temperature below normal happened in February, 2011, at the end of one of the snowiest stretches in recent memory. However, the average temperature that month was less than one degree (0.8) below the normal average of 31.9 degrees.

Last month was extremely dry, too. Just over one inch (1.04") of rain fell during what is normally the wettest month of the year. That's more than three inches below the normal average of 4.05" and slightly more than the driest March on record when just 0.69" fell in 1981. Nearly a foot of rain fell two years ago in March of 2010.

There were only nine days with measured rain last month, including the first three days of March (0.48" combined) and three of the last seven days of the month (0.38" combined). The longest dry spell happened from March 17 through March 24 (eight days) when only a trace of precipitation was recorded. The wettest day of the month was March 3 when over a quarter-inch (0.27") was recorded.

Fairly quiet weather is expected the rest of this week and the upcoming Easter weekend. However, it will be rather windy today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. Winds may gust up to 40 miles an hour this afternoon out of the North. It will breezy and cooler Thursday and Friday. The weekend will be mostly sunny and pleasant with daytime highs near 60.

Paul