March Weather in Review – Came in Like a Lamb…Went Out Like a Lamb

Fraser Valley- (Roget Pannett – Environment Canada) – With March, ‘coming in like a lamb and ending like a lamb,’ I would summarize the month as being tranquil, mild and damp.

Early in the month a ridge of high pressure, located off shore, produced a week of mostly sunny, mild weather. The only frost of the month occurred on March 10^th, with a minimum temperature of -1.8°C, after dry outflow winds had reduced the relative humidity to 13% on March 9^th.

With a series of Pacific frontal systems moving on shore conditions thereafter, to months end, were mild and damp.

With total precipitation 23.63 % below normal, it was the 5^th consecutive March and the 4^th consecutive month with below normal precipitation. However days with rainfall were above normal, the most March rainy days since 2017.

Temperatures for the month peaked on March 27^th. A record high minimum of 9.0 °C (+6.3 °C & exceeding the previous high minimum of 8.3 °C in 1934) and a maximum of 17.2 °C ( +5.8 °C) with a relative humidity of 50%.

With mean temperatures 2.09 °C above normal ( standard deviation + or – 1.4 °C), it was the 10^th consecutive March with above normal temperatures. A trend never previously observed in the past 127 years.

The 2022 precipitation total to date is 463.0 mm mm on 53 days compared to the average of 634.6 mm on 54 days.

Data recorded by Roger Pannett, Volunteer Weather Observer for Environment Canada at Chilliwack, B.C.