NATIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY

MARCH 2026

1-5: An early-season outbreak of severe weather struck from March 5-7, starting on the central and southern Plains and later spreading across the mid-South and lower Midwest. More than two dozen tornadoes were observed, according to preliminary reports, and several tornado-related fatalities occurred on March 6 in northeastern Oklahoma and southwestern Michigan.

The West, beneficial but mostly light precipitation fell from the Pacific Northwest to the northern and central Rockies. Other parts of the country, including the southern Atlantic States and an area stretching from California to the central and southern High Plains, received little or no precipitation. Weekly temperatures averaged 10 to 20°F above normal in a stripe from Texas to the central Appalachians and portions of the middle Atlantic States. Readings also averaged at least 10°F above normal in parts of the northern Plains and upper Midwest. Conversely, temperatures averaged as much as 5°F below normal in New England. Lingering cold weather in the north central U.S. quickly retreated following a March 1 low of -26°F (not a record for the date) in International Falls, MN. Meanwhile, a late-February hot spell in the Desert Southwest continued into the new month, with March 1 highs attaining daily records in locations such as Indio, CA (98°F), and Phoenix, AZ (93°F). Phoenix logged another daily-record high of 93°F on March 2. Soon, warmth spanned the Deep South. In Mississippi, Greenwood collected six consecutive daily-record highs (84, 84, 86, 85, 89, and 88°F) from March 2-7. Mid- to late-week daily-record highs reached or exceeded the 90-degree mark in several Southern locations, including Fort Myers, FL (90°F on March 5); Tampa, FL (90°F on March 6); and McAllen, TX (94°F on March 7). On March 6, record-setting warmth briefly spread into the Midwest, with highs of 79°F in Indianapolis, IN; 78°F in Cincinnati, OH; and 77°F in Peoria, IL. In Indianapolis, the previous earliest observance of a high of 79°F or greater had occurred on March 8, 1974, and March 8, 2000. At the end of the week, record-breaking warmth swept into the central Appalachians and appeared in the Northwest. Daily record highs for March 7 included 85°F in Huntington, WV, and 70°F in Omak, WA.

Frigid weather gripped the Alaskan mainland. Fairbanks opened March with a pair of daily-record lows (-49 and -46°F, respectively). Snow developed late in the week across southern Alaska, as milder air arrived. Anchorage, after falling below 0°F each of the first 4 days of the month, received 7.7 inches of snow on March 6-7.

8-14: Much of the week featured warm weather nearly nationwide. Temperatures averaged at least 10°F above normal in large sections of the Atlantic Coast States and the southern and eastern Corn Belt. Significantly above normal temperatures also prevailed across the central and southern Plains and the southern two-thirds of the western U.S. The Western warmth caused premature melting of mountain snowpack, especially from California to the central and southern Rockies. Early in the week, record-setting warmth broadly affected the western and central U.S. Daily-record highs for March 8 rose to 89°F in San Diego, CA, and topped the 70-degree mark in locations such as Pierre, SD (75°F); Sioux City, IA (74°F); Miles City, MT (73°F), and Bismarck, ND (71°F). The following day, record-setting highs for March 9 included 85°F in Salina, KS, and 82°F in Lincoln, NE, and Columbia, MO. In Michigan, daily-record highs on the 9th climbed to 72°F in Kalamazoo and 71°F in Grand Rapids. Northeastern warmth generally peaked on March 10, with daily record highs of 72°F in Augusta, ME, and Concord, NH. With a high of 80°F, Atlantic City, NJ, tied March 10, 2016, for its earliest ever 80-degree reading. Elsewhere in the eastern U.S., daily-record highs for March 10 surged to 92°F in Jacksonville, FL; 89°F in Alma, GA; and 85°F in Richmond, VA. Lower Midwestern highs topped the 85-degree mark—and set daily records for March 10—in Missouri locations such as St. Louis (87°F) and St. Joseph (86°F). By March 11, record-shattering heat stretched from southern Texas to the southern Atlantic Coast. On the 11th, Brownsville, TX, notched a daily-record high of 99°F, while highs soared to 89°F in Augusta, GA; Columbia, SC; and Raleigh Durham, NC. During the second half of the week, hot weather developed across California and the Desert Southwest, while sharply colder air arrived in the North. In Washington, record-setting lows for March 14 dipped to 24°F in Olympia and 28°F in Quillayute. Farther south, San Diego, CA, reached 89°F (on March 13) for the second time in less than a week. Elsewhere in southern California, record-setting highs for March 12 included 97°F in Santa Ana, 95°F in Imperial, and 94°F in Oxnard. March 13 featured daily-record highs in Palm Springs, CA (99°F), and Yuma, AZ (96°F). By March 14, daily records reached as far east as San Angelo, TX (93°F), and Roswell, NM (89°F). Colder-than-normal conditions again dominated Alaska, except along and near the Arctic Coast. Weekly temperatures broadly averaged at least 10°F below normal across the southern two-thirds of the Alaskan mainland. Fairbanks noted a pair of daily-record lows on March 10 and 11, recording -41°F both days.

