Midwest Overview - March 2008

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Cold and Snowy

Temperatures were below normal across the entire Midwest during March (Figure 1), with average daily temperatures ranging from about 1°F below normal in southern Kentucky to 6°F to 8°F below normal in central Wisconsin and the Michigan Upper Peninsula. The first ten days of March were very cold (Figure 2), with temperatures ranging from more than 12°F below normal in northern Minnesota to 2°F below normal in eastern Ohio and southern Kentucky. This general temperature pattern persisted the rest of the month, although the magnitude of the temperature departures was not as great. There were several warmer than normal days during the month, but no prolonged periods of much warmer than normal weather.

Precipitation across the northwestern half of the Midwest was well below normal in March (Figure 3), with the exception of northwestern Minnesota. Northern Iowa into northeastern Minnesota, the northern two-thirds of Wisconsin, and eastern Lower Michigan received less than half the normal March precipitation. Precipitation was two to three times normal across the southern half of Missouri, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, northern Kentucky, and Ohio. A large proportion of that precipitation fell during the March 17-20 period as an intense storm system crawled through the southern Midwest and northern Gulf States, inundating southeastern Missouri and the lower Ohio Valley. Rainfall amounts in a 48 hour period totaled 13.84 inches in Cape Girardeau, MO, 12.32 inches in Jackson, MO, and 11.96 inches in Anna, IL. Frequent and copious rainfall during the month combined with already saturated ground resulted in widespread major flooding of rivers and streams from the Missouri Ozarks eastward into southern Indiana.

March snowfall was above normal across western Minnesota, northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, and from southern Missouri northeast through the Ohio Valley (Figure 4). The snow in the southern Midwest occurred March 7-9, when a storm produced heavy snow from southwestern Indiana through southern Ohio and northern Kentucky, generally along the Ohio River. Eight to 12 inches fell from Louisville, KY to Cincinnati, OH. The snow was heaviest in southern Ohio, with 12 to more than 14 inches from Cincinnati to Columbus, OH. In Columbus, a record 20.5 inches of snow fell during the storm, breaking the old record of 15.3 inches set on February 17-18, 1910. Columbus also set a record for the all-time greatest 24-hour snowfall with 15.5 inches breaking the old record of 12.3 inches on April 4, 1987. The storm paralyzed surface and air travel. Ninety percent of the flights at the Columbus, OH airport were canceled on March 8 because of the storm. Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland closed on March 8, reopening on March 9. There were six deaths in Ohio attributed to the storm.

-SDH-