Spring 2026 Banter Thread

[A-L-E-K]

Proper torch

 

[madwx]

Going to Utah to visit the 5 national parks - leaving next weekend. Should be beautiful weather for that

[Brian D]

March 13

2006: A March snowstorm dumps 9.9 inches at the Twin Cities.

 

1851: Before the spring green-up, dry grassy areas are a fire risk. On this date prairie fires blazed in Minnesota.

For Friday, March 13, 2026
1907 - A storm produced a record 5.22 inches of rain in 24 hours at Cincinnati, OH. (12th-13th) (The Weather Channel)
1951 - The state of Iowa experienced a record snowstorm. The storm buried Iowa City under 27 inches of snow. (David Ludlum)
1977 - Baltimore, MD, received an inch of rain in eight minutes. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
1987 - A winter storm produced heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada Range of California, and the Lake Tahoe area of Nevada. Mount Rose NV received 18 inches of new snow. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1988 - Unseasonably cold weather prevailed from the Plateau Region to the Appalachians. Chadron NE, recently buried 33 inches of snow, was the cold spot in the nation with a low of 19 degrees below zero. (The National Weather Summary)
1989 - Residents of the southern U.S. viewed a once in a life-time display of the Northern Lights. Unseasonably warm weather continued in the southwestern U.S. The record high of 88 degrees at Tucson AZ was their seventh in a row. In southwest Texas, the temperature at Sanderson soared from 46 degrees at 8 AM to 90 degrees at 11 AM. (The National Weather Summary)
1990 - Thunderstorms produced severe weather from northwest Texas to Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska during the day, and into the night. Severe thunderstorms spawned 59 tornadoes, including twenty-six strong or violent tornadoes, and there were about two hundred reports of large hail or damaging winds. There were forty-eight tornadoes in Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, and some of the tornadoes in those three states were the strongest of record for so early in the season, and for so far northwest in the United States. The most powerful tornado of the day was one which tore through the central Kansas community of Hesston. The tornado killed two persons, injured sixty others, and caused 22 million dollars along its 67-mile path. The tornado had a life span of two hours. Another tornado tracked 124 miles across southeastern Nebraska injuring eight persons and causing more than five million dollars damage

[A-L-E-K]

we're gonna have a wild fire season

 

 

[Brian D]

March 14

1943: Snow, sleet and ice cripple parts of Minnesota south of a line from Duluth through St. Cloud and Ortonville. The heaviest ice was in the vicinities of Lake Benton, Springfield and Windom. Ice thickness was 1/2 to 3/4 inch around St. Cloud to 3/4 to 2 inches in the Pipestone, Ruthton, Lake Wilson, Slayton and Tracy. A good description of the ice was submitted in one report: '…ice was 2 inches across and 1 3/4 inch deep on wire. A little frost ice near the wire with the outside solid ice. The ice was irregular in shape.' Duluth had 6 inches of snowfall at the city office with 13 inches at the airport. The ice was confined to Moose Lake and south.

 

1870: A severe snow and wind storm moves across Minnesota and Iowa. The 'Northern Vindicator' of Estherville, Iowa becomes the first newspaper to use the term 'blizzard' on this date.

For Saturday, March 14, 2026
1870 - The term blizzard was first applied to a storm which produced heavy snow and high winds in Minnesota and Iowa. (David Ludlum)
1944 - A single storm brought a record 21.6 inches of snow to Salt Lake City UT. (The Weather Channel)
1960 - Northern Georgia was between snowstorms. Gainesville GA received 17 inches of snow during the month, and reported at least a trace of snow on the ground 22 days in March. Snow was on roofs in Hartwell GA from the 2nd to the 29th. (The Weather Channel)
1987 - A powerful storm in the western U.S. produced 15 inches of snow in the Lake Tahoe Basin of Nevada, and wind gusts to 50 mph at Las Vegas NV. Thunderstorms in the Sacramento Valley of California spawned a tornado which hit a turkey farm near Corning. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1988 - Squalls in the Great Lakes Region continued to produce heavy snow in northwest Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, and produced up to 14 inches of snow in northeast Ohio. Poplar WI reported 27 inches of snow in two days. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1989 - High winds in Colorado and Wyoming gusted above 120 mph at Horsetooth Heights CO. High winds in the Central Plains sharply reduced visibilities in blowing dust as far east as Kansas City MO. Winds gusting to 72 mph at Hill City KS reduced the visibility to a city block in blowing dust. Soil erosion in northwest Kansas damaged nearly five million acres of wheat. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1990 - Fifty-three cities reported record high temperatures for the date as readings warmed into the 70s and 80s from the Gulf coast to the Great Lakes Region. Charleston WV was the hot spot in the nation with a record high of 89 degrees. It was the fourth of five consecutive days with record warm temperatures for many cities in the eastern U.S. There were 283 daily record highs reported in the central and eastern U.S. during between the 11th and the 15th of March. (The National Weather Summary)
2007 - The temperature in Concord, NH, reaches a record high of 74 degrees less than one week after a record low temperature of 7 degrees below zero on March 8, an 81 degree temperature swing in six days.

