Vermont March Was Among Wettest, Maybe THE Wettest, And Among Warmest

Heavy snow falling in St. Albans, Vermont on
March 20.  The month was among the wettest
and warmest on record in Vermont. A fair amount
of that heavy precipitation fell as snow. 

 If you thought March this year was a never-ending mud season in Vermont, you have good reason to think that. 

It was among the wettest Marches on record, and parts of Vermont might have had the wettest March.  

In Burlington, 3.97 inches of rain and melted snow fell, enough to make it the fourth wettest March on record. 

However, Burlington was "dry" compared to most other places in the Green Mountain State. Montpelier had 5.09 inches of precipitation. St. Johnsbury clocked in with 5.23 inches. Both those places had more than double the normal amount we should expect in March. 

It was even soggier in southern Vermont. Rutland reported 6.29 inches of rain, which was 3.65 inches above normal. Bennington saw 6.35 inches, about two and a half times their normal March allotment. Woodstock had a whopping 7.24 inches.  

So yeah, March really was a waterlogged month. Small wonder you felt like you were going to sink completely into our Vermont dirt roads.  

Unlike the super wet Marches of 1913 and 1936, the precipitation was distributed through the month, and often came in the form of snow, or at least mixed with snow. This kept runoff manageable.  There were a couple bouts of minor flooding but nothing to get excited about. After last summer and this past December, we definitely were happy about the lack of March flooding this year. 

March was also super warm in Vermont this year, especially during the first half. Overall, pretty much everyone in the Green Mountain State was between five and six degrees warmer than average. At Burlington, March turned out to be the seventh warmest on record. 

That first half of the month put us on pace that would have made March the warmest or second warmest on record. By March 15, Burlington was running a full ten degrees warmer than normal.

The second half of the month brought a few bouts of winter weather, though mild days were interspersed in there. 

The big event, of course came on March 22, which brought one of Vermont's largest spring snowstorms on record. Up to 33 inches of snow was reported in the southern Green Mountains, and numerous towns had more than two feet.

Now that we're into April, we're at risk of another big spring snowstorm that could also rewrite the weather history books. But never fear, spring will win out. 

In fact, long range forecasts give us a nice glimmer of hope, if they turn out to be accurate. That prediction has warmer than average April weather after the first week of the month.