It’s Happened Before, But Rarely

As we watch the inches of heavy, wet snow pile up today, the last day of March, we can all hope that this is winter's last gasp! Out like a lion, with an exclamation point as we say farewell to March.

March has concluded in such a manor before, but rarely. The heavy snow storm of 1985 might be recalled by many citizens, when the last day of the month brought 5 to 16 inches of snow to parts of southern and central Minnesota. Twin Cities daily record for March 31st, 14.7 inches, was established by that storm. For those with even older memories, March 31, 1949 is probably mentally bookmarked as well. That snow storm produced a swath of 7 to 18 inch amounts, also across southern and central counties.

But beyond everybody's memory, we have climatological documentation of the worst of all March lions, the blizzard of March 31, 1896. Starting as rain overnight on the 30th, this massive storm system brought an all day snow on the 31st with persistent gusty winds across southern and central Minnesota counties. Visibilities were near zero in exposed landscapes. The storm had convective elements as most weather observers also reported thunder and lightning (thunder snow). Snowfall amounts ranged from 12 to 20 inches (the latter registered at St Cloud and is still the state record for the date). Following the storm, overnight lows were extreme, with Grand Portage reporting a record April Fool's Day reading of -22 degrees F. As is so often the case, temperatures rebounded and the snow cover was rapidly shed from the landscape, By April 4th temperatures had reached 50 degrees F, by the 12th of April 70 degrees F, and by the 15th 80 degrees F.