MARCH 1998 MONTHLY REVIEW
Compared to Famous Februrary and it's 14" rains
,March started and remained "a lamb". Despite 13 days of rain, and
frequent frontal zones passing by, only 2.22"
fell in Pacifica for the month. The dominant storm
track shifted north into British Columbia early in
the month with only weak tails dragging by
Central Calif. March is generally our second/third
wettest month on average, but like December '97, came
up well short of normal. March is also generally
the "wildest" time of year weather wise, as
often the coldest core lows of the season barrel in from the northern
Gulf of Alaska, bringing our "classic" cold fronts.
As the core lows pass close by, they can adopt
strong N/S tracks, plunging down the coast then
inland over Central and Southern California. As they progress east,
these type of lows frequently are the progenitors of
the first real tornado outbreaks of the year
in Texas and Oklahoma. By mid-March, that is exactly
what our storm track this year evolved into. Virtually
all storms hitting the Central Coast now are
packing cold, unstable air with T'Storms, complete
with cold air funnels/tornadoes and occasional snow
on the hills down to 2,000'. Because the troughs
were generally fast movers, accumulations were minimized.
By month's end, the GOA track continued to bring low
after low down the coast, and T'storms and strong
convective activity accompanying most post frontal
passages. Current SST indicates El Nino is waning,
but it's effects are now forecast to be felt
well into our normal dry season (May-Jun). For only the
second time this century and third time in since records
started in 1849, San Francisco has recorded
over 40" of rain, with more falling regularly. In
Pacifica, YTD now stands at 40.94", the highest total rainfall by far
in my experience. Despite the Cold Rain & Snow
(Deadheads arise!) March brought unusual warmth
in the beginning, peaking at almost 69F on the 11th.
But the nice weather was short-lived, and the coldest
temps of the month (41F) followed on the 29th.
Due to calm air, much frost noted in sheltered
valleys and canyons, which in these parts can be only
a few square blocks. Very strange to drive along
a neighborhood street with houses on one end
of the block incrusted in white, and the other end dry.
MONTHLY CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY MARCH 1998
Pacifica, Ca Elev.: 540' Lat: 37.36'N Long: 122.27'W
Temperature(°F), Rain (in), Wind (mph)
HEAT COOL AVG
MEAN DEG DEG WIND DOM
DAY TEMP HIGH TIME LOW TIME DAYS DAYS RAIN SPEED HIGH TIME DIR
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 53.5 59.4 12:15p 47.5 6:30a 11.5 0.0 0.00 2.3 16.0 5:30p W
2 54.8 61.2 1:15p 50.7 12:00m 9.0 0.0 0.09 3.2 18.0 3:00p NW
3 51.1 56.7 1:45p 45.6 12:00m 13.8 0.0 0.00 5.1 27.0 7:00p N
4 48.4 57.8 1:30p 41.5 6:45a 15.3 0.0 0.00 1.9 13.0 9:45a NE
5 47.0 49.8 10:15a 43.4 1:00a 18.4 0.0 0.27 2.6 21.0 11:30p NW
6 49.0 56.1 1:45p 41.5 6:30a 16.2 0.0 0.01 3.0 20.0 1:00a N
7 48.0 55.7 1:15p 42.5 4:00a 15.9 0.0 0.10 1.9 12.0 2:45p SE
8 52.2 59.2 3:00p 47.6 4:00a 11.6 0.0 0.01 2.9 12.0 10:15a N
9 53.9 64.1 2:15p 47.8 4:15a 9.1 0.0 0.00 3.2 18.0 11:15a SSW
10 56.2 68.3 2:30p 48.7 3:45a 6.5 0.0 0.00 1.8 14.0 11:30a SSW
11 58.6 68.5 12:00p 49.9 12:30a 5.8 0.0 0.00 2.3 12.0 10:45a ESE
12 56.1 59.9 11:00a 52.2 4:30a 8.9 0.0 0.14 3.0 28.0 9:45p ESE
13 54.7 60.9 3:30p 49.9 12:00m 9.6 0.0 0.05 2.3 17.0 8:00p S
14 56.1 63.1 2:30p 49.7 3:00a 8.6 0.0 0.00 3.1 14.0 6:00a SSW
15 55.9 63.7 10:45a 51.7 6:45a 7.3 0.0 0.01 3.0 16.0 3:15p S
16 55.3 61.3 2:00p 52.9 12:45a 7.9 0.0 0.02 2.9 13.0 1:45a S
17 56.2 65.1 1:30p 49.7 12:00m 7.6 0.0 0.00 2.7 13.0 7:30a SSW
18 55.8 67.4 12:15p 48.4 5:30a 7.1 0.0 0.00 2.0 16.0 7:30p SSW
19 55.2 59.3 3:00p 51.2 12:15a 9.8 0.0 0.00 2.4 14.0 5:30p S
20 55.7 59.5 12:45p 52.7 10:15p 8.9 0.0 0.00 3.0 14.0 9:15a S
21 55.9 59.0 4:30p 53.6 12:15a 8.7 0.0 0.05 4.5 21.0 3:30a S
22 59.9 65.9 12:45p 55.1 12:15a 4.5 0.0 0.01 5.8 26.0 11:00a S
23 58.1 62.9 9:00a 54.6 11:15p 6.3 0.0 0.61 11.2 46.0 11:45a S
24 57.6 64.4 1:00p 52.9 7:00a 6.3 0.0 0.03 6.8 25.0 3:30p S
25 55.3 61.1 1:30p 50.9 6:45a 9.0 0.0 0.01 3.1 18.0 3:45p SE
26 54.4 59.1 1:00p 52.1 6:45a 9.4 0.0 0.00 5.7 28.0 12:00p WNW
27 52.7 60.0 1:30p 45.9 12:00m 12.0 0.0 0.10 4.3 22.0 4:15p S
28 48.8 54.6 12:15p 44.1 12:00m 15.7 0.0 0.05 6.2 36.0 6:15p N
29 50.3 58.5 2:45p 41.1 5:30a 15.2 0.0 0.00 2.4 13.0 7:30a NNW
30 51.9 60.3 11:30a 45.0 3:45a 12.3 0.0 0.05 2.6 18.0 3:30p S
31 47.5 50.8 12:30p 45.7 8:00a 16.8 0.0 0.61 4.8 30.0 6:45p S
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tot 53.8 68.5 11 41.1 29 325.1 0.0 2.22 3.6 46.0 23 S
Max >= 90.0: 0
Max <= 32.0: 0
Min <= 32.0: 0
Min <= 0.0: 0
Max Rain: 0.61 ON 3/31/98
Days of Rain: 13 (>.01 in) 4 (>.1 in) 0 (>1 in)
Heat Base: 65.0 Cool Base: 65.0 Method: (High + Low) / 2