U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE SINCLAIR WEEKS, Secretary WEATHE BUREAU F. W. RZICHELDgRER, Chief CLIbMATOLOGICAL DATA NATIONAL SUMMARY MARCH 1956 Volume 7 No. 3 ASHIVJ: 1956 C O N T E N T S SURFACE DATA Page General Summary of Weather Conditions - ------------------- 63 Condensed Climatological Data - States----------------------- 65 Climatological Data - Stations-------------------------------- 66 Heating Degree Days---------------------------------------- 70 Storm Data and Unusual Weather Phenomena------------------ 71 General Summary of River and Flood Conditions---------------- 81 Flood Stage Data------------------------------------------ 84 UPPER AIR DATA Radiosonde Data------------------------------------------------ 86 Rawin Data ---------------------------------------------------- 92 SOLAR RADIATION DATA Solar Radiation Intensities----------------------------------- 93 Blue Hill Data--------------------------------------------- 94 Daily Totals and Average Daily Totals by Weeks------------ 95 CHARTS I-XV Correction For Charts IX and X-------------------------------- 97 NOTE.--This publication contains all of the climatic data formerly printed in the MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: Monthly 30 cents and annual 50 cents per copy; yearly subscription, including monthly and annual issues, $4.00 domestic, $5.50 foreign. Checks and money orders should be made payable to the Superintendent of Documents. Remittance and corres- pondence regarding subscriptions should be sent to "Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C." CLIMATOLOGICAL DATA NATIONAL SUMMARY MARCH 1956 Volume 7 No. 3 GENERAL SUMMARY OF WEATHER CONDITIONS Extremely dry weather in Iowa, Missouri, western at Miles City, Mont. Temperatures were unusually Illinois, and from the central and lower Great high over the southeastern quarter of the country Plains to the Pacific Coast was the main weather and the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys from the 5th feature of the month. Continued drought and to 7th when several stations recorded early season dust-blowing winds in the Great Plains further highs,including Knoxville, Tenn., 790, Evansville, damaged small grains and dimmed the spring crop Ind., 770, Peoria, Ill., 800 and Norfolk, Va., 830. outlook. Dry weather also continued in Florida Follett, Tex., recorded 1010 on the 6th for the where irrigation of truck and citrus was necessary highest temperature of the month. throughout the month. In the Southwest the month PRECIPITATION.--In Iowa, Missouri, western of almost continuous fair weather was marked by Illinois, and from the central and lower Great record sunshine at Albuquerque, N. Mex., and Red Plains to the Pacific Coast, precipitation totaled Bluff and Fresno, Calif., and unusually low rela- less than one-half inch which was less than 50 per- tive humidity which averaged only 5 percent (a new cent of normal. Many scattered stations with record) for the 5 p.m. readings at Yuma, Ariz., and long-term records such as Columbia and Springfield, only 14 percent for the month at Las Vegas, Nev. Mo., Dallas and Del Rio, Tex., and Sacramento, In most of the remainder of the Country precipi- Calif., reported their driest Marches on record. tation was ample to excessive. Minor flooding The latter station had only 0.03 inch which was the occurred along many streams in a wide area extend- least for March since 1850 or the past 107 years. ing from the lower Mississippi Valley northeastward Many stations had no precipitation at all, includ- through New York State. Heavy snowfall in most ing Las Vegas, Nev., where March was the second northern areas continued the excellent outlook for consecutive month without rain. irrigation water in the Far West, but virtually At the end of the month drought gripped a large paralyzed New England's transportation on the 16th area extending from Iowa, Missouri, and western and 17th when the worst late-season snowstorm in a Illinois southwestward to and along most of the generation blanketed that area. Mexican Border. Since October 10, 1955, less than TEMPERATURE--Temperatures, fluctuating between 2 inches of precipitation had fallen in southern near record late season lows and early season highs, Arizona, most of New Mexico, western portions of averaged slightly above normal in the Rocky Mountain Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and southeastern region and lower Great Plains and slightly below Colorado, and less than 1 inch in eastern New elsewhere. Average monthly departures ranged from Mexico And extreme western Texas. The effects of -60 at some stations in New England, Minnesota and the drought would have been much more serious if eastern North Dakota to +40 in southeastern Mon- the soil moisture had not been ample when the dry tana. weather began and if the drought had not occurred The month's coldest weather occurredon the 10th, duxing the cooler months. Even though corn plant- 11th, and 12th when minima fell to subzero levels ing