Likelihood of More Snow in March

"So a 'Miracle March' is not out of the question," said National Weather Service meteorologist Dawn Johnson.

The year 2011 brought us a lot of hope. In March alone, Tahoe City picked up over 90 inches of snow that year. 

"We had storms that were dropping three to five feet of snow at a time in March," added Johnson.

For the month of March, Tahoe City averages just under five inches of liquid precipitation, down about an inch from February.

Which is not a huge difference.

"March, we can see a variety of things take place, but it's still considered a wet month for us," said Johnson.

In Reno the average is about three-fourths of an inch. As the jet stream begins to move northward, temperatures can be a little bit more of a mystery this time of year.

"Temps can be all over the place in March," said Johnson.

1952 was a cold and snowy March for us in Reno. That year we saw only eight days above 50-degrees and received just under 30 inches of snow in one month. Just like for Tahoe City, we had a good March in 2011, picking up five inches of snow out at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. The average high temperature was 53-degrees.

"As far as reality, we can see those warm storms and cold storms and right now the forecast is to be slightly above for temps," said Johnson.

So we've had our fair share of warm months too. Last year the average high temperature was right around 66-degrees. Same thing in 2004.

Hopefully this March won't be quite as warm and dry.

"The Climate Prediction Center, they tend to do a long-range outlook. They are showing better than average chances for it being wetter in March. And a lot of our long range models are hinting at that as well," said Johnson.