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Northeast Regional Climate Center |
March 2001 averaged 31.5 degrees, or 2.9 degrees colder than normal. This was 8.5 degrees colder than March 2000, and the coldest March since 1996. Temperatures were as much as 4.6 degrees below normal in West Virginia to 1.3 degrees below normal in Rhode Island. Besides West Virginia, Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania deviated the most at 3.0, 3.1, and 3.5 degrees below the average, respectively.
Precipitation was abundant throughout most of the region, with every state except West Virginia reporting above normal precipitation, and three states reporting at least twice their normal precipitation. This was the fifth straight March with above normal precipitation. Rhode Island tied their wettest March on record with 8.94 inches representing 218% of normal. Massachusetts had their second wettest March on record with 8.29 inches. Plymouth, MA recorded well over a foot of precipitation during the month with 14.39 inches. New York had their 3rd wettest March and Connecticut and Vermont each had their 7th wettest March in the past 107 years. A large nor'easter in early March, along with two other large storms later in the month, were responsible for the bulk of the precipitation in the Northeast. A map of snowfall for the March 4-7 storm is available.
Monthly Summary of State Temperature and Precipitation Averages.
