March 2011 Revisited

Compared to historical averages, March 2011 in Hood River was colder, cloudier, and wetter, with slightly below average winds.

The month came in like a lion, and pretty much went out the same way. We couldn't reach a high temperature of 60° to save our lives. First it snowed, then it rained and rained, and it generally stayed cool and cloudy far more than it should have. And to top it off, my weather station went tits up (so to speak), and was out of commission for 8 days.

As a result, it's occurred to me that the data I list here each month really should all come from HOXO or MCAREC whenever possible, as they are the official weather data keepers for Hood River. If they don't have the data available, I'll use my station's data, and revise it when the official data is available. To view my station's data for March 2011, click here.

The average temperature of 42.3° was cooler than long term averages (43.8°), and also cooler than the more recent (2001-2010) average of 44.6°. The maximum temp was 57°, and the minimum was 27°. The high heat index for the month was 60°, and the low wind chill was 29°.

Did I mention that it was a cloudy month? Solar radiation averaged 218 Ly/day, compared to an average of 294 Ly/day. In fact, this was the least sunny March since 2000, which is as far back as I've bothered to look.

Precipitation totaled 5.96", almost double the March average of 3.12". It rained on 26 of the 31 days in the month, which was ridiculous. The maximum daily rainfall (1.57") occurred on March 1st. Also on that date, we had 7" of snow (the total for the month), with an average March having 2.2" of snow.

The 24 hour average wind speed for March was 2.6 mph, compared to the historical average of 2.9 mph. The peak wind gust was 30 mph on March 30. Wind speeds at other less sheltered locations, such as the Columbia River, were undoubtedly higher. Barometric pressure peaked at 30.29", with a low of 29.45".

There were 2 local weather records in March. Oddly enough, one record on the first day of the month, and one record on the last day of the month. Kind of like bookends or something. On 3/1, the rain/melted snow totaled 1.57", blasting by the old record of 1.06" set in 1955. On 3/31, the low temperature of 50° set a new "high low" record for the date (old record 48° in 2003).

A very cool time lapse video of auroras.