March, in/out like a Lion or a Lamb

March, in/out like a lion or a lamb?

March is typically a transition month across western and north central Nebraska as winter comes to a close and spring begins. Wintry weather including heavy snow and blizzard conditions can be followed with severe weather including tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds. Large variations in temperatures can occur. All time March record lows and highs for North Platte range from 22 degrees below zero to 88 degrees. For Valentine the all time March record low is 29 degrees below zero, with an all time record high of 87 degrees.

Heavy snow and blizzards have occurred during the month and March is typically one of the snowiest month of the year. Over the past 130 years North Platte has had 5 record occurrences of daily snowfall exceeding 10 inches with the heaviest of 12.6 inches in 1894. Over the past 120 years, Valentine has had 7 record occurrences of daily snowfall exceeding 10 inches. The heaviest was a whopping 17.1 inches in 1977.

Across western and north central Nebraska, severe weather episodes generally occur once every other year during March. Back in 2007, a major severe weather and tornado outbreak occurred on the 28th of March. A total of 7 tornadoes were observed that evening, including an F2 tornado near Grant. In 2009 the 23rd of March saw the National Weather Service North Platte Weather Forecast Office have a Blizzard Warning and a Tornado Warning in effect at the same time across Cherry County in Northern Nebraska.

Below is a table of highs, lows, precipitation and snowfall for the 1st and 31st of March since 2000 at North Platte and Valentine. March 2016 in/out like a lion or a lamb?

North Platte
	March 1				March 31
Year	High	Low	Precip	Snow	High	Low	Precip	Snow
2000	60	20	0.00	0.0	50	36	0.01	0.0
2001	49	21	T	T	49	23	0.01	T
2002	25	2	0.44	7.4	55	32	0.13	1.3
2003	44	16	0.00	0.0	76	30	0.00	0.0
2004	33	21	T	0.0	67	19	0.00	0.0
2005	52	7	0.00	0.0	56	27	0.00	0.0
2006	65	33	0.00	0.0	64	37	0.00	0.0
2007	44	24	0.00	0.0	56	38	0.00	0.0
2008	77	24	0.00	0.0	40	22	0.20	0.6
2009	34	7	0.00	0.0	41	17	T	0.1
2010	33	26	0.09	0.9	69	35	0.00	0.0
2011	64	16	0.00	0.0	61	37	0.07	0.0
2012	52	19	0.00	0.0	86	35	0.00	0.0
2013	43	22	0.03	0.5	71	28	0.00	0.0
2014	14	-2	T	T	60	22	0.13	0.2
2015	40	15	0.00	0.0	80	27	0.00	0.0
2016	55	18	0.00	0.0	?	?	?	?
Normal	47	19	0.02	0.2	57	28	0.05	0.1

*Highlighted values are records for that date*

Valentine
	March 1				March 31
Year	High	Low	Precip	Snow	High	Low	Precip	Snow
2000	53	19	0.00	0.0	54	29	0.00	0.0
2001	42	14	0.00	0.0	46	22	0.00	0.0
2002	11	-2	0.15	2.6	51	28	0.00	0.0
2003	40	9	T	T	78	36	0.00	0.0
2004	32	23	T	T	70	25	0.00	0.0
2005	51	7	0.00	0.0	53	25	0.00	0.0
2006	59	29	0.00	0.0	58	33	T	0.0
2007	33	22	0.00	0.0	39	35	0.07	0.0
2008	72	30	0.00	0.0	32	26	0.34	4.0
2009	22	-14	T	T	30	13	0.05	0.2
2010	37	26	0.02	0.3	64	39	0.00	0.0
2011	46	4	T	T	57	35	T	0.0
2012	41	10	0.00	0.0	82	46	0.00	0.0
2013	42	19	0.01	0.3	57	29	0.00	0.0
2014	9	-10	0.31	3.5	52	18	T	T
2015	36	14	0.01	T	81	28	0.00	0.0
2016	48	17	0.01	T	?	?	?	?
Normal	44	18	0.02	0.2	54	28	0.05	0.2

Records for March 1 and March 31 for North Platte and Valentine
Date	High	Low	Low Max	High Min	Precip	Snow
North Platte
March 1	77/2008	-11/1980	13/1980,1888	38/1921	0.44/2002	7.4/2002
March 31	88/1946	3/1899	20/1936	49/1905	0.75/1884	2.0/1890
Valentine
March 1	74/1992	-29/1980	9/1960	39/1901	0.38/1953,1891	3.8/1891
March 31	87/1946	-3/1899	14/1936	48/1946	1.07/1897	6.6/1896

Page composition by
Matt Masek & Chris Buttler
Updated 2016