From Snowstorm to Thunderstorm
By Russell Russ
The month’s low temperature of 2 degrees was observed on March 3. The high temperature of 60 degrees was observed on March 28. Norfolk was nowhere near any temperature records this month, high or low. The average mean temperature this month was 32.4 degrees, 1.8 degrees above the March normal.
The total precipitation recorded for the month was 2.80 inches, 1.69 inches below normal. March’s snowfall total was 14.2 inches, 4.2 inches below normal. At the weather station we lost our snow cover on March 29. There had been a continuous snow cover since December 17, 2008.
For the year 2009 through March the total precipitation amount is 8.52 inches, 3.66 inches below normal. The snowfall total for this same period is 56.9 inches, 2.7 inches below normal. The snowfall total for this winter season, October through March, is now at 78.9 inches. This is 5.6 inches below normal for this time period.
March came in like a lion with our largest snow event of the season starting in the late evening of March 1 and continuing into the afternoon of March 2. Overall the storm dumped a total of 12.7 inches of snow at the weather station. There were some higher totals recorded in other parts of Litchfield County. After this snowstorm we had relatively little snowfall for the rest of the month. We did not see any strong nor’easters this month. It is fairly common to be hit by at least one in March, often leaving Norfolk with some impressive snowfall totals. There was a thunderstorm with reports of hail during the evening of March 29.
This year both Tobey Pond and Wangum Lake lost their ice on March 30. This was almost two weeks earlier than last year, but about the same as in 2007. Typically the ice goes out between late March and the first or second week of April.
