New York City Weather Archive

Today in New York Weather History: March 12

• 1978 - Today's high of 56 degrees was the first above average high temperature in six-and-a-half weeks (since January 26).

 

• 1984 - For the fifth day in a row the morning low was in the teens.  The temperature range on these days was between 13 and 18 degrees, which would be quite cold even in the depths of winter.  

 

• 1987 - Four days after the temperature soared to 76, the final snow of the winter fell, accumulating 1.9" between this afternoon into early morning on 3/13.  Additionally, there was only a two-degree difference between today's high (33 degrees) and low (31).

• 2000 - The 0.18" of rain that fell this morning was the first precipitation on this date in thirteen years.

• 2004 - For the fourth morning in a row the low temperature was 35 degrees.  

A Glance Back at New York's Weather: March 9

• 1978 - Today's high of 43 degrees, four degrees below average, was the mildest reading in six weeks (when the temperature rose to 58 on 1/26).    

 

• 1984 - Snow moved in last night and by daybreak 6.9" had accumulated (5.1" of it today), making this the biggest snow of the winter.  It was a powdery snow with just 0.38" of water content. 

 

• 1987 - The temperature fell all day, dropping from 62 to 23 by midnight, one day after a record high of 76.

 

• 1996 - It was a very cold day as the high/low was just 24/11, twenty-two degrees below average.  The low was a record for the date.

 

• 1998 - Beginning yesterday afternoon and continuing through midday today 2.32" of rain fell.  Nearly half, 1.02", came down between 5-7AM.  Today's rainfall of 1.82" was a record for the date.

 

• 2000 - Today's high of 75 was a record for the date and twenty-eight degrees above average.

 

• 2007 - Today's low of 13 was the fourth day in a row with a morning low in the teens.  The average low of 14 during these four days was 21 degrees colder than normal.

 

• 2013 - Yesterday's wintry conditions, and 4-inch snowfall, were a distant memory as today was sunny with afternoon temperatures in the mid-50's.

 

 

 

A Glance Back at New York's Weather: March 6

 

• 1979 - An all-day rain dumped 2.63", a record for the date.

 

• 1989 - An Arctic front passed through in the wee hours of the morning and 2.5" of snow fell during AM rush hour - just the second significant snowfall of the winter.  South Jersey and the Philadelphia metro area got the brunt of the storm.  This would be the last snowfall of the winter.  Just 8.1" fell for the entire winter, about twenty inches below average, the least since 1972-73 when 2.8" was measured (the least ever).  Since then three winters have had lesser amounts.   

 

• 1997 - Although it rained for eight of the past nine days, it amounted to only 1.05".  Today's rainfall was just 0.07", but it was accompanied by ferocious winds, with Central Park recording a wind gust of 52 mph.

 

• 2001 - For the past few days a monster snowstorm (which The Weather Channel labeled "The March Lion") had been forecast, with 12-18" of snow predicted at one point.  However, it turned out to be a bust as only 3.5" fell (2 inches yesterday, 1.5 inches today).  The storm developed further north than was expected, sparing the City and New Jersey.  Long Island's Suffolk County, however, was walloped with 10-15" of snow.  The earlier forecast created a panic and many schools and businesses in the City closed yesterday.

 

• 2002 - Today's high of 59 was one day after a morning low of 19.

 

• 2007 - Bitterly cold, with a high/low of just 21/11, twenty-three degrees colder than average.

 

• 2011 - It was a good Sunday to stay indoors as rain began mid-morning and continued for the rest of the day.  Accompanied by lashing winds, rain fell heaviest between 4-11PM when 1.30" came down; total for the day was 2.02".  Only four degrees separated the day's high and low of 54/50.

 

• 2013 - A raw day with fierce winds under slate gray skies - but no precipitation fell.  Winds gusted between 40-55 mph.  This was part of a storm system to our south that had brought heavy snow to the Midwest earlier in the week and was now producing significant accumulations in WV, MD and VA.  

Today in New York Weather History: March 3

 

• 1991 - 2.17" of rain fell (2.54" when rain that continued until the wee hours of the next day is included), with nearly an inch falling between 9-10PM.  The day's rainfall was more than what fell in the entire month of February and was the biggest rainstorm since August 10 of last year.

