March saw the weather stretches like spring either side of a cold week, and dry conditions in general statewide has made a positive start for spring fire season.
Warmth spreads, with a cool week
In addition to cool weather in mid-month, spring-like temperatures prevail in March. Statewide, the average temperature is 52.4°Franked as ours March 29 is the warmest over the past 129 years according to preliminary statistics from the National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI).
The average temperature across much of the state is 2 to 4 degrees above normal. IN Wilmingtonit was attached to the warmest March 20 on record, while Charlotte associated with the 22nd warmest March and Raleigh had the warmest March 23 since 1887.
Follow our record temperatures at the end Februarythe first week of March includes some days with the highest levels in the 70s at the hands of high pressure over the Carolinas.
Our temperature then dropped after a Canadian air masses move to. Beginning on the morning of March 14, many Piedmont and coastal regions experienced sub-freezing temperatures for five of the next seven nights, aided by increase cold air flow on March 20th.
On March 21, it was very cold, the temperature dropped below 20 degrees on March 21, even in Jacksonville And City of Elizabethwhich each drop to 24°F. Even along the Outer Banks, our ECONet station at Jockey’s Ridge State Park bottomed at 32°F – the coldest night there in more than a month, since February 19.
Our persistent warmth since February has benefited crops and other vegetation, so the week of colder weather in March has created some concern about frost damage. . Hertford County Extension warned that any winter wheat had connect – when the lowest node or growth point rises above the soil surface – is particularly vulnerable.
Fortunately for the farmers, that cold weather – all before typical last spring freeze dayit should be noted – only fleeting and our temperatures then rise sharply towards the end of the month.
The warmest afternoon of the year so far was on March 24, with the 80s common across all three parts of the state. locally, New Bern (87°F) and City of Elizabeth (86°F) sets new daily record high, while Raleigh (87°F) and Fayetteville (86°F) come within one degree of their daily record.
Drought is back
Warm, sunny days and high pressure patterns kept the previous month’s rainfall low, so it was a dry March across North Carolina. The NCEI records a statewide preliminary average rainfall of 2.97 inchesor ours March 27 is dry since 1895.
Unlike last fall, when the west was wet while the coast was dry, the entire state had below-normal rainfall last month as several moisture-laden weather systems passed through the Appalachians or to our shores.
In the mountains, it is attached to the dry March 14 in Asheville and the 9th dry at Forest of Pisgah. In Piedmont, it’s the 9th driest day in March catkin and dry 24th in Charlottewith long-term records in Queen’s City dating back to 1878. And in the Coastal Plains, it was the 6th driest March on record in the year. New Bern and associated with the 9th drought in City of Elizabeth.
The mountain range had its heaviest rains at the beginning of the month, with more than 2 inches in total in one cold front aisle on March 2 and 3. After that, conditions were drier there and elsewhere across the state. Most of our March rain events are light, such as a total of half an inch to an inch on March 12 and 13 associated with a weak low pressure system across the Southeast.
Our rainfall last month also included something frozen – although like our rainfall, the rainfall was light and fairly local. On March 12th, CoCoRaHS observers in the northwest reported up to an inch of snow on the ground on Sparta, with dust from Mount Airy through Mocksville. As we noted in winter summaryThis season ends in snow-free form for most of Piedmont and the Coastal Plain, and even western locations see only a fraction of normal snowfall.
The transition to spring includes the first days of the season with significant thunderstorm activity late last month. On March 26 and 27, a violent storm surge created almost 7 inches in total in the heart of South Carolina also brings more than 3 inches to Whiteville in Columbus County. That same event included a severe storm with straight wind damage estimated at 60 mph in County Brunswick.
But for much of eastern North Carolina, drenched rains remain elusive as we head into the heart of spring. End of March, Wilmington 2.93 inches below normal year-to-date rainfall, and Holly Shelter Game Land in Pender County is 3.33 inches below average so far in 2023.
Due to that ongoing drought, Moderate Drought (D1) reappeared across parts of the coast last month, including along the Albemarle Strait, while unusually Dry conditions (D0) expands to Piedmont.
Those changes reflect our drier pattern since mid-February and some emerging effects, such as attenuation flow level. With the help of some showers in April, those areas could avoid falling into drought, but without rain soon, dry spells and droughts could hit more states. .
Spring Fire Heats Up
The combination of warm and dry weather from winter to spring has made this fire season busy so far.
From January 1 to March 31, the North Carolina Forest Service recorded 1,647 wildfires on public and privately owned lands. That’s the second-most fires so far in the past five years, behind just 2,939 fires in the first three months of 2022.
This tends to be the busiest time of year for wildfires for a variety of reasons. As temperatures warm — sometime in the 80s, as we saw last month — moisture quickly evaporates from vegetation and other terrestrial litter, such as sticks and twigs.
After the early spring cold, humidity can drop and winds can pick up, which also makes environmental conditions suitable for fast-spreading fires. Such was the case on March 7, when relative humidity value less than 30% and Gale more than 30 mph has caused a number of wildfires across the state, including one 3,500 acre fire at Camp Lejeune.
Along with those weather factors, fire danger often peaks in the spring before the trees are out of leaves and green. At this precarious time of season change, deciduous trees provide little shade to the forest floor beneath them, while also serving as a source of combustible wood biomass. As of the end of March, the Coastal Plain has almost 50% greenaided by warmer weather and delayed by emerging drought conditions.
Human action may also play a role, especially when people go outdoors to burn debris that accumulates during the winter. An escaped debris burn was the cause of the largest wildfire in the state last month, which began on private land near Pocosin Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Tyrrell County on May 24. 3.
Since then, the so-called “Last Flame” has been burned 5,290 acres and is 68% under control as of April 4. That makes it the 14th largest fire on state or private lands on NC Forest Service records since 2000, and the largest fire on record. biggest since the Chestnut Knob fire. burned over 6,400 acres in November 2016 as part of that dynamic autumn in the Mountain.
As we mentioned a few years ago, this eastern corner of North Carolina has historically been our hometown. biggest forest fire, and they often occur during spring or summer droughts. Although groundwater levels are often high in these low-lying wetlands, water levels can drop during droughts and expose heavy organic soil and plant roots, which can burn and smolder. for weeks or months.
It usually takes some good rain or continuous pumping from outside sources — and the NC Forest Service has pumped 120 million gallons of water so far along the perimeter of the fire — to contain the fire and extinguish any hot spots. which is left over.
As it is burning in one of the most rural and sparsely populated areas of the state, this fire is not expected to threaten many homes or other structures, but depending on the direction of the wind, its smoke. may spread to other areas, especially throughout the Coastal Plain.
For any potential impact on air quality, be sure to check Air quality portal to see if current or forecast conditions are hazardous in your area.
