4 Reasons March Is Still a Winter Month

Baseball's spring training is in full swing. The kids are nearing spring break. Minutes of daylight are added each day and, as a result, the coldest time of year is usually in the rear-view mirror.

But March weather can be frustrating to some, squashing spring fever in favor of more cabin fever.

Here are four reasons why you might consider March more of a winter month.

1. Spring Doesn't 'Officially' Arrive For Weeks

While meteorologists mark the start of spring on March 1, the vernal equinox, marking the arrival of spring, occurs around March 20 each year.

So, astronomically speaking, we still have roughly three weeks of winter left as March begins.

On both the vernal (spring) and autumnal (fall) equinoxes, the sun's most direct rays shine on the equator.

2. Notorious March Snowstorms

With lingering cold air in place – yet an increasing contrast in temperature as more southern locations warm up and, therefore, a powerhouse jet stream – March snowstorms can be the stuff of legend.

Along the East Coast, nor'easters can produce feet of snow, high winds and coastal flooding in March. In 2018, four such nor'easters buffeted the coast in the first three weeks of March.

In recent history, the signature March storm was the infamous Superstorm of 1993, which wrung out snow from the Florida Panhandle to Maine, not to mention driving a squall line with hurricane-like storm surge flooding into Florida.

Strong March winter storms also plague parts of the Midwest, Plains, Rockies, Cascades and Sierra. Last March, roughly 16 feet of snow fell in the Sierra of California in just 18 days.

March is the snowiest month of the year, on average, in parts of the High Plains and Rockies, including Denver, Colorado, and Billings, Montana.

March is typically the snowiest month of the year in locations contoured in light yellow on this map.

3. March Freezes Are Common

With the exception of typically warm areas, such as the Florida Peninsula, South Texas and the Lower Colorado River Valley, at least one March freeze is typical for much of the Lower 48 states.

In fact, a majority of the U.S. has to wait until at least April to get the last spring freeze out of the way. The farther north you live, and the higher the elevation, the more likely you usually must wait until at least May before morning temperatures stay above freezing for the season.

4. March Cold Outbreaks Can Be Surprisingly Frigid

As this article was being written, one of the coldest March outbreaks in the Plains and Midwest in years was taking shape.

Subzero cold isn't just a feature in winter's peak months of December, January or February. All-time March record lows have been below zero as far south as the Texas Panhandle.

Temperatures as frigid as the minus 30s have happened in March in Marquette, Michigan; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Bismarck, North Dakota; and Great Falls, Montana.

A rather shocking March low of 2 degrees was recorded in Birmingham, Alabama, after Superstorm 1993 dumped 13 inches of snow on the city. That March record might stand for a while – it was 9 degrees colder than any other March low in Birmingham.

It can even get chilly in some typically warm places in March.

Miami's only March freeze was on March 3, 1980, and downtown Los Angeles once had a freeze on March 9, 1893.

Lows in the 20s have been recorded in March in central Florida, far southern Texas and Phoenix.

A sampling of all-time March record low temperatures.

Average Snow, Cold By Region

Northeast

As one might expect, average March snowfall is generally lower near the Eastern Seaboard, as the typical warming influence from the Atlantic Ocean may have a greater influence as the month goes on.

The exception is Boston, where nor'easters can pummel southern New England with March snow.

Midwest

There are no real surprises here: March snow is the norm in the Midwest, with freezes over the entire month.

In fact, combining March and April, the Twin Cities usually pick up 13.3 inches of snow.

South

As previously mentioned, it can snow in the South in March, but usually not every year.

The best chance of this is in either the southern Appalachians or the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas.

West

Tahoe City is in California's Sierra near Lake Tahoe, notorious for atmospheric river events with feet of Sierra cement snowfall.

Otherwise, cities along the Front Range of the Rockies – including Great Falls, Montana, and Denver – can get significant March snowstorms.