Project WX Monthly Weather Summary - March 2017

Project WX Monthly Weather Summary for the Hofstra University WeatherSTEM Stations

Prepared by Dr. Jase Bernhardt Dept. of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability

March 2017

Notes: ‘Normals’ data are for Farmingdale Republic Airport (KFRG).

Summary: In a role-reversal from the considerably mild winter, March 2017 featured slightly below-normal temperatures across Long Island. In fact, the month of March was colder than the month of February, a quite rare occurrence. Two accumulating snowfalls occurred during the month, as well as a cold spell (the coldest temperature by departure from normal of the winter) early in the month, and two heavy rainfall events during the final week.

Temperature: The average temperature for the month was 38.7° F, 1.5° below the normal of 40.2°. The maximum observed temperature was 62.7° on the 2nd, and the minimum temperature was 14.8° on the 5th.

Precipitation: 4.56” of precipitation fell during the month, above the normal monthly precipitation of 3.82”. The maximum daily precipitation was 1.94” on the 31st.

Other Notes: The highest wind gust recorded by the station was 40 miles per hour on the 2nd.

Although the weather stations do not record snowfall, several inches of snow fell on the 14th due to a coastal storm system, before the precipitation switched to sleet and rain. A few inches of snow fell on the 10th, and thunder occurred with heavy rain on the 28th.

Figure 1. Temperature, dew point, and rain rate data by minute for the month of February 2017, Hofstra University Soccer Stadium station

March 2017 70

4.00

3.50

60

3.00

2.50 40 2.00 30 1.50 20 1.00 10

0.50

0

0.00 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Precip

Max T

Min T

Avg Min T

Avg Max T

Figure 2. Daily maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation, and comparison to normal

Precipitation (in.)

Temperature (°F)

50

Max T Min T Precip March, 2017 45.8 31.5 4.56 March, Normal 48.6 31.8 3.82 Difference from Normal -2.8 -0.3 +0.74 Figure 3. Monthly numerical temperature (°F) and precipitation data (inches)

Figure 4. Sunrise after a heavy rainstorm, on March 29, 2017, from Hofstra Soccer Stadium Cloud Camera How to Access the Hofstra University Project WX Weather Stations Online: Go to https://nassau-ny.weatherstem.com/hofstrasoccer and select any of the three Project WX weather stations from the WeatherSTEM Units dropdown menu. We recommend the Soccer Stadium station which provides access to images from the Cloud Camera.

View a time-lapse movie of the sky from the previous day by selecting ‘Sky Video’ in the banner menu.

Select ‘Data Mining’ from the Data menu to graph and download station data.