 

 

• 2003 - This morning's low was a biting cold 11 degrees, a record for the date and the coldest temperature in March since a 10-degree reading in 1980.   

 

• 2009 - Following yesterday's 8.3" snowfall, this morning dawned very cold with a low of 12 degrees.  And today's afternoon high of 26 was a record for coldest high temperature for the date.

 

A Glance Back at New York's Weather: March 1

"New York City Weather Archive" revisits interesting and off-beat weather that has occurred in NYC since 1979, the year I moved to New York.  Data comes largely from NOAA's "Monthly Climatological Data" reports.  

 

• 1980 - March came in like a polar bear as the morning low was 10 degrees (twenty-one degrees below average), the coldest reading in the month of March since 1967.  No day in March has had a colder reading since then.  (However, it was still six degrees above the record for the date.)

 

• 1987 - An all-day rain dumped 2.36" by 9:00 tonight.  The rain came down heaviest between 6-9AM when 0.99" poured down.  This was more than twice the amount of rain that fell in the entire month of February (1.01").

 

• 1992 - One day after the temperature dropped from 50 to 19, it jumped in the other direction, from 19 to 56.

 

• 2005 - 7.7" of snow fell from a storm that began yesterday afternoon and ended at daybreak today.  It wasn't a cold storm as the temperature rose into the low 40's during the afternoon.  This was the third accumulation of five inches+ in the past ten days.  Combined, 18.7" fell from these snow events. 

 

 

 

 

Today in New York Weather History: February 28

 

• 1981 - After an extremely dry December and January, February was the wettest since 1939. (Interestingly, December and January each received the same meager amount of precipitation - 0.58").  Nearly four inches of rain fell in the past week-and-a-half, more than the previous thirteen weeks combined.  

 

• 1998 - This was the mildest February on record, 7 degrees above average (later tied in 2002), and with no snowfall.  This followed an equally mild January which was 8.5 degrees above average.  And the mild trend continued today, with temperatures 11 degrees above average.   

 

• 2002 - The very mild temperatures in January and February were as mild as those in 1998.  In both years the mean temperature was 40.0 degrees in January and 40.6 degrees in February.    

 

• 2007 - This was the coldest February since 1979, 6.3 degrees colder than normal.  However, despite the cold conditions just 3.8 inches of snow fell.  Today was one of the handful of days with above average temps. 

 

• 2008 - Today's high of 28/low of 18 was fifteen degrees colder than average. 

Today in New York Weather History: February 26

• 1970 - The morning low of 9 degrees at 7AM was 45 degrees colder than it was yesterday at 2PM (17 hours).  

 

• 1990 - A high of 25/low of +7 made this the coldest day of the year, but not the coldest day of the winter, as that occurred back on December 23 when the high/low was 22/6.  This tied 1970 as the latest date for a low in the single digits since 1967 (when the mercury bottomed out at 8 degrees on March 19).  

 

• 1991 - A surprise snowstorm dumped 8.9" of wet snow, the biggest accumulation in eight years (when 17.6" buried the City on February 11-12, 1983 ).  Because the temperature was just above freezing for much of the day the snow didn't accumulate much on the streets or sidewalks.  This was the winter's third snowfall of 5 inches or more.

 

• 1994 - The 1.4" of snow that fell at around daybreak was the 11th snowfall this winter of one inch or more, the most since the winter of 1963-64. 

 

• 1995 - The last snowfall of the winter fell during the morning when 0.5" accumulated.  This was the earliest date for the final accumulation since the winter of 1985/86 when it occurred on February 15.  (Average date for the last snowfall is March 16.)

 

• 2010 - After 9.4" of snow fell last night, an additional 11.5" fell today, ending in the early afternoon.  The storm's total of 20.9" made this the fourth largest accumulation in NYC history - and just 0.1" shy of the total from the great blizzard of March 1888.  With this storm February's total snowfall reached 36.9", the most ever measured in any month.  (And this was without any snow from the big Mid-Atlantic blizzard of February 4-5 that stopped at our doorstep.)  This ended up being the last snowfall of the winter.

