Record-Breaking Cold: All-Time March Record Lows Set

Chris Dolce
Published: March 7,2015




 
All-time March record lows have been broken as one more shot of bitterly cold air plunged south in the wake of Winter Storm Thor. Some cities have seen their coldest temperatures in decades for so late in the season.

24-Hour temperature change between Wednesday, March 4 and Thursday, March 5.

The cold snap follows persistent record-breaking cold across much of the Great Lakes and Northeast in February.
(MORE: Coldest February on Record | February's Siberian Express)
This round of arctic air followed right behind Winter Storm Thor. The snow cover left behind by Thor played a role in just how cold temperatures bottomed out in some cities.

Friday Records

All-Time March Record Low:
- Pittsburgh set its all-time March record low with 5 below zero (previous record was 1 below zero last set March 2, 1980)
- Paducah, Kentucky set its all-time March record low with a low of 6 below zero (previous record was 2 below zero in March 1960)
- Lexington, Kentucky tied its all-time March record low of 2 below zero (March 5-6, 1960)
- Urbana, Illinois set its all-time March record low with a low of 7 below zero
Coldest So Late in the Season:
- Pittsburgh also set its coldest temperature there this late in the winter season with its low of 5 below zero
- Morgantown, West Virginia dropped to 3 below zero making it the coldest low temperature recorded so late in the season (previous record was 1 degrees on March 4, 2014)
Daily Record Lows (new record is in parentheses): Chicago (0 degrees), Cincinnati, Ohio (0 degrees), Toledo, Ohio (5 below zero), Detroit (0 degrees), Buffalo, New York (1 below zero), Montpelier, Vermont (16 below zero), Bangor, Maine (14 below zero), Atlantic City, New Jersey (8 degrees), Washington, D.C. - Dulles International Airport (6 degrees), Baltimore (10 degrees), Charleston, West Virginia (5 degrees), Nashville (9 degrees), Memphis, Tennessee (15 degrees),  Little Rock, Arkansas (17 degrees), Austin, Texas (21 degrees), Tupelo, Mississippi (18 degrees), Baton Rouge, Louisiana (26 degrees) and Huntsville, Alabama (16 degrees)
Louisville, Kentucky saw its first March single digit low since 1980 as temperatures dropped to 9 degrees.

Saturday Records

Below-average low temperatures persisted from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast. Lows in the single digits and teens were recorded in much of the Northeast, with a few below zero readings in northern New England.
All-Time March Record Low:
- Harrisburg, Pennsylvania set its all-time March record low as a temperature of 1 below zero was recorded Saturday morning
Daily Record Lows (new record is in parentheses): Baltimore (6 degrees), Washington, D.C. - Dulles International Airport (2 degrees), Atlantic City (8 degrees), Wilmington, Delaware (5 degrees), Allentown, Pennsylvania (0 degrees), Greenwood, Mississippi (23 degrees) and Lewisburg, West Virginia (13 degrees)

Midweek Cold

Map showing the incredible temperature contrast in Mississippi and adjacent parts of Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas around 1:30 pm CT on Wednesday. Tunica (37 degrees) and Aberdeen (81 degrees) in Mississippi are highlighted.

On Wednesday, the frigid air mass collided with mild conditions in the South to make for some incredible temperature contrasts across short distances. In Mississippi, temperatures at 1:30 p.m. CST ranged from 37 degrees in the town of Tunica to 81 degrees in Aberdeen. In Greenville, Mississippi, the temperature fell from 74 degrees to 53 degrees in just 11 minutes from 12:53 p.m. to 1:04 p.m. CST.
Thursday morning, subzero temperatures were reported in parts of the Dakotas, northeast Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, northern Illinois, Wisconsin and northern Michigan. Cotton, Minnesota dipped to minus 40 degrees, while lows of 33 below zero were recorded at Stambaugh and Spincich Lake in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Thursday afternoon featured another huge temperature gradient across the Southeast, with readings at 1:45 p.m. ET ranging from the 20s, 30s and 40s to the 80s. In Jackson, Mississippi, the 2 p.m. CST temperature was 81 degrees Wednesday; at the same time Thursday, it was 30 degrees.

PHOTOS: Winter Storm Thor