Ithaca Climate Summary for March 2003

Temperature

• With an average temperature of 32.6 degrees, the month averaged 0.2 degrees warmer than normal.
• This ended the streak of five consecutive cooler-than-normal months.
• This March was 2 degrees cooler than March 2002.
• The first fifteen days of the month averaged 8.1 degrees colder than normal, but the next fifteen days averaged 10.5 degrees warmer than normal.
• The warmest temperature of the month was 73 degrees on the 25th.
• The coldest temperature of the month was -14 degrees on the 7th.
• The -14 degree temperature was the second coldest March day on record and the coldest reading in any month since January 7, 1996.
• One low temperature record was tied and two broken this month:
  • March 6: -8 degrees tied record low last set in 1948.
  • March 7: -14 degrees broke record low of -9 set in 1960.
  • March 31: 8 degrees broke record low of 9 set in 1923.

Precipitation

• The March precipitation total was 2.16 inches, which represented 84% of normal.
• This total was quite similar to that of March 2002 (2.10 inches).
• The year-to-date precipitation accumulation of 7.36 inches is 0.62 inches ahead of normal.

Snowfall

• Total snowfall for the month was 11.2 inches, just 0.8 inches shy of normal.
• This was 5.5 inches more than last March, but about two feet less than March 2001.
• Snowfall for the season totaled 95.2 inches at month's end, 30.9 inches more than normal.
• The seasonal snowfall through the end of March was the greatest such total since the winter of 1995-96 (97.1 inches) and the sixth greatest October through March total on record.
• There was at least an inch of snow on the ground every day this winter from December 25th through March 8th.
• The greatest depth of snow on the ground this month was 7 inches on the 31st.