We have had a record breaking March to date, but that is coming to
an end today, Sunday.
We had a streak of 13 straight 60+ degree days and 7 (6 official) straight 70+ degree days
come to an end Saturday. Those are both records for the month of March.
Here’s a link to my March readings.
Through Saturday our average temperature for the month was 48.6 F which is now a full 15 degrees above normal. We are almost 4 degrees above the current warmest March on record (44.3 F in 1945) so if the month would end today it would be the warmest March on record. We are even above the average temperature for the month of April! However, we have another week to go in this month and we are certainly going to lose ground during that time, especially early in the week. A strong cold front comes through early Monday and air mass will move in to remind us that it is still the month of March, not May.
Temperatures are only about 40 °F on Monday, 40 °F COLDER
than last Monday!
Update: 03/26/2012
ONONDAGA (NYZ018)
Effective: Mon, Mar 26, 2012 11:24am EDT Severity: Minor
Updated: Mon, Mar 26, 2012 11:24am EDT Urgency: Expected
Expires: Tue, Mar 27, 2012 07:00am EDT Certainty: Observed
Alert:
…HARD FREEZE TONIGHT…
A MUCH COLDER AIRMASS IS MOVING INTO CENTRAL NEW YORK AND
NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA THIS AFTERNOON. TONIGHT…LOW TEMPERATURES
WILL RANGE IN THE TEENS TO LOWER 20S UNDER MAINLY CLEAR SKIES. DUE
TO THE UNSEASONABLY WARM TEMPERATURES SO FAR THIS MONTH…SOME
FRUIT TREES AND SENSITIVE VEGETATION MAY ALREADY BE VULNERABLE TO
TEMPERATURES THIS COLD. ANYONE WITH AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS MAY
NEED TO TAKE PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT ANY SENSITIVE PLANTS.
Here is a statement from the Binghamton NWS office Sunday morning, for several surrounding counties.
…FREEZING TEMPERATURES TO RETURN TO WESTERN NY…
MOTHER NATURE IS REVERSING COURSE FROM THE RECENT RECORD
HIGHS…NOW BACK TO WINTER ACROSS WESTERN NEW YORK. A MUCH COLDER
AIRMASS WILL FILTER INTO THE REGION BEHIND A COLD FRONT LATE TONIGHT.
THE IMPRESSIVE RECENT WARM SPELL ACROSS THE AREA HAS PROMPTED MANY
PLANTS AND TREES…ESPECIALLY FRUIT TREES…TO BLOOM WELL AHEAD OF
SCHEDULE ACROSS WESTERN NEW YORK. MANY OF THESE PLANTS ARE VERY
SUSCEPTIBLE TO A FREEZE. NEAR OF SLIGHTLY BELOW FREEZING
TEMPERATURES WILL BEGIN TO ARRIVE LATE TONIGHT. A DAMAGING FREEZE
IS VERY LIKELY MONDAY NIGHT…THE INGREDIENTS WILL BE IN
PLACE…THE COMBINATION OF LIGHT WINDS AND A COLD AIRMASS WILL
ALLOW TEMPERATURES TO DROP INTO THE 20S ACROSS MOST LOCATIONS.
ANYONE WITH AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS NEEDS TO TAKE PRECAUTIONS TO
PROTECT SENSITIVE PLANTS FROM THE COLD…MOVE THEM INSIDE OR COVER
UP THE PLANTS.