Mar 21, 2018 3 min read

Aren’t you glad it’s finally spring? You’re probably reading this thinking it still looks a lot like gloomy wintry weather, and it sure does. This latest wintry blast of rain/freezing rain/snow marks the fourth nor’easter of the month, with parts of the East Coast from Boston to New York anticipating snowfall up to another foot. So much for a nice start to spring weather!

Of course, this kind of spring fling with wintry weather is not unusual. Remember 25 years ago in mid-March when the 1993 Storm of the Century bore down on the eastern half of the United States? That two-day storm is etched in our memories for dropping 25.3 inches of snow on Pittsburgh between March 12 and 14. The bulk of that snow came on the 13th, with a whopping one-day total of 23.6 inches. Adding insult to injury was the surge of brutally cold air that followed, setting two days of record-low temperatures across our region. Even the Florida panhandle got hit with six inches of the white stuff. The storm impacted most of the East Coast, causing nearly $5.5 billion dollars in damages ($9.6 billion in today’s dollars), closing airports and highways, and causing 270 deaths in 13 states. Snowshoe, W.Va., reported 44 inches of total snow from the storm, while Latrobe had 36 inches, with 10-foot snowdrifts.

While March 20 is in our heads and on our calendars as the date spring starts and the date we expect birds to start chirping and the sun to be shining, it doesn’t always work that way. Snow still falls in March, but often melts when it reaches the warmer ground. Still, there have been some dandy March snowstorms around here. The top 10 largest two-day snowfalls around our region after March 20 include more than 26 inches that accumulated April 3 and 4, 1901. That was followed the next year with more than 22 inches of snow falling April 8 and 9, 1902! And you might remember that back in 1987, Pittsburgh reported 7.9 inches of snow April 4.

Talk about March Madness! The NCAA basketball tourney continues while March weather is going for a four-peat with the nor’easters. March 2018 is running 4.4 degrees below average for temperatures in Pittsburgh and (surprisingly) 3.9 inches below average for snowfall. Overall for the season, we’re still 3.5 inches above normal in snowfall.

The good news looking forward is that temperatures will warm. In fact, the seasonal outlook issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for spring 2018 shows our area is likely to see above-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation. It’s only a matter of time before we officially put away the ice scrapers and will only need the umbrellas for April showers.

Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.