Last month more than lived up to its poetic reputation of in like a lion, out like a lamb.
We received almost twice as much precipitation as normal in March while the average temperature was 1.5 degrees warmer than normal, according to statistics from the Southeast Fire Centre in Castlegar.
We received 119.6 mm of precipitation, compared to the usual 62.9 mm. The record high of 145.6 mm was set in 2012 while the record low of 20.8 mm dates to 1969.
The amount of snow in March was more than twice the normal for March — 28.2 cm versus 13.2 cm — but most of it melted on contact. The only two mornings where there was any measurable snow on the ground were the 2nd and 10th.
“The initial half of the month was very eventful with a near constant stream of Pacific moisture entrenched in a southwesterly flow aloft,” wrote forecasters Ron Lakeman and Jesse Ellis. During the first half of March, there was only one day without precipitation. The heaviest downpour — 23.8 mm of rain and wet snow — was due to a large frontal system on the night of the 9th.
The second half of the month was less eventful but still unsettled with a few Pacific disturbances producing light precipitation, the forecasters said.
An upper ridge of high pressure allowed for mainly sunny skies and unusually warm temperatures during the final three days. The warmest temperature of the month was 20.4 degrees on the afternoon of the 31st, which tied the record high for that day, last recorded in 1995.
The all-time record high for the month of 23.1 degrees was set on March 30, 2004. The lowest temperature last month was minus-5.6 degrees on the 18th. The all-time low of minus-16.5 was set on March 11, 2009.