April may be known for its showers — but state climatologist Harry Hillaker says this March saw it’s share too. Hillaker says statewide precipitation averaged just over three inches — or about three-quarters of an inch above the normal average.
He says almost all of the precipitation in March was in the form of rain, with the statewide average of snowfall not quite an 1 1/2 inches — or about 1/3 of normal for March.
Hillaker says south-central and south-east Iowa saw the most rain. Hillaker says many locations had more than double their average, with Indianola breaking its record with 6.6 inches of rain for the month. Hillaker says all the rain caused some flooding in the state, but says the lack of snowcover kept things from getting severe.
Hillaker says one year ago we had an extremely cold and snowy February, but this year February was much warmer and we had very little snow on the ground heading into March, which allowed the state to handle the rain we did get. Hillaker says the first three months of 2009 are off to a much warmer start than last year.
He says February of this was only a couple of degrees above normal, but about 10 degrees above February of last year, and March was also a couple of degrees above normal, but about six degrees above last year.
Hillaker says February and March broke a long streak of months that were colder than normal. Hillaker says April doesn’t signal an end to the chance for snowstorms, but says things will switch more toward thunderstorms and rain.