NATIONAL STORM SUMMARY
MARCH 2001
4th-10th…Rain fell across the eastern half of the nation Sunday and started turning into a major snowstorm for the Northeast. Another storm moved onto the West Coast. Showers and some locally heavy rain stretched from the Ohio Valley and along the length of the East Coast. The rain turned to snow in parts of Pennsylvania and New York as a nor'easter developing along the coast dragged in cold air from the north. Farther south, a line of thunderstorms stretched across Florida and along the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas, moving out to sea during the afternoon. High wind and fallen trees damaged dozens of homes near Ocala, Fl, and caused scattered power outages. Twenty-three houses were damaged on one street alone, said Marion County Fire-Rescue. Rainfall in parts of Florida was estimated at around 2 inches. Along the West Coast, rain fell across much of California and into Oregon, with up to three-quarters of an inch of rain in parts of California. Light rain also started moving into western Nevada.
A slow-moving storm rotated over the Northeast on Monday, threatening two feet or more of snow, and rain and snow were scattered over the West. The Northeast storm, still strengthening off the New Jersey coast, had already piled a foot of snow on parts of upstate New York and northeastern Pennsylvania by Monday afternoon. Lighter snow fell elsewhere in the region, with sleet and freezing rain along the coast. West of the storm, pockets of snow were scattered across Michigan and into parts of Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. Wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph were reported from the Great Lakes to Florida, and gusts to 40 mph were likely during the night in the Northeast. On the opposite coast, a weather system moving in from the Pacific spread showers across wide areas of California for a second day, with some locally heavy rainfall.
A powerful March storm swirled through the Northeast Tuesday, with snow falling steadily and accumulating to more than 2 feet in portions of eastern New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. On the back side of the storm, there was scattered snow across the eastern Great Lakes, upper Ohio Valley, the Appalachians and through the northern Mid-Atlantic. The greatest accumulation, 30 1/2 inches, fell in Saratoga Springs, NY. Vermont's Jay Peak ski resort received 29 inches of new snow, 28 fell at Ballston Spa, NY, Manchester, VT., Durham, NH, and Caroga Lake, NY, had 26 inches, and 25 inches piled up at Jaffrey, NH. The system also brought wind gusts of more than 30 mph from Maine to Florida. Strong winds gusting above 20 mph swept the Ohio Valley and Appalachians. Skies over the rest of the east were partly cloudy. A weak disturbance in the Plains brought increasing clouds and fog, ahead of a second strong storm system brewing in the Southwest. Rain soaked Southern California as another strong storm system lingered off the Pacific Coast.
11th-17th…Thunderstorms pounded parts of Florida on Tuesday, damaging homes and a school, and a combination of rain, sleet and snow spread across the Northeast. A line of thunderstorms and showers worked its way down the Florida Peninsula during the day with lightning, rain, hail and wind up to 60 mph. Trees and power lines were knocked down in parts of northeastern Florida, and homes and businesses were damaged. A weak tornado may have caused damage in Nassau County that included windows blown out of a school, the National Weather Service said. Locally heavy rain swept across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states during the night, with ice forming in some colder inland sections.
18th-24th…Heavy rains soaked the South on Monday with severe thunderstorms in Florida. The strongest storms unleashed hail and isolated tornadoes. Communities from Miami to Jacksonville were ankle-deep in rain.
Up to a foot of snow plastered stretches of the southern Appalachians on the first day of spring Tuesday as a storm system churned across the Southeast, soaking other areas with heavy rain and ripping off roofs with high wind. Up to 6 inches of snow fell during the night at northeast Georgia's Sky Valley resort, where the ski slopes had been closed since late February. Four to 8 inches fell by late morning in parts of Alabama and a foot had accumulated by late afternoon southwest of Asheville, N.C. The northwest corner of South Carolina got 4 inches and parts of eastern Tennessee received up to 3 inches. The storm system was headed northeastward, generally along the Atlantic Coast. Tree branches knocked down by 40 mph wind gusts shut off power to 31,000 customers in the Atlanta area during the morning rush hour, Georgia Power reported. The company reported 4,200 customers without power late Tuesday afternoon. The winds uprooted two large oak trees both at least 50 feet tall on the historic north campus of the University of Georgia in Athens. Students. Three tornadoes were sighted but no damage was reported. The heaviest rain 8.15 inches fell in the area where it was most needed, by southeastern Lake Okeechobee, the main backup water reserve for South
Florida. In central Florida, Daytona Beach got 4.01 inches. Still, South Florida Water Management officials said the rain amounted only to a ''temporary reprieve'' from the five-month-long dry period that has caused water use restrictions over the past few weeks.
A strong storm following the East Coast spread heavy rain into New England on Wednesday, with snow showers in parts of the Appalachians. By afternoon, showers and some locally heavy rainfall extended from eastern Ohio across Pennsylvania and New York state into New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of Vermont and New Hampshire. Behind the northeastward-moving storm, scattered showers moved across the Carolinas, eastern sections of Tennessee and Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.
Storm hits East with snow in the Northeast A storm system pounded the East on Friday, with heavy snow in northern New England and drenching rains to the south. The Southeast had mostly cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms throughout Florida.