[A-L-E-K]

Nuke

 

[Brian D]

As much as I loathe social media, it can be very useful. With the surge in phones with cams, and webcams, we can see everything going on in the world. Most of my life, never had this kind of stuff, but the last 15 yrs has been a big change. When my net went out for over 3 days, I had to regress back. I actually still have sat tv, and I even pulled out my N64, and played Super Mario, and Mario Golf.  

[hawkeye_wx]

March 23rd on the Euro

[cmillzz]

1 hour ago, A-L-E-K said:

Nuke

 

They're having their own March 2012 it appears.

[Torchageddon]

I was just looking into the 2021 Pacific NW heatwave recently; testing AI to see what it spit out regarding most extreme wx events and it was included. How sigmas and standard deviations come to be disseminated. The range is huge for a return rate but most certainly for events like the 2003 Euro heatwave, March 2012, and Jun 2021 they were 1 in 1000s of years magnitude using the current 30 year climate avg. If you use the pre-industrial climate benchmark (ice core sample data?) the 2021 heatwave might be a 1 in 150,000 year event!

[A-L-E-K]

Big time

 

 

[cmillzz]

1 hour ago, Torchageddon said:

I was just looking into the 2021 Pacific NW heatwave recently; testing AI to see what it spit out regarding most extreme wx events and it was included. How sigmas and standard deviations come to be disseminated. The range is huge for a return rate but most certainly for events like the 2003 Euro heatwave, March 2012, and Jun 2021 they were 1 in 1000s of years magnitude using the current 30 year climate avg. If you use the pre-industrial climate benchmark (ice core sample data?) the 2021 heatwave might be a 1 in 150,000 year event!

There was a study done on the March 2012 heatwave and I believe they concluded that it was a 1 in 4,000 year event at the time. I still think it ruined some people’s perceptions of how a normal spring is supposed to look, even to this day.

Then on the flip side you have Feb 2015 which was one of the coldest months in modern history. Not quite as anomalous as March 2012, but still a very impressive month.

[A-L-E-K]

Action

 

 

[Brian D]

58 minutes ago, A-L-E-K said:

Action

 

 

Lava being cooled down a bit. Steam bath of Kilauea  I bet. 

[A-L-E-K]

Imagine you booked an extremely expensive Hawaiian vaca and this is your weather

 

 

[A-L-E-K]

It's over for the co river

 

Been over for a long time but this starts the death spiral

[OrdIowPitMsp]

3 hours ago, A-L-E-K said:

It's over for the co river

 

Been over for a long time but this starts the death spiral

Sister-in-law who lives in San Fransisco had her first kid a month ago and we are visiting them in early April. For their sake I’m hoping it’s 50s and rainy, but it’s the very end of the rainy season so a heat dome looks more likely. We have a place rented on the beach in Half Moon Bay, kids are gonna love the tide pools.

[Brian D]

March 15

1941: The 'Ides of March Blizzard' occurs. Winds reached hurricane force at Twin Cities. 32 people died.

For Sunday, March 15, 2026
1941 - The most severe blizzard in modern history struck North Dakota and Minnesota. The blizzard hit on a Saturday night while many are traveling, and thus claimed 71 lives. Winds gusted to 75 mph at Duluth MN, and reached 85 mph at Grand Forks ND. Snow drifts twelve feet high were reported in north central Minnesota. A cold front traveling 30 mph crossed Minnesota in just seven hours. (15th-16th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
1987 - A winter storm in the western U.S. produced heavy snow in central Nevada, with 23 inches reported at Austin. High winds raked the desert areas of southern California and southern Arizona. Winds gusted to 59 mph at Douglas AZ. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1988 - More than one hundred hours of continuous snow finally came to an end at Marquette MI, during which time the city was buried under 43 inches of snow. Unseasonably cold weather prevailed in the southeastern U.S., with forty-one cities reporting record low temperatures for the date. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1989 - Afternoon and evening thunderstorms produced severe weather from Alabama to the Middle Atlantic Coast. Thunderstorm winds gusted to 80 at Virginia Beach VA. Low pressure in southeastern Ontario produced high winds in the northeastern U.S. Winds gusted to 70 mph at Saint Albins VT. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1990 - Low pressure crossing the Upper Mississippi Valley produced high winds from the Northern and Central Plains to the Great Lakes Region and Ohio Valley. Winds gusted to 73 mph at Iowa City IA, and wind gusts reached 79 mph at Waukesha WI. Winds of 75 mph were reported around Rapid City SD, with gusts to 100 mph. Up to a foot of snow was reported in western Iowa, western Minnesota, and extreme eastern North Dakota. Blizzard conditions were reported in northeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)