Cleveland saw its snowiest March on record 10 years ago
City blanketed with over 30 inches, most of it in one week.
At the end of CLEVELAND —
February, Clevelanders saw an early preview of spring when temperatures skyrocketed to the 60s and the rain came down. Now into March, we’ve cooled back down and the wintry precipitation has returned.
However, we won’t compare to March 2008, a month filled with freezing rain, heavy spurts of lake-effect snow, and of course, crazy weather swings. It was the snowiest March in Cleveland history.
The National Weather Service blamed the record snow on the winter that “did not want to give up.”
January was below normal for snowfall, but February and March were notably snowy for Northeast Ohio. February 2008 was the snowiest on record for Youngstown, but it was March that really surprised. Snow ranked number one in March for Cleveland with 30.4 inches, Mansfield with 21.4 inches, and also for our neighbors to the east in Erie, Pennsylvania, with 33.9 inches.
Snow fell on Cleveland almost half the days that March, but it was one week in particular that landed the month in the record books. Interestingly enough, that week started warm, says the National Weather Service. “Temperatures shot into the lower 60s on March 3,” but conditions changed quickly and by the next day, temperatures plummeted below freezing.
Heavy freezing rain coated surfaces in ice on the evening of March 4, causing widespread accidents. Overnight into March 5, the precipitation changed to snow. There was a day-long break, but the next snowstorm brewed on March 8 and 9, dumping a major 10 to 20 inches of snow. At times, the blinding snow mixed with sleet and freezing rain, causing further wintry problems.
Cleveland’s weird March weather
March is not always so snowy in Cleveland. There is obviously great year-toyear variability in how the month’s weather churns, due to natural phenomena like El Nino, La Nina, or the Atlantic Oscillation, which controls the strength of the polar vortex. A weaker polar vortex allows for more intrusions of arctic air into the Buckeye State, which kickstarts lake-effect snow.
Back in 1927, Cleveland saw its least snowy March on record, with a mere trace for the month. That’s less than 0.1 inches.
The coldest March for Cleveland was in 1960, when the month’s temperature averaged 24 degrees. That’s quite the difference from the normal March temperature of 38.4 degrees. The hottest year was relatively recent in 2012, when the average temperature was 51.4 degrees.
How this year will compare to 2008 in Cleveland
This year, the snow likely won’t come close to comparison with Cleveland’s record-snowiest March.
Let’s break down what we know so far. ■ March 1-4
A strong low-pressure system, which later turned into a nor’easter that paralyzed the East Coast, dumped heavy snow the first two days of March in Northeast Ohio, but the heavier amounts were confined to the extreme northeast corner of the state. At Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, 2.7 inches resulted from the snowstorm exacerbated by lake effect. ■ March 5-11
High pressure took the storm’s place, starting the second week in March on a sunny note. The next low pushed through March 6, but near nothing resulted as precipitation was primarily mixed. The rest of the work week through March 9 is looking snowy, as a low-pressure system is forecast to stall over the Great Lakes region. Wednesday, about an inch could fall, and Thursday up to 3 inches is possible. Friday, I wouldn’t expect more than a few flurries, and Saturday and Sunday are looking clear. That could bring total snowfall this week up to a max of 4 inches in Cleveland. Adding to the snow from the first week, that brings us to a max of 6.7 inches so far this month — a far fetch from the 20.4 inches that fell by March 11 in 2008. ■ March 12-18
The forecast for mid-March doesn’t show much more snow. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration placed Northeast Ohio in a region of both near-normal temperatures and a sliver expected to stay a bit cooler. However, precipitation will lack, putting Cleveland farther behind 2008’s record snow. That doesn’t mean it won’t snow or rain, but it will likely be lighter amounts than normal.
Chances of above or below normal temperature and precipitation for Mar. 12-18, 2018. (NOAA) ■ The rest of March 2018 While it’s impossible to accurately predict snowfall for the second half of March this early, the month overall is most likely to finish off warmer and wetter for most of Ohio, according to NOAA’s monthly outlook.
While all of Ohio is under a 33 to 40 percent chance region for above-average precipitation this month, the month is likely to finish off warm. The Buckeye state is also under a 33 to 40 percent chance of a warmer than normal March temperature, meaning some of the month’s precipitation may shift more toward rain than snow.
As Clevelanders know, no weather forecast is concrete. While the best bet is for a warm, wet March, NOAA has been wrong in the past. We’ll just have to get through the rest of the month to see how we compare.