March goes out like a lamb? 'Baaaa', humbug!
SEATTLE -- If six straight days of snow somewhere in the region sounds historical, you are right, but not because of the snow. The recent stretch of cold weather is setting some pretty hefty records.
The average high temperature over the last seven days of March was 46.0 degrees at Sea-Tac Airport. That breaks the previous record for March going out like a penguin of 47.1 degrees in 1967.
In fact, if you count the Downtown Seattle Federal Building, which kept records between 1891 and 1972, this was the third coldest last week of March in Seattle history, finishing behind the 43.6 degrees of 1936 and 45.9 degrees of 1917.
The average high temperature this time of year is 54.9 degrees.
Olympia also set a similar record, shivering along at an average high of 45.4 degrees the last week of March, shattering the old record of 48.0 set in 1999.
But it's not just cold down here. It's also historically cold in the upper levels of the atmosphere too.
Dr. Cliff Mass over at the UW Atmospheric Sciences Department says his research shows the temperature readings in the upper level of the atmosphere haven't been this cold for this long in 32 years -- for any month.
For Weather Geeks: The temperature at 500 millibar level (roughly 17,000 feet) have been at -36C for the past five days. The last time we had five days that cold in *any* month was 1976.
The good news is, once we turn the calendar into April, we turn back up the thermostat. Temperatures are expected to climb into the 50s under mostly sunny skies for the rest of the week.
The average high temperature over the last seven days of March was 46.0 degrees at Sea-Tac Airport. That breaks the previous record for March going out like a penguin of 47.1 degrees in 1967.
In fact, if you count the Downtown Seattle Federal Building, which kept records between 1891 and 1972, this was the third coldest last week of March in Seattle history, finishing behind the 43.6 degrees of 1936 and 45.9 degrees of 1917.
The average high temperature this time of year is 54.9 degrees.
Olympia also set a similar record, shivering along at an average high of 45.4 degrees the last week of March, shattering the old record of 48.0 set in 1999.
But it's not just cold down here. It's also historically cold in the upper levels of the atmosphere too.
Dr. Cliff Mass over at the UW Atmospheric Sciences Department says his research shows the temperature readings in the upper level of the atmosphere haven't been this cold for this long in 32 years -- for any month.
For Weather Geeks: The temperature at 500 millibar level (roughly 17,000 feet) have been at -36C for the past five days. The last time we had five days that cold in *any* month was 1976.
The good news is, once we turn the calendar into April, we turn back up the thermostat. Temperatures are expected to climb into the 50s under mostly sunny skies for the rest of the week.
