Climatological Report (Monthly)
Issued by NWS Buffalo, NY
Issued by NWS Buffalo, NY
420 CXUS51 KBUF 052045 CLMBUF CLIMATE REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY 923 AM EDT MON APR 01 2024 ................................... ...THE BUFFALO NY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH 2024... CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD: 1991 TO 2020 CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD: 1871 TO 2024 WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR`S VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE DATE(S) NORMAL ................................................................ TEMPERATURE (F) RECORD HIGH 82 03/21/2012 LOW -7 03/08/1984 HIGHEST 72 03/04 56 03/22 03/05 LOWEST 16 03/22 21 03/19 AVG. MAXIMUM 48.6 41.8 6.8 41.4 AVG. MINIMUM 32.9 26.4 6.5 29.1 MEAN 40.8 34.1 6.7 35.2 DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0 DAYS MAX <= 32 2 6.4 -4.4 3 DAYS MIN <= 32 13 22.7 -9.7 24 DAYS MIN <= 0 0 0.3 -0.3 0 PRECIPITATION (INCHES) RECORD MAXIMUM 7.03 1936 MINIMUM 0.68 1910 TOTALS 2.11 2.89 -0.78 4.05 DAYS >= .01 17 MM DAYS >= .10 9 MM DAYS >= .50 0 MM DAYS >= 1.00 0 MM GREATEST 24 HR. TOTAL 0.36 03/14 TO 03/15 1.10 03/03 TO 03/04 SNOWFALL (INCHES) RECORDS TOTAL 38.5 1936 TOTALS 11.2 14.1 -2.9 10.0 SINCE 7/1 70.8 92.9 -22.1 SNOWDEPTH AVG. 1 1 DAYS >= 1.0 4 3.6 0.4 2 DAYS >= 0.1 7 9 GREATEST SNOW DEPTH 6R 03/23 5 03/11 24 HR TOTAL MM DEGREE DAYS HEATING TOTAL 744 958 -214 915 SINCE 7/1 4624 5576 -952 MM COOLING TOTAL 0 0 0 0 SINCE 1/1 0 0 0 MM ................................................................ WIND (MPH) AVERAGE WIND SPEED 10.8 HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 32/270 HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 49/220 DATE 03/19 SKY COVER POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 2 NUMBER OF DAYS PC 14 NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 15 AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 69 WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORM 0 MIXED PRECIP 0 HEAVY RAIN 3 RAIN 2 LIGHT RAIN 14 FREEZING RAIN 0 LT FREEZING RAIN 0 HAIL 0 HEAVY SNOW 3 SNOW 3 LIGHT SNOW 10 SLEET 0 FOG 15 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 5 HAZE 0 - INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS. R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED. MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING. T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT. && ... SUMMER-LIKE START, WINTER-LIKE END TO MARCH ... MARCH IS OFTEN A CHANGEABLE MONTH, AND SUCH WAS THE CASE THIS YEAR WITH A VARIETY OF WEATHER PATTERNS. THE MONTH BEGAN VERY WARM WITH RECORD BREAKING WARMTH AND PLEASANT DAYS. AS THE FINAL DAYS OF ASTRONOMICAL WINTER ENDED THE SCRIPT CHANGED, AND A PERIOD OF COOL TEMPERATURES, AND SNOW BEGAN THE FIRST SEVERAL DAYS OF SPRING. THE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH AVERAGED 40.8F, WHICH IS 9TH WARMEST ON RECORD. THE FIRST HALF OF THE MONTH AVERAGED CLOSE TO 15 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL, WHILE THE SECOND HALF OF THE MONTH AVERAGED MUCH CLOSER TO NORMAL. THERE WERE 3 DAILY RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES ESTABLISHED, THESE ON THE 4TH AT 72F (63F/1974), 5TH AT 72F (68F/2004) AND 8TH AT 66F (65F/1921). THERE WERE ALSO TWO