March 11 Weather History

...1888... The Great Blizzard commenced as light rain, then changed to freezing rain at New York City.

...1911... Tamarack CA reported 451 inches of snow on the ground, a record for the U.S.

...1923... Deanburg and Pinson, Tennessee were struck by a tornado rated F5 on the Fujita scale. 20 people were killed and 1/4 of Pinson was obliterated.

...1948... Record cold followed in the wake of a Kansas blizzard. Lows of -25 degrees at Oberlin, Healy and Quinter established a state record for the month of March. Lows of -15 at Dodge City, -11 at Concordia, and -3 at Wichita were also March records.

...1955... The wind gusted to 52 miles per hour, breaking the record of 48 miles per hour, set in 1952.

...1962... One of the most paralyzing snowstorms in decades produced record March snowfalls in Iowa. Four feet of snow covered the ground at Inwood following the storm.

...1977... The high temperature peaked at 63 degrees at Newport, Rhode Island, breaking the record of 58 degrees that was set in 1967.

...1987... Unseasonably cold weather prevailed in the southeastern U.S., and a storm over the Gulf of Mexico spread rain and sleet and snow into the Appalachian Region. Sleet was reported in southern Mississippi.

...1988... A blizzard raged across the north central U.S. Chadron NE was buried under 33 inches of snow, up to 25 inches of snow was reported in eastern Wyoming, and totals in the Black Hills of South Dakota ranged up to 69 inches at Lead. Winds gusted to 63 mph at Mullen NE. Snow drifts thirty feet high were reported around Lusk WY.

...1989... Twenty-one cities in the central and southwestern U.S. reported new record high temperatures for the date. The afternoon high of 95 degrees at Lubbock TX equaled their record for March.

...1990... Forty-four cities in the central and eastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Record highs included 71 degrees at Dickinson ND and Williston ND, and 84 degrees at Lynchburg VA, Charleston WV and Huntington WV. Augusta GA and Columbia SC tied for honors as the hot spot in the nation with record highs of 88 degrees. A vigorous cold front produced up to three feet of snow in the mountains of Utah.

...1992... A major winter storm (central pressure 978 millibars or 28.88 inches) struck the northeastern U.S. Heavy snow occurred over western Pennsylvania and New York with Bradford, Pennsylvania recording 23 inches, Rochester, New York 21.9 inches, and Buffalo, New York 15 inches. On the warm side of the storm in Vermont, heavy rains combined with snowmelt and ice breakup caused massive ice jams on the Winooski River in Montpelier, resulting in severe flooding. The downtown section was under 5 feet of water with millions of dollars of damage done.

...2000... A heavy rainfall occurred on this day at Newport, Rhode Island, when 3.38 inches fell, breaking the record of 1.61 inches set in 1901.  The hourly rain record was also broken  as .87 inches fell in an hour, breaking that record of .41 inches set in 1992.

...2006... Phoenix's record run for dry days finally ends at 143 days. The last measured rain fell on October 18, 2005. Not only did the rain break the dry spell, the 1.40 inches that fell was a record amount for the date.

...2017... It was a bitterly cold and windy day at Newport, Rhode Island. The high temperature only rose to 22 degrees, breaking the record of 27 degrees, set in 1933. The average wind for the day was 18.2 miles per hour, breaking the record of 17.4 miles per hour set back in 1955. 9 different times during the day that the wind gusted over 40 miles per hour (peak gust was 46 miles per hour). The wind chills were in single digits all day.  It was the coldest day for the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade held in the city.

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