March 2003 Saint Cloud Weather Summary

Subject: Saint Cloud Weather Summary for March 2003

It Was the Coldest of Marches; It Was the Warmest of Marches

     March 2003 in Saint Cloud was about as bi-polar as a month could be. The average temperature, recorded at the Saint Cloud Municipal Airport, was 27.2°F, only a bit more than a degree below normal. However, the first 10 days of March were colder than January is supposed to be. The average high of the first 10 days was 16.7°F and the average low was -5.7°F, including 4 days with a high temperature in the single digits and 7 days with a low of 0°F or colder. Four record cold temperatures were set and another one was tied. This included the record low temperature of -17°F set on the 5th.

     After the 10th, the pesky high pressure area off the British Columbia coast finally broke down, allowing a major warming trend. The average high temperature for the last 21 days of March was 47.5°F and the average low temperature was 27.7°F. This weather was typical of the first week of April and included three days with a high above 60. A record warm daily average temperature was tied on the 15th.

     March was also a snowy month (9.6 inches), but not in the usual March way. The March snow fell in small doses with the largest accumulation of 4.1 inches falling on March 8th. This snowfall did set a daily record for snow, but ranks well down the list of largest March snowstorms, including the 10.4 inches on March 14th last year (March weather records can be found here). Probably the largest potential storm was the storm of March 28 which was not only too warm to produce a significant snowfall, but also mainly missed the Saint Cloud area. The largest precipitation event of the month were the early morning thunderstorms on March 18. These storms produced pea-sized hail, gusty winds, and 0.97 inch of rain, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the March rainfall. Several storm drains in Saint Cloud were clogged by the rapid rush of the water which deposited a winter's worth of sand in the drains. The storms converged over Saint Cloud, so the city received 0.80 inch more than any other reporting station in the area.

     At this point, March would rank as the snowiest month during the winter of 2002-2003. If this holds up through the next two months, this would be the 18th cold season during which March had the most snow. Still, this doesn't even approach January, which has been the snowiest month near one-third of the years in Saint Cloud records (31 of 94 years).

March 2003 Statistics