IEM Daily Feature
Wednesday, 12 March 2014

91 day coldest period

Posted: 12 Mar 2014 05:40 AM

Has the winter season already passed us by? If one considers the coldest stretch of 91 days (1/4 of the year) to be the winter season, it is likely that we are now in spring as shown by the featured chart. It displays the 91 day lagging average temperature for this season along with the climatological average. This year's line has stopped its decline and has trended upward thanks to the recent warm weather. The highlighted area indicates the coldest 91 days and it would appear unlikely that we will be able to push any lower this month with decent temperatures in the forecast. This does not mean we are done with the snow storms as Iowa experiences plenty of these in March and April even while the temperatures warm. You also should not need reminding that it snowed in May 2013!

Voting:
Good = 34
Bad = 4
Abstain = 4