March 2016 Summary

As is often the case following a strong El Nino, there was little severe weather in March this year. Through the 30th there were only five reports of severe weather, with four of them occurring on Easter Sunday as thunderstorms produced large hail and a few damaging wind gusts in the southern Indiana counties of DuBois, Orange, and Clark. The only significant severe weather event of the month waited until the very last day. Two waves of strong thunderstorms crossed the region ahead of a cold front approaching from the northwest. Between 2pm and 7pm EDT that afternoon and evening many locations received strong gusty winds. The most significant damage was in Breckinridge County where buildings were damaged, trailers were flipped, and two people were injured.

Temperatures were up and down over the course of the month, typical for March, but spent a lot more time up than down. The most significant warm period was from the 7th to the 16th. The 8th and 9th were the most anomalous with average daily temperature departures around 20 degrees and afternoon highs in the middle 70s. The warm temperatures spurred an early start for vegetation. Some light frosts occurred late in the month but agricultural damage was minimal.

	Average Temperature	Departure from Normal	Precipitation	Departure from Normal	Snowfall	Departure from Normal
Bowling Green	53.6°	+5.2°	3.82"	-0.59"	T	-1.1"
Frankfort	51.6°	+6.7°	6.08"	+1.70"
Lexington	52.1°	+6.6°	2.79"	-1.28"	0.7"	-0.7"
Louisville Bowman	53.0°	+6.0°	5.55"	+1.39"
Louisville International	54.2°	+6.4°	5.50"	+1.33"	0.5"	-0.9"

Records

10th: Record warm low of 59° at Lexington
13th: Record warm low of 59° at Lexington
15th: Record high of 85° at Bowling Green
31st: Record warm low of 60° at Lexington

7th warmest March on record at Louisville
8th warmest March on record at Lexington
10th warmest March on record at Frankfort

Spectacular mammatus over Winchester, Kentucky on the 31st. Beth Pope