By Meteorologist Rich Hoffman
March is a very fickle month. It's our transition period from cold weather to the warm weather of Spring. The change over the month leads to very stormy weather and weather of all types. In March, we see thunderstorms, blizzards and temperatures in the 70s. Spring started March 20th at 7:44 am.
March 2009 has been no exception. We had more than a foot of snow on the 2nd - http://www.erh.noaa.gov/okx/StormEvents/storm03022009.html. Temperatures close to 70 on the 7th and highs in the 60s on the 8th.
Norm Dvoskin is our News12 Climatologist and has a little weather Calender dating back to the 50s, and as I look over the information, I can't believe all the things March has seen. March has seen some major snowstorms. Yes, Spring starts in March, but Mother Nature sometimes thinks otherwise. Our last Measurable snowfall at Brookhaven National Lab is April 27.
Here is an example of all the things that happened in March.
MARCH
TEMP: 82.0Âş ( 1990)/-7.5Âş (1967)
PRECIP: 10.37 (2001)/ 0.89 (2006)
SNOW: 31.5 (1967)/0.0 (2000)
March 3-4, 1960
Snowstorm 17.3" BNL, 23" Suffolk Co. AFB, 21" Bridgehampton, near 50 mph winds, crippled road and air traffic, closed schools and disrupted business
March 4, 1940
Ice storm, 70 mph wind, crippled North shore, Floods central/ S. Nassau county. Power/ phones out, schools/ industry closed, cars abandoned
March 4, 1993
Northeaster 69 mph winds Westhampton, people evacuated S. Shore, power outages
March 5-6, 2001
Snowstorm Slow moving northeaster, 4-8" Nassau, 9-16" Central Suffolk, 15" BNL, S. Shore Beach erosion, coastal flooding, most flights canceled
March 6, 1967
Windstorm Gusts near 70 mph, 5 fatalities NYC metro area, numerous accidents, 85,000 outages
March 6, 2003
Surprise snow 3-7" 5.2" Centerport, started as freezing rain, Hundreds of traffic accidents, flights delayed, schools closed and early dismissals
March 6-7, 1962
Northeaster "Ash Wednesday Northeaster" Winds 75 mph, 9 ft tides, more than 100 homes washed away s. shore, most destructive storm since hurricane of '38, Gov. Rockefeller declared LI a disaster area
March 7-8, 1941
Snowstorm 18.2" NYC, Residents of Fire Island marooned , air and land traffic disrupted, occurred on a Saturday
March 8, 2005
Snow 3-5" Wind gusts to 50 mph, visibility near 0 in whiteout conditions, Started out as heavy rain (0.65") which froze quickly as temps dropped from the mid-40s into the twenties, State police called it the worst 24 hours ever in terms of traffic accidents (over 600), 13,000 outages and numerous delays and flight cancellations
March 8-10, 1987
Drop in temp 57Âş in 36 [email protected] Islip 72 t0 15
March 12-14, 1888
Blizzard of '88 More than 30" snow on LI, winds 40-50 mph gusts to 75, temps from11Âş to -1Âş, East coast from Maine to Maryland/ Buffalo to Pittsburgh paralyzed , 330 killed 200 in NYC alone
March 13, 1989
Vivid aurora seen after 1:30 A. M.
March 13, 1993
Vicious coastal storm termed a "snowacane" 8-12" snow turned to ice, wind gust over 90 mph, more than 200 deaths along East Coast, 4 deaths on LI, all airports closed, beach erosion, houses lost on Fire Island
March 14-15, 1999
Biggest storm of the season, 6-10" wet and sticky, tied up traffic Monday A.M., nearly all schools closed, 120, 000 power outages
March 17, 1994
Snow Surprise early A.M., over 200 traffic accidents in Nassau county, LIE backed up 23 miles, SOB expressway closed
March 18-19, 1956
Snowstorm 25.6" Babylon, 14" BNL, 14" East End, 5 ft drifts, LI paralyzed, 1000s cars abandoned, Suffolk declared "Natural Disaster Area"
March 19, 1992
Snow last day of winter, 5-7" schools closed, many accidents
March 20, 1996
Windstorm accompanied by thunderstorms, last hours of winter, downed trees, flooding , 39,000 outages
March 20-21, 1958
Northeaster Snowstorm 16" BNL, 55 mph wind gust, high tides, "made a mockery of first day of spring" schools closed, Republic, Grumman closed, 150,000 outages
March 21-22, 1967
Snowstorm 16" BNL, poor visibility, slippery roads, major traffic, LIRR delays, schools closed, many fender benders, racing at Aqueduct canceled
March 24-27, 1973
Northeaster 3 days of high winds and high tides washed away about 70% of Gilgo Beach
March 27, 1998
Record breaking temp @ BNL 80Âş ,5 days earlier 5" snow with highs in the 30s
March 29,1970
Snowy Easter 2-4", started early morning, Easter Parade canceled
March 29, 1984
Northeaster 2" rain, 70 mph winds, flooding North fork, 100s evacuated in Jamesport, killed 60 in Carolinas