Spring is unofficially under way and the first day of March 2023 was a record breaker

REMEMBER THIS?

This is how March opened eight years ago in central Indiana. 5″ to 10″ of snow fell over two days. A record 11″ of snow depth set a record for the most snow on the ground so late in the year.

Fast forward. HISTORIC DAY of weather Wednesday. We SHATTERED the record for the first day of March with a preliminary high of 76°. Only the SECOND time on record that month of March opened with a 70-degree day. 71° 1976.

So, Winter is over? (we all know we still have a long way to go) but for record keeping purposes it is. Meteorological winter (December 1st to February 28th) ends as the WARMEST IN 25 YEARS. Ties for 7th warmest with the strong El Nino Winter of 1997-98.

What a welcome to March, a month that can and likely will be stubborn. We can have every type of weather in this transitional month that ranks as the fastest warming month annually.

March opens with a average high of 46° and warms to 58° on the 31st. The month gains one hour and eighteen minutes of daylight.

But the month can still take some wild swings. The warmest temperature for the month of March was 85° in 1981 and the coldest as -7° in 1980. Worth noting that each of these extreme temperatures were set within one year of each other!