CXUS51 KBUF 040234 CLMBUF CLIMATE REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY 1012 AM EDT WED APR 01 2026 ................................... ...THE BUFFALO NY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH 2026... CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD: 1991 TO 2020 CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD: 1871 TO 2026 WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR'S VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE DATE(S) NORMAL ................................................................ TEMPERATURE (F) RECORD HIGH 82 03/21/2012 LOW -7 03/08/1984 HIGHEST 72 03/07 76 03/19 LOWEST 11 03/02 10 03/02 AVG. MAXIMUM 47.1 41.8 5.3 50.8 AVG. MINIMUM 29.3 26.4 2.9 29.8 MEAN 38.2 34.1 4.1 40.3 DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.0 0.0 0 DAYS MAX <= 32 4 6.4 -2.4 1 DAYS MIN <= 32 22 22.7 -0.7 20 DAYS MIN <= 0 0 0.3 -0.3 0 PRECIPITATION (INCHES) RECORD MAXIMUM 7.03 1936 MINIMUM 0.68 1910 TOTALS 6.33 2.89 3.44 1.85 DAYS >= .01 15 13 DAYS >= .10 10 5 DAYS >= .50 5 1 DAYS >= 1.00 3 0 GREATEST 24 HR. TOTAL 1.58 03/30 TO 03/31 0.58 03/05 TO 03/05 SNOWFALL (INCHES) RECORDS TOTAL 38.5 1936 TOTALS 4.5 14.1 -9.6 1.2 SINCE 7/1 92.5 92.9 -0.4 SNOWDEPTH AVG. 0 -1 DAYS >= 1.0 1 3.6 -2.6 0 DAYS >= 0.1 5 3 GREATEST SNOW DEPTH 2 03/17 MM 03/04 03/01 03/08 24 HR TOTAL 3.4 03/16 TO 03/17 DEGREE DAYS HEATING TOTAL 822 958 -136 758 SINCE 7/1 5623 5576 47 MM COOLING TOTAL 0 0 0 0 SINCE 1/1 0 0 0 MM ................................................................ WIND (MPH) AVERAGE WIND SPEED 11.2 HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 43/230 HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 58/260 DATE 03/14 SKY COVER POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 2 NUMBER OF DAYS PC 9 NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 20 AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 71 WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORM 4 MIXED PRECIP 0 HEAVY RAIN 4 RAIN 5 LIGHT RAIN 14 FREEZING RAIN 0 LT FREEZING RAIN 2 HAIL 0 HEAVY SNOW 1 SNOW 2 LIGHT SNOW 10 SLEET 0 FOG 19 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 5 HAZE 2 - INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS. R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED. MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING. T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT. && ... WARM AND WET MONTH OF MARCH ... AFTER A METEOROLOGICAL WINTER THAT FEATURED PLENTY OF ARCTIC AIR, MILD DAYS RULED THE MONTH OF MARCH, THE FIRST MONTH OF METEOROLOGICAL SPRING, WITH COLD STRETCHES LIMITED TO JUST TWO DAYS THROUGHOUT THE MONTH. IT WAS ALSO A WET MONTH WITH SEVERAL RAINY DAYS EVENLY SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE MONTH WITH A RECORD BREAKING PRECIPITATION EVENT ON THE 31ST PUSHING THE MONTH TO 2ND WETTEST ON RECORD. SNOW WAS LACKING WITH MOST OF THE SNOW FOR THE MONTH FALLING IN JUST ONE EVENT MID-MONTH. THE TEMPERATURE THIS MONTH AVERAGED 38.2°F WHICH IS JUST OVER FOUR DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. A 6 DAY STRETCH FROM THE 6TH THROUGH THE 11TH CARRIED THIS WELL ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURE MONTH, WITH THESE 6-DAYS AVERAGING 19 DEGREES ABOVE THEIR DAILY NORMAL TEMPERATURE. THE 8 DAYS REACHING 60°F OR WARMER RANKED 9TH GREATEST FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH. THERE WAS ONE RECORD TEMPERATURE, WITH THE 50°F READING ON THE 7TH TYING WITH 1973 FOR WARMEST MINIMUM TEMPERATURE ON RECORD. PRECIPITATION TOTALED 6.33 