State Climatologist Justin Glisan says March was warmer and wetter than normal, and the first month this year we’ve seen above-average precipitation.
Glisan says the weather pattern for March sent us three big storm events. “March 5th blizzard. March 14th a severe weather outbreak, and then another blizzard on the18th to the 19th,” he says. Glisan says there was a big disparity in precipitation across the state. “The driest part was southwestern Iowa, 70% of normal. But then you go to central to north-central Iowa, upwards of 180% of normal, almost double what we would expect in March,” Glisan says. “So looking at the average, about 2.6 inches across the state, that’s almost six to seven tenths above where we should be, which is great news in terms of seeing drought conditions pulled back.”
Glisten says part of the March precipitation was above average snowfall in northern and western Iowa after an earlier lack of snow. “March acted more like winter than winter time did in December, January and February,” he says. February was about two inches below average for snowfall, and December, January, and February were a combined 13 inches below average.
Glisan says there was some warm weather between the storms. “Many parts of the state were in the top 15th warmest on record for March. Statewide, we’re about six degrees above average,” he says.