First Alert Weather In-Depth: March Climate

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — We know there is a big difference between weather, specifically weather forecasting, and climate.

Climate is the long-term conditions, what typically happens on a seasonal basis. First Alert Meteorologist Glenn Johnson took a look at the month of March. We know we get some big changes from the beginning of the month to the end of the month.

The average high temperature is 39 degrees for March 1, but by the end of the month, the average high temperature is very close to 50 degrees. So it goes up substantially. In fact, the average high temperature goes up by some 10 degrees by the end of the month. That is a pretty significant change.

Looking at history, you know the snow season is not over yet. The average snowfall runs about 18 inches for the month. But if you think of it in terms of how much snow we typically get in a year, 21% of the snowfall is left in a given season. Hopefully, we do not get too much more. We will have to wait and see.

On a happier subject: The amount of sunshine. There is no doubt the amount of possible daylight goes up substantially from the beginning of the month to the end of the month. Daylight goes up by one hour and 28 minutes. And we also have to remember astronomically we have daylight saving time. We “spring ahead” one hour and that will officially happen on Sunday morning, very early in the morning, on March 13.

So we can hopefully see more sunshine coming our way. That certainly would be nice!