Wild Weather Around the World
March madness
The month of March has the reputation of being a turbulent time for weather.
As the saying goes, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, and this tends to be true as March straddles the seasons between winter and spring. While technically a spring month, many places receive their coldest, snowiest weather in March and even into April. For example, Denver, Colo. expects an average of 51 inches of snow in March compared to 25 inches in December, according to the National Weather Service. That being said, Denver has been setting record high temperatures over the first four consecutive days of March as temps hover in the mid-70s.
March is named for Mars, the Roman god of war, and March also appropriately marks the beginning of the spring tornado season, especially in Tornado Alley, a region of the south-central U.S. that experiences a high frequency of tornadoes. Although tornadoes can and have occurred all over the world, the United States tops the list of having the highest number of tornadoes a year, with an average of over 1,000. Canada comes in a distant second with an average of 100 per year.
According to the National Climatic Data Center, other locations that experience frequent tornado occurrences include northern Europe, western Asia, Bangladesh, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, China, South Africa and Argentina. The United Kingdom actually has more tornadoes, relative to its land area, than any other country, but fortunately most U.K. tornadoes are relatively weak.
Florida has the highest density of tornadoes in the U.S. although they rarely reach the intensity of the tornadoes in the Midwest and Great Plains.
Beyond tornadoes, severe thunderstorms which can be accompanied by large hail and gusting winds, are particularly common in the South and have an increased intensity during March. The combination of dry, cold air from Canada with the warm, moist are of the Gulf of Mexico is the main culprit behind this violent weather. Whether snow and ice or tornadoes and hail, March is month of mad extremes in the weather world.
Jennifer is a senior pursuing a major in print and convergence journalism and minors in business administration and leadership studies. In addition to her position as webmaster for the UF student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, she has been active in Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed community service fraternity, for four years.
Jennifer is passionate about the weather and spends at least an hour each day watching the weather channel and reading about the weather online. In this blog Jennifer will explore the diverse aspects of weather around the world, from it's occurrences and variations to its effects on leisure, travel, agriculture and government.