Does a Warm March Mean a Hot Summer?
One of the questions I have been getting a lot, and I suppose other people in the weather business are probably also getting the same question, concerns this warm March and what it means for the upcoming summer. Special thanks to the Birmingham National Weather Service in Calera who has probably been getting the same question, since they put together the statement posted below.
The bottom line is that a warm March does not really have a predictive value for a warm summer season. As you can see in the tables near the bottom, a warm March seems to result most often in a summer with near or below normal temperatures. And that is one trend I do like to see.
So, summers are hot, winters coolish, springs and falls stormy!
-Brian-
Here is the NWS statement:
ALZ011>015-017>050-261900 PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 200 PM CDT SUN MAR 25 2012 ...MARCH WARMTH, AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER... AN EARLY SPRING SEASON STRONG WESTWARD EXTENSION OF THE BERMUDA HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE, COMBINED WITH LOW PRESSURE WHICH DEVELOPED OVER THE DISTANT SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES, SET UP AN ATMOSPHERE OF PREVAILING MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES OVER THE HEART OF DIXIE BY THE MID-MONTH OF MARCH 2012. SEVERAL SUBSEQUENT RECORD BREAKING OR NEAR RECORD BREAKING (MATCH TO PREVIOUS OCCURRENCE) TEMPERATURES WERE REACHED AT BIRMINGHAM AND MONTGOMERY BY MID-MARCH 2012. IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE EARLY SEASON HIGH PRESSURE WESTWARD EXTENSION WAS THE OCCURRENCE OF A CUT-OFF LOW PRESSURE OVER THE FOUR CORNERS. HAD THIS CUT-OFF LOW NOT OCCURRED, THERE LIKELY WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ANY REMARKABLE RECORDS SET. HOWEVER, THE POLAR JET STREAM STEERING HAD REALIGNED ACROSS THE NORTHERN STATES LEAVING THE LOW PRESSURE STAGNANT FOR DAYS OVER THE DESERT SOUTHWEST, AND PERSISTENT SOUTHERLY FLOW PREVAILED WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. THE RECORDS SHOW TEMPERATURES AT BOTH BIRMINGHAM AND MONTGOMERY HAVE REACHED 89 AND 90 DEGREES DURING THE MONTH OF MARCH ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS IN THE PAST. THIS WAS NOT THE CASE THIS YEAR. THESE ARE THE NEWEST RECORDS REACHED (SO FAR) DURING THE MONTH OF MARCH 2012. BIRMINGHAM NEW OLD DAY RECORD RECORD 15TH 84 (TIE) 84 (1984) 16TH 85 84 (1982) 17TH 86 (TIE) 86 (1963) MONTGOMERY NEW OLD DAY RECORD RECORD 2ND 83 (TIE) 83 (1918) 16TH 86 85 (2002) 19TH 88 86 (2011) THROUGH MARCH 24th OF THIS YEAR, THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURES AT BIRMINGHAM AND MONTGOMERY WERE 64.8 AND 66.0 DEGREES, RESPECTIVELY. THIS IS THE SECOND WARMEST SUCH START TO THE MONTH OF MARCH AT BIRMINGHAM, AND THIRD WARMEST AT MONTGOMERY, BASED ON RECORDS AT BOTH CITIES THAT GO BACK AT LEAST 110 YEARS. DOES THE WARM LATE WINTER AND EARLY SPRING PORTEND A SUMMER OF SIMILAR RECORD-SETTING WARMTH? JUDGING FROM PAST WEATHER RECORDS AT BIRMINGHAM AND MONTGOMERY, NOT NECESSARILY SO. HERE ARE THE 10 YEARS WITH THE WARMEST MARCHES AT BOTH BIRMINGHAM AND MONTGOMERY, WITH A COMPARISON OF TEMPERATURES IN JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST OF THOSE SAME YEARS: BIRMINGHAM MARCH MARCH DEPARTURE JUNE/JULY/AUG DEPARTURE RANK YEAR AVG TEMP FROM NORM AVG RANK FROM NORM 1 1907 64.6 +9.4 79.0 61 -0.8 2 1921 64.0 +8.8 81.4 11 +1.6 3 1945 63.3 +8.1 80.0 39 +0.2 4 1910 62.9 +7.7 77.1 99+ -2.7 5 1918 61.8 +6.6 79.4 52 -0.4 6 1938 61.7 +6.5 79.7 43 -0.1 7 1908 61.6 +6.4 78.9 66 -0.9 8 2007 61.4 +6.2 82.7 4 +2.9 9 1898 61.3 +6.1 80.6 25 +0.8 10 1974 61.2 +6.0 76.8 99+ -3.0 MONTGOMERY MARCH MARCH DEPARTURE JUNE/JULY/AUG DEPARTURE RANK YEAR AVG TEMP FROM NORM AVG RANK FROM NORM 1 1907 67.0 +9.5 80.0 99+ -0.8 2 1945 66.5 +9.0 81.2 50 +0.4 3 1921 65.6 +8.1 81.9 27 +1.1 4 1908 65.2 +7.7 80.2 92 -0.6 5 1938 65.1 +7.6 81.0 57 +0.2 6 1918 64.4 +6.9 80.6 75 -0.2 7 1910 63.7 +6.2 79.0 99+ -1.8 8 1997 63.4 +5.9 79.3 99+ -1.5 9 1946 63.3 +5.8 79.1 99+ -1.7 10 1878 63.1 +5.6 82.5 14 +1.7 IN BIRMINGHAM, 7 OF THE 10 YEARS WITH A WARM MARCH WERE FOLLOWED BY A SUMMER (JUNE, JULY AND AUGUST) WITH TEMPERATURES NEAR OR BELOW NORMAL. ONLY 2 OF THE 10 YEARS HAD SUBSEQUENT SUMMERS THAT RANKED IN THE TOP 20 WARMEST (2007 RANKED 4TH, AND 1921 RANKED 11TH). IN MONTGOMERY, 7 OF THE 10 YEARS WITH A WARM MARCH WERE FOLLOWED BY A SUMMER (JUNE, JULY AND AUGUST) WITH TEMPERATURES NEAR OR BELOW NORMAL. NONE OF THE 10 YEARS HAD SUBSEQUENT SUMMERS THAT RANKED IN THE TOP 20 WARMEST -- IN FACT, THREE OF THE YEARS (1910, 1946, AND 1997) WERE RANKED AMONG THE "COOLEST" SUMMERS. THUS, THE ONLY CONCLUSION ONE CAN MAKE IS THAT HAVING WARM TEMPERATURES IN THE MONTH OF MARCH HAS NO PREDICTIVE VALUE FOR HOW HOT THE FOLLOWING SUMMER WILL BE.
Category: Alabama's Weather