The cold will continue in March

The wind chill factor was developed by a fellow named Paul Siple in the late 1930s while he was on a research assignment in Antarctica for the U.S government. We knew we’d be getting into World War II, so Siple was assigned to develop winter gear and survival strategies for the military. Look him up sometime. He was involved in a lot of Arctic and Antarctic expeditions.

In the early days of my 25-plus-year weather career, I ran into a lot of oldtimers from before Siple’s time who didn’t believe in the wind chill factor. Any time you mentioned wind chill on the air, they’d call up and complain. I hadn’t heard from any, though, in a long time so I thought they had all passed away. Well, this year’s cold snaps have brought the survivors out of the woodwork!

Whether you believe in the wind chill factor or not, it has been cold this winter. February was 3.4 degrees lower than normal. January was 2.6 degrees lower than normal. It could be even colder than that in March. It is estimated we will average four degrees lower than normal. Snow so far this winter has been heavy for many zones, but may slack off region-wide for March even though it is statistically our snowiest month. So, there’s a chance this month we’ll get five inches fewer than normal.

For this month, March 1-5 should be sunny and mild. The 6th-19th, though, should be snowy and bitterly cold. March 20-28 could be snowy, too, and cold but just a little less so. The month ends with sunny conditions, and merely cool rather than cold.

Right now, it doesn’t look too impressive for warmth this spring or summer either. April and May will be slightly cooler and rainier than normal. Summer will be slightly cooler than normal.

On a final note, March marks the 65th birthday of CBS 3 TV, although we have no plans to retire. Edward Moody, Kristen Vake, Kelly Hinseth and I will continue to follow the benchmarks set long ago by Earl Henton, Bill Kreuger, Marsh Nelson and Heatwave Berler.