Regional Precipitation Summary for March 2019

March 2019 was dominated by minor to major, even record, flooding on most of the rivers and streams of the HSA during the last half of the month. An abrupt warmup from the 12th to 14th, along with some rain and a humid air mass quickly melted much of the deep snow cover that had accumulated during February and early March. Runoff from the rain and snowmelt produced at least minor flooding at 29 of 43 forecast points in the HSA. The runoff plus some ice in the channels produced record flooding on the Root River at Houston MN and Trempealeau River at Dodge WI. March 2019 in the La Crosse HSA saw much below to near normal precipitation and snowfall, and much below normal temperatures.

Precipitation this month was much below normal across the southeast end of the HSA to near normal across the northwest end. Winter continued across the HSA for the first 10 days of the month. Systems produced light to moderate snow across mainly the northwest two-thirds of the HSA on the 1st, and snow or a wintry mix on the 9th and 10th. Very light snow or flurries were common from the 2nd to the 8th. A strong, warm and moist system produced widespread moderate to locally heavy rains on the 12th into the 14th. Except for a little light rain across the southwest third of the HSA on the 24th, the 2nd half of the month was generally dry with only scattered sprinkles or flurries.

Normal March precipitation ranges from around 1.75 inches across the north end of the HSA, to near 2.25 inches across the far south end. Totals this month ranged from 50 to 75 percent of normal across the southeast end of the HSA to 100 to 125 percent of normal across the northwest end. Most totals this March were 75 to 100 percent of normal. Extreme totals recorded for the month ranged from 0.95 inch at Prairie Du Chien and 0.97 inch at Gays Mills, both in Crawford Co. WI, to 2.27 inches at Wabasha and 2.27 inches at Theilman, both in Wabasha Co. MN.

Snowfall this March ranged from less than an inch across the far southeast end of the HSA, to 7 to 11 inches across the northeast third of the HSA. This was much below normal across the southeast end of the HSA to near normal across the northeast third. Normal March snowfall ranges from 4 to 6 inches across the south end of the HSA to around 10 inches across the north end. Totals this month ranged from less than 20 percent of normal across the far southeast end to 75 to 110 percent of normal across the northeast third.

Average temperatures for March 2019 were 24 to 31 degrees. This was 3 to 7 degrees below the normal and made this one of the colder Marches of record. Temperatures were below to much below normal from the 1st to the 12th, except for some near normal readings on the 9th. Above normal temperatures occurred on the 13th and 14th, followed by slightly below to slightly above readings from the 15th to the 26th. Temperatures were much above normal on the 27th, above normal on the 28th then near to below much below normal from the 29th through 31st. Extremes for the month ranged from lows of 10 below to around 20 below on the morning of the 4th, to highs in the lower 50s to mid 60s on the 27th.

Flows in the rivers and streams of the HSA were much above normal during March. Even with the below normal temperatures during the month, snow cover and ice cover on the rivers and lakes of the HSA were near to below normal at the end of the month. The below normal temperatures during did allow more ground frost than normal to remain in the soils at the end of the month.