March is right around the corner, which is also the beginning of meteorological spring. Astronomical spring will begin in Reno on the night of March 19th. The first full day will be on the 20th. Meteorological spring is the day when the climate books starts to show a warming trend and astronomical spring is when the spring equinox occurs. The earth is tilted at a 23.5 degree angle and rotates around the sun. During an equinox the amount of sunlight and darkness we receive is equally 12 hours.
During the month of March our average temperature in Reno goes up to about 58 degrees. The average low is 33.5 degrees. We usually get about ¾ of an inch of precipitation. March is typically not our snowiest month, but it can happen. We had a pretty good March a few years ago. Springtime can also be windy with big temperature swings. This is when warm air starts to move in while cold air is exiting the region. The collision of the two can cause a lot of wind. The wind can also stir around the pollen. We can also get some cut off lows this time of year. These are lows that get cut off from the jet stream and meander about for a while. These can be hard to predict and produce some decent rainfall or snow. The threat for lightning gets higher as temperatures starts to warm. March is usually a fairly quiet thunderstorm month for us. The Climate Prediction Center gives us an equal chance of seeing warmer or colder than normal temperatures in March. It’s a close call for precipitation too.
However, spring is severe weather season for much of the country. Oklahoma and Kansas usually sees the peak of their severe weather later in the spring season, but for places like Mississippi and Alabama, March and April can be quite busy. Hard to think of when they just got blasted with winter weather. With that being said I remember in South Dakota we would have Winter Storm Warnings and Severe Thunderstorm Warnings up at the same time. It would be warm and humid on one side of the front and cold and snowy on the other. It’s this huge temperature swing that can cause dangerous weather. Looking at data from 1991-2010, Nevada typically sees about two tornadoes each year. California sees 11. This data is from NOAA/ National Centers for Environmental Information. Hurricane season starts June 1st in the Atlantic.
