With one week to go, the weather for March is right on the money for average temperature and precipitation. The average temperature now stands at -1.5 degrees Celsius, a small increase from the previous week at -1.9 degrees Celsius and very close to the normal for the month at -1.4 degrees Celsius.
There was 15mm of rain and 3 cm of snow in the last week, bringing the total precipitation for the month-to-date to 72 mm, which is made up of 30 mm of rain and 39 cm of snow.
While temperature and precipitation are normal, winter seems to be dragging its heels in making the transition to spring. One reason is that there’s still snow on the ground when, in the last few years, the fields were bare by mid-month at the latest. The reason is that the snow is very dense, and combined with a lack of sunshine, the snowpack is taking its time to disappear.
An ice core sample taken on March 21 revealed that the 22 cm of snow depth contained 89 mm of water, four times denser than when snow touches the ground. Several layers of crusted ice can be seen in the snowpack from the various episodes of freezing rain over the winter, no doubt contributing to the density.
The last week of the month is looking good for maple syrup. Lots of sunshine is forecast, daytime temperatures above zero (even if they will be below normal) and nighttime temperatures just below zero (and above normal). The forecast for April looks cool, especially in the first half, and daytime highs won’t make the mid-teens until the last week.