INCHES, 2ND WETTEST ON RECORD FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH. THIS IS THE WETTEST MONTH SINCE DECEMBER OF 2022. THE FIVE DAYS TALLYING MORE THAN A HALF AN INCH OF PRECIPITATION IS TIED FOR SECOND GREATEST ALL-TIME FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH. THERE WERE TWO PRECIPITATION RECORDS ESTABLISHED. THE 1.11 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION ON THE 11TH BROKE THE FORMER RECORD OF 0.85 INCHES SET BACK IN 1884. ADDITIONALLY, THE 1.34 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION ON THE 31ST BROKE THE FORMER RECORD OF 1.33 INCHES SET BACK IN 1886. DESPITE THE 2ND GREATEST PRECIPITATION TOTAL FOR THE MONTH, THERE WERE ONLY 15 DAYS WITH MEASURABLE PRECIPITATION, ONE DAY FEWER THAN THE MONTHLY NORMAL. THE THREE DATES WITH OVER AN INCH OF PRECIPITATION WAS THE FIRST SUCH OCCURRENCE OF MULTIPLE DATES WITH OVER AN INCH OF PRECIPITATION IN THE MONTH OF MARCH. SNOW ACCUMULATION FOR THE MONTH TOTALED 4.5 INCHES WHICH IS OVER NINE INCHES BELOW NORMAL. MOST OF THE SNOW FELL IN ONE EVENT, THIS ON THE 16TH OF THE MONTH. A FLOW OF COLD AIR CONTINUED FROM THE WINTER MONTHS INTO THE FIRST FEW DAYS OF MARCH, WITH BELOW FREEZING TEMPERATURES ON THE FIRST TWO DAYS OF THE MONTH. A FEW SNOW SHOWERS ON THE 1ST COATED THE GROUND IN SNOW. A WARMING TREND STARTED ON THE 3RD, AND CULMINATED ON THE 7TH WHEN THE THERMOMETER HIT 72 DEGREES. THIS WAS THE FIRST 70 DEGREE READING OF THE YEAR, AND OCCURRED ABOUT THREE AND A HALF WEEKS EARLIER THAN NORMAL. ENDING THE WARMTH WAS A STRONG COLD FRONT LATER ON THE 7TH, ONE THAT BORE SHOWERS AND A FEW SOUTHERN TIER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THAT BROUGHT DOWN TREES. SEVERAL ROUNDS OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ON THE 11TH THROUGH THE DAYLIGHT HOURS TOTALED OVER AN INCH OF RAINFALL AT THE BUFFALO AIRPORT. THE 11TH THROUGH THE 16TH ALSO FEATURED A WINDY PERIOD FOR THE MONTH, WITH 5 OF THE 6 DATES GUSTING OVER 50 MPH. TEMPERATURES ON THE 16TH SOARED TO THE LOWER 60S BY EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS BEFORE A STRONG COLD FRONT PASSED THROUGH, WITH WINTER'S CHILL FOLLOWING ALONG WITH SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW. ADDITIONAL WAVES OF RAIN FROM PASSING STORM SYSTEMS BUILT MARCH TO THE SECOND WETTEST ON RECORD, WITH THESE EVENTS OCCURRING ON THE 20TH, 22ND, 26TH AND LASTLY LATE ON THE 30TH AND THE 31ST OF THE MONTH WHEN WIDESPREAD TWO TO THREE INCHES OF RAIN FLOODED PARTS OF WNY. AREA CREEKS SWELLED WITH THE BUFFALO CREEKS, TONAWANDA RIVER AND CREEKS OF THE GENESEE VALLEY ALL REACHING MINOR TO MODERATE FLOODING. THIS BROUGHT SEVERAL ROAD CLOSURES ACROSS THE REGION. ADDITIONALLY ON THE FINAL DAY OF THE MONTH A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM PASSED FROM LAKE ERIE INLAND WITH LARGE AND NUMEROUS HAIL ALONG WITH DAMAGING WIND GUSTS ACROSS SOUTHERN ERIE AND NORTHERN CATTARAUGUS COUNTIES, AND LATER SPAWNED AN EF-1 TORNADO NEAR MACHIAS. THIS WAS THE FIRST MARCH TORNADO IN NEW YORK STATE SINCE 1976. LAKE ICE SLOWLY RETREATED ON LAKE ERIE THIS MONTH, WITH A STILL SIZABLE SHEET OF ICE LINGERING NEAR THE NORTHEAST END OF THE LAKE. WIND SPEED WAS NORMAL FOR THE MONTH, THOUGH THE SIX DATES WITH WIND GUSTS OVER 50 MPH WAS A FIRST-TIME OCCURRENCE SINCE AT LEAST 2007. THE STRONGEST GUST WAS 56 MPH OCCURRING DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS OF THE 11TH, IN CONJUNCTION WITH A STRONG COLD FRONT PASSAGE.  IN ALL, AN ACTIVE MONTH WITH SEVERAL LARGE RAIN EVENTS ENDING THE MONTH WITH FLOODING. && THOMAS $$