March continued the trend of above average temperatures. But unlike the
very dry February, rain returned to the region, in force, the last week of
the month.

The average daily high for March was 58.3, which was 2.6 degrees above
normal. The average overnight low was 39.4, 7.5 degrees above normal. This
gave us a monthly mean temperature of 48.8, 5 degrees above normal. This
was warm enough to make March the fifth warmest March on record. Of those
five warmest March´s on record, four of them have occurred since 2004. The
hottest March on record was in 2012 when we had a monthly mean temperature
of 57.5 The coldest March on record was the very cold and snowy March of
1960 when we had a monthly mean temperature of 31.3 degrees. The coldest
temperature in March was the low reading of 22 degrees on March 13. The
warmest temperature for March was 89 degrees on the 18th. We just missed
setting the earliest reading of 90 degrees. There has only been one time
that we have reached 90 degrees in March. That was on March 29, 1967 when
the daily high hit 90. There were numerous temperature records set in
March. The high of 89 on the 18th broke the old record high of 81 set in
1994. The high of 77 on the 6th tied the record high for that date first
set in 1956 and reached again in 1972. The overnight lows of 60 on both
the 4th and the 5th broke the old record high lows respectively for those
dates, of 53, in 1983 and 52 in 2016. The low of 64 on the 23rd also broke
the record high low for that date. The previous record was 60 set in 2007.

After virtually no rain for the entire month the rain clouds arrived the
last week of March and brought several days of cold rain. Long term
average precipitation for March is 2.34 inches. Junction City received
4.37 inches during the month and Milford Lake received 6.30 inches. While
seeming a bit excessive the rain was a welcome sight to recharge soil
moisture ahead of the spring planting season. While 6.30 inches is a lot
of rain, nearly triple the normal rainfall, we had a ways to go before
breaking the record. For the year, Junction City has received 6.42 inches
of precipitation and Milford Lake has received 8.32 inches. Normal year to
date precipitation through the end of March is 4.11 inches. The wettest
March on record was 1974 when 8.04 inches was tallied. The driest March on
record is a tie between 1966 and 1968 when no rainfall was recorded. This
winter was not a very snowy winter and while we could still seem some
snow, the prospect of any more snow for this season seems pretty bleak.
Two snowfall events did occur in mid-March with a whopping total of ½ inch
recorded for the month. Average snowfall for March is 3.1 inches. Year to
date we have only received 3.0 inches of snow for the season. Average for
the season through the end of March is 17.2 inches.

April brings us our average last frost (April 15th) and rainfall picks up
with those well known April showers. Expected daily highs for April run
from 62 on April Fool´s Day to 72 by the end of the month. Expected daily
lows start the month at 36 and by April 30th have risen to 48. Average
rainfall for April is 2.95 inches with long term average snowfall of one
tenth of an inch.