After a topsy-turvy start to March, the third week of the month was definitely warm with four days where the daytime high approached or slightly exceeded +20 degrees Celsius. No surprise, then, that the average temperature for the month jumped 2.5 degrees to settle at +0.9 C. The normal for the month is -1.4 C.
No surprise either that the maple sap flowed, there are now buds on some early blooming trees and the ice broke up and roared down the Chateauguay River on March 17, which is right in the normal range of March 15-21.
Despite the snow melt, and lots of water in the tile drains and in puddles all about, March is now a very dry month. There was a couple of millimeters of rain and a few centimeters of snow during the past week, bringing the month to date for total precipitation to just 22 mm, made up of 13 mm of rain and 9 cm of snow.
Precipitation for March is so far only one-third of normal, which continues the trend of a dry fall and winter going back to last September. Despite what appeared to be a lot of moisture with all the snow on the ground in January and February, total precipitation since September is only 58 per cent of normal.
The forecast for the remainder of the month will likely be below average due to seasonally cool days, and the longer term is for a cool April and May, again mostly due to lower-than-normal daytime temperatures.