Today in New York Weather History: February 19

 

• 1979 - A fast-moving snowstorm buried the City on Presidents' Day with 12.7" of snow between 4AM-noon.  However, the storm's deepest snows, of 18-24", fell in Virginia, DC, Maryland and Delaware.  Additionally, 15 of the past 19 days had high temperatures that were at the freezing mark or below, averaging 14 degrees below average.  Including today's snowfall, 20.1" of snow fell duing these nineteen days.  Another President's Day storm with even more snow would bury the region 24 years later. 

 

• 1980 - This morning's low temperature of 28 degrees made this the 31st day in a row with a low at freezing or colder.  There have been only five streaks longer than this in the 50-year period between 1962-2012.

 

• 1997 - Today's high of 66 was a record for the date.

 

• 2000 - Today's high/low was 32/29 with freezing rain (0.24" of liquid precipitation).

 

• 2006 - Today was the second coldest day of a mild winter as the high reached 30 after a low of 15.  (The coldest day of the winter was back in mid-December).

 

• 2007 - Thirteen of the past sixteen days had morning lows in the teens and eleven had highs at freezing or below.  Average high/low during these days was 30/17, 10.5 degrees colder than normal.

 

• 2013 - The 0.15" of rain that fell during the afternoon was the first precipitation to fall on this date since 1998.

 

Today in New York Weather History: February 18

 

• 1979 - This morning's low of zero degrees was the coldest reading in February since 1943.  It was also the eighth day of the past ten with a low in the single digits.  During these ten days the low averaged a brutal +6, twenty-two degrees colder than average.

 

• 1981 - Today's balmy high of 68 was a record for the date, twenty-six degrees above the average.  This was four weeks after the Hudson and East Rivers around Manhattan were largely ice covered.

 

• 2000 - A slushy three inches of snow fell in addition to freezing rain and sleet.  This was the last significant snow of the winter.

 

• 2003 - Eight of the past thirteen days had highs at freezing or colder and twenty-six inches of snow fell.  Temperatures were 9 degrees below average. 

 

 

• 2006 - Although today turned sharply colder, temperatures in the upper 50's the previous three days completely melted away the record-setting 26.9 inches of snow that fell less than a week ago (Feb. 11-12).   

 

• 2012 - Precipitation fell on eight of the past eleven days but it amounted to only 0.37". 

The Last Gasps of Winter: The Frustration of March Cold Snaps

March may be the most disheartening of all the months.  By the time March 1 arrives most of us are looking forward to the arrival of spring, but sometimes winter just hangs on.  One day the temperature may soar into the 60's and 70's (even 80's) only to plunge into the 20's and 30's (even teens) a few days later.  This post is a tribute to these spirit-crushing winterlike days.

 

The month begins with a mean temperature of 38 degrees (high of 46), rising to 47 degrees by 3/31 (high of 56).  However, a day or two with high temperatures in the 30's is guaranteed to occur a few times; and days with highs at freezing or colder have occurred 44 times since 1960.   

 

In the years between 1960 and 2012, the coldest day in March was in 1967.  It's notable not only because of how cold it was (high/low of 20/10), but how late in the month it occurred (3/18).  And two days later the coldest temperature in March occurred when the AM low dropped to 8 degrees.  This is the only single-digit reading in March during this period. 

 

The following chart lists the ten coldest days in March since 1960, ranked by mean temperature.  Six years are represented: 1967, 1980, 1989, 1996, 2007 and 2009.

10 Coldest Days in March
				Departure
	High	Low	Mean	From Norm
March 18, 1967	20	10	15.0	-27
March 6, 2007	21	11	16.0	-23
March 7, 2007	23	12	17.5	-22
March 9, 1996	24	11	17.5	-22
March 19, 1967	28	8	18.0	-24
March 1, 1980	26	10	18.0	-18
March 8, 1996	24	14	19.0	-21
March 3, 2009	26	12	19.0	-20
March 7, 1989	25	13	19.0	-19
March 17, 1967	26	13	19.5	-21

 

Finally, although it occurred in April, an honorable mention goes to April 7, 1982.  On that day (following a memorable blizzard the day before that dropped nearly 10 inches of snow), the high/low was 30/21. Since 1960 this is the latest date for a sub-freezing high.  And it was thirteen days after March's latest subfreezing temperature - 29 degrees on March 25,1960.