RECORD WARM MINIMUM TEMPERATURES ESTABLISHED, THESE OCCURRING ON THE 3RD AT 42F (39F/1874), AND 5TH AT 52F (47/1894). THE CONSECUTIVE DAYS IN THE 70S ON THE 4TH AND 5TH ARE THE EARLIEST CONSECUTIVE 70+ DEGREES TEMPERATURES ON RECORD TO START METEOROLOGICAL SPRING (MARCH 1ST). PRECIPITATION TOTALED 2.11 INCHES FOR THE MONTH, WHICH IS ABOUT THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH BELOW NORMAL. EIGHT OF THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS HAVE HAD NEGATIVE PRECIPITATION DEPARTURES. THE WETTEST DAY WAS NOT THAT WET AT ALL, WITH JUST 0.33 INCHES RECORDED ON THE 14TH. THIS IS THE 7TH LOWEST TOTAL IN AIRPORT RECORDS FOR MAXIMUM DAILY PRECIPITATION IN THE MONTH OF MARCH. THE 17 DAYS WITH MEASURABLE PRECIPITATION IS ONE DAY MORE THAN AVERAGE. SNOWFALL TOTALED 11.2 INCHES WHICH IS 2.9 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. THIS WAS THE SNOWIEST MARCH SINCE 2018 WHICH HAD 22.2 INCHES OF SNOW. RECORD WARMTH THAT ENDED FEBRUARY TOOK A BRIEF PAUSE THE FIRST FEW DAYS OF MARCH, WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE 50S THE FIRST 3 DAYS OF THE MONTH, WHICH WERE STILL WELL ABOVE NORMAL. AS A DEEP TROUGH CARVED ITS WAY THROUGH THE ROCKIES, WARM AIR SURGED NORTHWARD ACROSS THE GREAT LAKES REGION, STARTING ON THE 4TH WHEN THE TEMPERATURE SURGED TO 72F AT THE BUFFALO AIRPORT. THE 5TH WAS REMARKABLY WARM WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE MORE THAN 30 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. SEVERAL FRONTAL PASSAGES THE 5TH THROUGH THE 11TH BROUGHT LIGHT PRECIPITATION TO WESTERN NEW YORK, WHILE TAKING THE EDGE OFF THE WARMTH. PRECIPITATION ON THE 10TH FELL AS SNOW, WITH AROUND TWO INCHES OF WET SNOW IN THE BUFFALO METRO AREA. TEMPERATURES REMAINED ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH THE 17TH. THE 18TH THROUGH THE 24TH BROUGHT A BRIEF PERIOD OF WINTER`S COLD, COMPLETE WITH LAKE EFFECT SNOW, GRAUPEL AND THEN UNDER A SLOW MOVING UPPER LEVEL LOW, UPSLOPE SNOW. THE 19TH THROUGH THE 21ST BROUGHT DAY TO DAY SNOW THAT ADDED UP TO AROUND A FOOT AND A HALF ON THE PEAKS OF THE BOSTON HILLS, WITH AROUND 3 INCHES OF SNOW ACCUMULATING AT LOWER ELEVATIONS OF BUFFALO. A SYNOPTIC LOW PASSED ACROSS THE REGION ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY THE 21ST AND 22ND WITH A HALF A FOOT OF WIDESPREAD SNOW ACROSS WESTERN NEW YORK. INCREASING AMOUNTS OF BRIGHT SUNSHINE AND COLD TEMPERATURES ON THE 23RD MAINTAINED THIS SNOW INTO THE START OF THE WEEKEND, ONE LAST GASP OF OUTDOOR WINTER FUN IN THIS OVERALL MILD WINTER. THIS SNOW DID NOT LAST LONG AS TEMPERATURES IN THE LOWER 60S ON THE 25TH RAPIDLY DEPLETED LEFTOVER SNOW. AIR TEMPERATURES AROUND NORMAL THE LAST 4 DAYS OF THE MONTH LOWERED THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH, BUT NOT ENOUGH TO REMOVE MARCH 2024 FROM BEING A TOP 10 WARMEST MONTH ON RECORD. THE WATER TEMPERATURE ON LAKE ERIE FLUCTUATED BETWEEN 36 AND 40 DEGREES FAHRENHEITTHROUGHOUT THE MONTH. THROUGH THE FIRST 3 WEEKS OF THE MONTH THIS WATER TEMPERATURE WAS THE WARMEST ON RECORD. ONLY A COOLER END TO THE MONTH DROPPED THE WATER TEMPERATURE FROM RECORD TERRITORY. THE AVERAGE WIND SPEED WAS JUST BELOW NORMAL FOR THE MONTH. THE STRONGEST WIND GUST WAS 49 MPH BRIEFLY MIDDAY ON THE 19TH. OVERALL, A MILD MONTH, WITH ONE WEEK OF WINTER CONDITIONS. && THOMAS $$