March 1-10, 2002: A Return to Winter at the Beginning of Spring.

The first ten days of March in the Midwest were cooler than normal and had an active weather pattern. Two major spring storms brought substantial amounts of precipitation to the Midwest around March 2-3 and 8-9. Precipitation totals exceeded 1.5 inches in southern Missouri, most of Illinois and Indiana, and almost all of Wisconsin and Michigan (Figure 7). More than 100% of normal precipitation was received everywhere in the Midwest except for Kentucky and eastern Ohio (Figure 8); precipitation in the upper Great Lakes exceeded 300% of normal for the period. Following the lead of late February, the temperatures in the Midwest were well below normal over most of the Midwest during the March 1-10 period (Figure 9). The western Midwest averaged 8-14°F below normal, but this moderated to the far eastern edge of the region, where temperatures were slightly above normal in Ohio. The combination of cold and precipitation bearing storms led to a large amount of snowfall in the northern Midwest, with amounts exceeding 18 inches common in northern Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the western snow belt regions of Lower Michigan (Figure 10). Marquette, MI, received 40.6 inches of snow in March 1-10 period; the normal for that period is about 9 inches. The snow pack has increased from fairly low levels in January to the 30 inch range over much of the UP of Michigan (Figure 11). The U.S. Drought Monitor maintained abnormally dry conditions in most of Minnesota and Iowa early in the middle of the period, before the second precipitation event (Figure 12, National Drought Mitigation Center). Some of the dry areas did receive beneficial precipitation by the end of the period.