Looking Back at New York Weather History: March 4

 

1950

This was the seventh day since Feb. 20 with a low of 12° or colder.  Additionally, eight of the days had highs of 32° or colder.  The average high/low during this 13-day period was 32°/16°, twelve degrees colder than average.

1972

The morning low of 17° came three days after a high of 73°, which was the warmest reading of the entire month. 

1974

Today's high of 70° was the warmest reading of March, 24 degrees above average, and a record for the date.

1985

On a gloomy and damp Monday, the last measurable snow of the winter fell during lunchtime.  However, after 0.2" accumulated, the snow changed over to rain. 

2015

Today's seasonably cold high of 45° was the mildest reading since Jan. 5.  This was also the 58th consecutive day in which the temperature got no higher than 45°, a new record.  The previous record occurred during the winter of 1948.  

2017

Although cold days in March aren't unusual, today's high/low of 30°/17° was a shock since it came after the mildest February on record.  And after dark the wind chill was close to 10°.  The last time a day was so cold this winter was on Jan. 9 (high/low of 23°/14°).

2019

Snow that accumulated two inches yesterday evening continued overnight, adding three more inches.  (For the entirety of the storm the temperature stayed above 32°.)  These were the fourth and fifth days in a row with measurable snow, just the third time this has happened, joining streaks during the winters of 1923 and 1938.  This snowfall also brought March's snowfall to 10.4", more than the 10.1" that fell in the preceding four months.

 

 

Comments

[Benny R.]

This is also the very first time NYC has had four consecutive days in which an inch or more of snow fell and also the most snow NYC has had during the first four days of March.

[Benny R.]

CORRECTION: It is second place in the most snow that has fallen in the first four days of March, first place is a tie with 1914 and 1960 (14.5 inches).

[William]

also in 2019, for the first time ever, March began with four days of measurable snow. additionally, only 1914 and 1960 (both had 14.5") have had a snowier four-day introduction to March than this year.

[William]

2019's storm made this the second winter in a row with a 5"+ snow storm in which the temperature was never at or below freezing. the low temperature was 33° on April 2, 2018 when 5.5" of the white stuff fell.

[Ken K. in NJ]

Hi Rob. Thanks for including 2019 in your March 4th summary, I was wondering about whether the 5 consecutive days of measurable snowfall was a record. I do have a followup question. The first 4 days involved 4 separate snow events rather than a storm or 2 storms carrying over. Is there any way to determine if that has ever occurred before?

Thanks.

[William]

In the 1960-2019 year range, only 1960 (2.0"), 1971 (1.3") and 2019 have had an inch or more of snow on this date.

[Harry Mandel]

There was also a trace of snow of Feb. 27. Is 6 days in a row of ANY snowfall a record?

[Rob]

1923's was followed by a trace of snow the next day. And the 1938 streak was followed by two days with a trace and then a day with 1.3" of snow. (The most days in a row with a trace of snow is five, which happened in January 1933 and April 1943.)

[Ken K. in NJ]

Hi Again Rob. No sure if you caught it, but on Monday night's Channel 7 news, Lee Goldberg mentioned that the 5 days in a row of measurable snow had only happened twice before. He didn't mention the years, nor did he mention where he got the info from. Could have come from you?

[Rob]

Hi Ken,
I tweeted this information (with chart) on Monday AM but I don't believe he's a follower of mine on Twitter.

[William]

In terms of how Lee knew about the record streak of days with measurable snow (to answer Ken's question), he re-tweeted a tweet from the NWS Eastern Region's twitter account. They tweeted a chart similar to the one Rob posted on his twitter account. Lee's statement came from the NWS, not from the author of this blog.

[William]

2019's snow brought the season's total to 20.5", exactly half of what fell during the 2017-2018 season. 2019's snow also broke a string of five winters with thirty inches or more of snow, and was the least snowiest season since 2012 when 7.4" of snow fell. 2019 was the first season since 1997-1998 in which March had more snow than Nov-Feb combined (Nov-Feb had 0.5" and March had 5.0").