time was still nearly a month away, farmers in over the central and northern portions of the Iowa and other sections of the western Corn Belt Rockies and Great Plains. West Yellowstone, Mont., were becoming apprehensive about soil moisture recorded -400 (the month's lowest temperature) on for proper germination and growth of the 1956 crop. the 11th and Bismarck, N. Dak., -250 on the 12th. Drought also continued in Florida, an area by- Many stations in the Northeast recorded subzero passed by generous rains which fell in most other minima on the 18th and 19th when cold Canadian air sections east of the Mississippi. Tampa and Fort moved over the area toward an area of low pressure Myers reported their second driest March on record off the New England coast. with only 0.06 and 0.05 inch of rain, respectively, Temperatures below freezing were recorded on the and Miami its third driest with only 0.14 inch. north Pacific Coast on several dates during the Lakeland, in the center of the Peninsula, reported first half of the month, over nearly all the south- a deficiency of 27.70 inches of rainfall for the western interior on the 13th, deep into Texas on past 27 months. Irrigation was necessary for the 16th, throughout most of the South on the 8th citrus and truck throughout the month. and 9th, and along the Atlantic Seaboard into Precipitation totaled 6 to over 8 inches in the northern Florida on the 1st, 9th, 21st, and 25th. Ohio Valley and South-Central States and over 2 Damage from these freezes, although minor compared inches in most other sections east of the Missis- with that in March 1955, consisted of heavy apricot sippi, except in western Illinois and the Florida damage in western Colorado on the 28th when a hard Peninsula. The heaviest precipitation fell in freeze followed a warm spell from the 18th to 26th, most of these areas during the 16th to the 19th as some minor damage in the San Antonio, Tex., area, the center of a low pressure system moved from the on the 8th, local fruit damage in west-central lower Mississippi Valley northeastward across Texas on the 12th, some local fruit damage in the Nantucket, Mass. lower Mississippi Valley on the 8th and 20th, and Monthly totals from the Great Lakes to the Cas- some fruit and truck damage in the Southeast during cade Mountains totaled about 1 or 2 inches, except the last decade. in northern areas of Montana east of the Divide, During a warm spell over the West the fourth-week where totals were less than one-half inch. West maxima rose to record heights for so late in the of the Cascades totals ranged from 2 to 26.29 season, ranging from a March high of 780 for inches, the latter amount which was recorded at Prescott, Ariz., to an early season high of 740 Naselle, Wash., being the month's largest total. - 63 - GENERAL SUMMARY OF WEATHIER CONDMIONS-Continued MARCH 1956 SNOWFALL--The most notable snowstorm of the increased considerably due principally to the month occurred in the Northeast when low pressure heavy falls on the 16th, 17th, 19th, and 20th. systems from the Gulf and northern Great Plains DESTRUCTIVE STORMS.--High winds, reaching speeds crossed that area on the 16th and 17th. Falls of of 70 to 90 m.p.h. in gusts, swept across Washing- 4 to 19 inches were reported from Ohio eastward ton and Oregon on the 2d and 3d, damaging utili- and from Virginia northward. A record depth of ties and other property to the extent of hundreds 21 inches for March was reported at Bradley Field, of thousands of dollars. near Hartford, Conn., where the previous record Tornadoes struck in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio was 16 inches in 1916. The snow, of dry character on the 6th and 7th, causing property losses of and whipped into high drifts by northeasterly gales $2,000,000 in Marion, Ind., alone. of 60 to over 70 m.p.h. in gusts, brought traffic On the 16th to the 19th snowfall in the Northeast almost to a standstill. This blizzard was the was responsible for near 100 deaths resulting from worst storm of its kind to hit New England in a traffic accidents, heart attacks, and exposure. generation. High winds, accompanying the storm, with gusts The snowcover at the end of the month was of of 60 to 70 m.p.h. along the coast caused much about the same extent in the Northeast and Far property damage. West as at the beginning. In north-central areas, Several tornadoes and thundersqualls occurred however, the cover disappeared from the greater in central and Coastal Bend sections of Texas portion of the Great Plains during the month, and when a squall line moved across the State on the at the end was limited to northern portions of 21st. Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and northeastern On the 30th an outbreak of thunderstorms with North Dakota. Depths of the remaining snowcover hail occurred in the Dakotas and Mississippi both in the Far West and north-central areas Valley as an extensive low pressure system moved decreased somewhat, while those in the Northeast across the center of the country.