Winter Storm Spotlight: March 2018 Snow Blitz

March can be a very volatile and unpredictable month, with winter fighting to hold on and spring coming in to take over. You may be familiar with the saying "In like a lion out like a lamb." Well, March 2018 was certainly in like a lion but also out like a lion. Four large and very powerful nor'easters struck the East Coast, each separated by about a week.

The first storm, on March 1st, was a deep and slow moving cut-off low that moved up the eastern seaboard. It took a very favorable track for snow, just inside the 40-70 benchmark. However, there was marginal airmass in place which allowed for mostly rain at the coast and most of the lower elevations of Southern New England and New York. In the mountains there was plenty of snow, with reports up to 40" in New York. This storm also brought with it extreme wind with gusts of 70-90mph. Nantucket reported a wind gust of 90mph. The low pressure system finally pulled away on March 3rd, 2018.

Tri-State Area March 1st-3rd Snowfall Totals

The second storm, only a week later, on March 7th took a very similar track up the coast. However, this time there was a much colder airmass in place. Precipitation took the form of snow all the way down to the shore. Heavy snowfall fell on the evening and night of March 7th with snowfall rates up to three inches per hour and several reports of thunder and lightning in Connecticut. The system quickly exited on the early morning hours of the 8th.

Southern New England March 7th-8th Snowfall Totals

Storm number 3 on March 13th, another classic and deep nor'easter took a perfect track right up the coast. Plenty of cold air was still in place but this time most of the precipitation was wrapped up close to the low pressure. A lot of eastern areas of Mass and RI that were mostly spared on March 7-8th were hammered with one to two feet of snow. This was also a slow moving system that produced snow showers after the main area snow had moved out. Everything wrapped up on the 15th as the system slowly moved away.

Southern New England March 13-15th Snowfall Totals

The fourth and final nor'easter came, once again, about a week later on March 21st. This system was a little different than the previous three as some dry air at mid levels of the atmosphere shut off precipitation in Southern New England and the Lower Hudson Valley. Some snow fell here but mainly less than four inches. Most of the snow was focused New York City and areas south. This storm went down as one of the biggest Spring snowstorms on record for New York and Long Island.

Tri-State Area March 21st-22nd Snowfall Totals

If you're interested in seeing more on these storms, click on the links above or check out our Historic Storms section. We have a full radar animation for each storm as well as plenty of snowfall maps, surface and upper air maps.

-JDJ