Snow in March? It's more common than you might think on Long Island
March is the first month of spring, but it's probably a good idea to keep the snow shovels within reach.
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The days are getting longer, and warmer and Long Island is starting to thaw out, but I wouldn't put the snow brush and snow shovels away just yet. March is the month of extremes! We can hit the 80s or drop into the single digits. We know snow can fall in March, but you might not realize how common it really is.
March can be really snowy
Did you know snow is more likely in March than in December? On average March gives us 6.5 inches of snow (based on average snowfall from 1990 to 2020). March is one of the few months that isn't getting warmer on the island. It's not getting colder either, temperatures have been stable, but in recent decades it has been getting snowier.
In 2018, March was the snowiest month of the entire winter! We shoveled a record-breaking 31.9 inches of snow on the island that year. By the way, March was actually a degree colder than February and we saw more than 4 inches of snow that April.
What's also interesting, our biggest snow storms in March tend to be later in the month. The snowiest March day is the 22nd. What's interesting is the top 5 March dates on the list below all happened during years where March was cooler than average. Warm March weather isn't very conductive for snow.
Snow lovers don't get too excited. Like I mentioned earlier, March is a month of extremes, but the past few years, it's been quiet. We had no snow last March. The previous 2 years, we saw only 1.6" of snow.
Will March 2025 be snowy?
March is one of the most chaotic forecasting months of the entire year. The weather pattern changes quickly as we approach spring, so making any definitive predictions is a pretty risky move. However, we can say with confidence that the first workweek of March is quiet with no snow expected.
Looking beyond that, cold air could sync up with a storm and bring some winter weather risks, but at this time there is nothing of major note. Temperatures are generally running above average for the first half of the month.
One thing we can say for sure about snow in March is it melts very quickly. The sun is just as strong in March as it is in early October and late September. Even a sunny day that stays below freezing will have snow melt.