15-21: Historically hot weather for so early in the season cloaked the western and central U.S., eclipsing hundreds of daily temperature records and dozens of monthly standards. Heat peaked late in the week with temperatures approaching or reaching 110°F in the Desert Southwest and 100°F on the southern Plains. Readings above 95°F were observed as far north as central and eastern Nebraska.

Weekly temperatures broadly averaged 10 to 20°F above normal in the West, except the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies. Even with a cool start to the week, temperatures averaged at least 10°F above normal across portions of the High Plains. Consistently cold weather was confined to the snow-covered upper Great Lakes region, where weekly temperatures averaged as much as 5°F below normal. Readings also averaged as much as 5°F below normal across the Deep South, from coastal Texas to Georgia and Florida, despite a late-week warming trend. Former March temperature records were broken by at least 5°F in numerous locations, including Yuma, AZ (109°F on March 20); Needles, CA (106°F on March 21); Phoenix, AZ (105°F on March 19, 20, and 21); Borger, TX (100°F on March 21); Lincoln, NE (97°F on March 21); Winnemucca, NV (87°F on March 20); and Colorado Springs, CO (86°F on March 21). Several locations in the Desert Southwest, including Ogilby, CA, attained 112°F on March 20, unofficially smashing the nation’s monthly record held by Rio Grande City, TX—108°F on March 14, 1902, and March 31, 1954. The parade of March records had begun on March 17 with triple-digit readings in southern California communities such as Indio (104°F) and Thermal (103°F). Records kept falling as heat further intensified, with Indio attaining 108°F on March 19 and 21, and Thermal reaching 108°F on March 19, 20, and 21. By the 19th, monthly records began to fall across the High Plains, where Rapid City, SD (86°F), achieved a mark that would be broken again with a high of 87°F on March 21. Many “earliest-ever” records were broken; in Wyoming, for example, March 20 featured the earliest 80-degree readings in Riverton (previously, April 23, 2012) and Casper (previously, April 11, 2025). On March 20 in Kansas, the earliest 90-degree readings occurred by 1 or 2 days— breaking records set in 1907—in Topeka (92°F) and Concordia (91°F). Late in the week, monthly record warmth briefly spread into the mid-South and Midwest. March 21 featured monthly record highs in Grand Island, NE (98°F); Harrison, AR (93°F); Des Moines, IA (91°F); and Paducah, KY (85°F). Earlier, during the cold snap, temperatures had plunged below 10°F on the central High Plains and had dipped below 0°F as far south as western Nebraska. Chadron, NE, warmed from a daily-record low of -3°F on March 16 to a monthly record high of 92°F on March 21. Sub-zero readings broadly occurred across the northern Plains and far upper Midwest, where daily record lows for March 16 included -4°F in Mobridge, SD, and -2°F in Rapid City, SD. On the same date, record-setting lows below the 10-degree mark included 5°F in Dodge City, KS, and 8°F in St. Joseph, MO. Along the Gulf Coast, Mobile, AL, notched consecutive daily-record lows of 32°F on March 17-18. Other record-setting lows for March 17 dipped to 19°F in Fayetteville, AR; 25°F in Memphis, TN; 26°F in Waco, TX; 26°F in Alexandria, LA; 26°F in Anniston, AL; 27°F in Jackson, MS. In Georgia, daily record lows for March 18 included 26°F in Macon and 31°F in Savannah. Elsewhere on the 18th, Jacksonville, FL, notched a light freeze and a daily record low of 32°F. Frigid weather persisted in Alaska, with significant precipitation limited to the southeastern part of the state. Weekly temperatures broadly averaged at least 10°F below normal across the Aleutians and the Alaskan mainland, excluding the North Slope. In the Aleutians, Cold Bay collected consecutive daily record lows (-3 and -4°F, respectively) on March 19-20. Meanwhile, month-to date snowfall in Juneau climbed to 60.2 inches (614 percent of normal), with measurable amounts falling each day from March 14-21.

