Temperature highlights:
- March continued the trend of above normal temperatures across the region, although they were not as abnormally warmer than normal as they were in February. However, average temperatures were generally 1 to 4 degrees above normal over central and southeast Illinois.
- The only real cold spell was around the middle of the month, from the 10-16th. The coldest conditions were on the 14th and 15th when there was a fresh snow cover, when low temperatures fell into the teens.
Snowfall highlights:
- The snow cover in question was courtesy of a winter storm that impacted areas from the Dakotas southeast into central Illinois from the 13-14th. Snowfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches occurred from around Galesburg southeast to Springfield and Decatur. However, given the warm ground in place, the snow melted only a few days later.
- While the bulk of the snow fell on the 13th, some light snow lingered into the 14th due to lake effect snow showers from Lake Michigan. These showers were much more prominent over northeast Illinois, where the lake effect was strong. Parts of the Chicago metro received a total of 8 to 16 inches of snow between the original storm and the lake effect.
- Despite the fact that this was the only real winter weather, these 3 to 5 inch amounts were more than would normally occur over the entire month.
Precipitation highlights:
- Central Illinois averaged above normal rainfall, generally in the 3 to 5 inch range, while east central and southeast Illinois was a bit below normal and generally closer to the 2 to 3 inch range.
- Heavier rains began to fall during the latter part of the month. During the last 10 days of March, totals of 2.5 to 3.5 inches were common along the Illinois River valley east to near Springfield and Lincoln, while much of east central and southeast Illinois saw less than an inch of rain.
Severe weather highlights:
- An intense line of thunderstorms raced across central Illinois late on March 6th and early March 7th. Most of the severe weather reports in our area were due to damaging winds. However, three tornadoes occurred over Mason and Tazewell Counties.
Precipitation, Snowfall and Temperature Maps:
Climatological Statistics for March:
The following links are to the monthly climate summaries for area cities. Only the summaries for Peoria, Springfield, and Lincoln are considered "official", meaning they are the station of record for their respective locations. The other summaries are "supplemental", meaning another location in the area is the official climate station for the city.
Climate data for other cities is available at https://www.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=ilx
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