PENNSYLVANIA, USA — January and February 2023 are now ranked in the top five for warmest ever on record, but the month of March broke that pattern.
There were 14 days of what is considered above-average high temperatures in the month and 16 days of what is considered below-average, making for a perfectly seasonal month of March, temperature-wise.
Meteorological spring began on March 1, but astronomical spring began on Monday, March 20. It was a beautiful spring day for the first official day of spring, with sunshine and a high of 50 degrees in the Scranton area.
We also turned the clocks forward this month. Daylight Saving Time began on Sunday, March 12, which of course, sparked the bi-yearly debate on Talkback of whether we should do away with changing the clocks altogether.
On the first of the month, our sunset was before 6 p.m., but on Friday, March 31, the sunset just a few minutes before 7:30 p.m.
In true northeastern and central Pennsylvania fashion, March was also the snowiest month we have had so far this year. We picked up a total of 6 inches of snow in the WNEP backyard, which still is not a whole lot, but it was more than what we got in January or February.
We also looked back on the Blizzard of '93 during the month of March. It has been 30 years since what is still considered the Storm of the Century. And during that week, 30 years later, we once again dealt with snow. We only saw a little more than 3 inches in the Scranton area on March 14. But harder-hit areas farther north and east got closer to a foot.
The last day of the month of March was a busy one on Montage Mountain. It was day 100 of the season for skiers and snowboarders, and it was the final day the ski resort on the mountain. At the same time, just down the mountain, PNC Field made history with the season opener for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. It was the earliest season opener in franchise history, and the first baseball game ever played on Montage Mountain in the month of March.
Then on April 1, we officially had our first 70-degree day of the season, with a couple more in the forecast for this week.