22-28: Dry weather covered the remainder of the country, aside from scattered showers across Florida’s peninsula and periodic precipitation in the northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest. Pervasive drought from the central and southern Plains into the Southeast maintained stress on some rangeland, pastures, and winter wheat, with declining crop conditions reported during March due to lack of moisture and wild temperature extremes, including alternating spells of freezes and record setting heat. Weekly temperatures broadly averaged at least 10°F above normal from California to the High Plains, excluding Montana. A separate area of similar warmth spanned the South, except along and near the Gulf Coast. Meanwhile, near- or below-normal temperatures were limited to the nation’s northern tier. In fact, the only area reporting significantly cooler-than-normal weather—with readings as much as 5°F below normal—was northern New England. East of the Rockies, a pair of short-lived cool outbreaks peaked early and late in the week. During both events, freezes were reported as far south as the central Plains, Ohio Valley, and middle Atlantic States. However, readings below 32°F did not reach the South, leaving unharmed those winter grains and fruit crops that escaped freeze injury during a more significant mid March cold snap. Between cool spells, hundreds of additional daily high temperatures records were set in various parts of the country. Several locations, including Midland, TX (99°F), and Indianapolis, IN (88°F), achieved monthly records on March 22. Three days later, on the 25th, monthly record highs on the High Plains surged to 98°F in Roswell, NM; 94°F in Goodland, KS; 92°F in Scottsbluff, NE; and 87°F in Denver, CO. Record shattering heat lingered through March 26 from the central and southern Plains into the Midwest. On that date, Medicine Lodge, KS (103°F), set a preliminary monthly state record that had been previously set near Plainville with a high of 101°F on March 21, 2026. Other monthly record highs established on March 26 included 102°F in Borger, TX; 96°F in Topeka, KS; and 92°F in Springfield, IL. Springfield’s former standard of 91°F had been established on March 21, 1907. Alamosa, CO, achieved daily-record highs each day from March 18-30, except the 27th, with the temperature peaking at 83°F (a monthly record by 7°F) on the 21st. Late in the week, lingering heat was mostly limited to the West, where Phoenix, AZ, recorded its ninth triple digit reading (102°F on March 27) of the month. Prior to this year, the only 100-degree March reading in Phoenix during the last 130 years occurred on March 26, 1988.

Cold, dry conditions covered much of the southern half of Alaska, while mild weather was confined to the state’s northern tier. McGrath recorded a minimum temperature of 0°F or below on each of the first 30 days of the month, breaking a March 1972 record of 29 such days. 

 

Jim G. Munley, jr.
http://www.jimmunleywx.com