March 2010 Revisited

Compared to historical averages, March in Hood River was warmer, wetter, and less windy.

The average temperature (45.0°) was warmer than long term averages (44.2°), but slightly cooler than more recent averages of 45.3° (2000-2009). There was 3.56" of precipitation, compared to an average March total of 3.13". The monthly average wind speed was below average (1.9 mph vs 2.7 mph), continuing the trend of lower average wind speeds for the past 7 months.

There was one local weather record set in March. On March 29th, the heavens opened up, and we received 1.31" of rain. This more than doubled the previous 3/29 record of 0.62" in 1974, and made a big dent in our rain year deficit.

The data below is from my home weather station. To view its March 2010 monthly summary and graphs at Weather Underground, click here.

The "historical average" numbers for temperature and rainfall are from the Hood River MCAREC data. Historical wind average is from my station's 2000 to 2009 data. Note that average wind speeds include all 24 hours of the day and night, which is why they are way lower than daytime peak winds. In addition, the wind speed at this station is considerably lower than on the Columbia River.

	High	Low	Average	Historical Average
Temperature (F)	66	28	45.0	44.2
Wind (mph)	33		1.9	2.7
Rainfall (in)	1.31		3.56 (total)	3.13