Published: April 03, 2008 03:17 pm         

Weather watch

By MARK HANOK

March was one of the wettest on record in our area, including nearly seven inches of precipitation at our weather station in Otego, and 10 inches of snow. This was after a February with nearly six inches of precipitation and 21 inches of snow.

It seemed like a very cold month, since the highest temperature for the month was on March 3, when the temperature got up to 51 degrees at our weather station in Otego. After that date, the temperature didn’t get above 43 degrees until March 26, when the high was only 48 degrees. Then highs were in the 30s or low 40s each day, until a high of 45 degrees on the 31st.

However, temperatures averaged only a degree below normal in March. That’s because unlike a typical March in our area, temperatures were remarkably uniform with extremes or wild swings in temperature. Because there was little day-to-day variation in temperature, it’s been an excellent maple-sugaring season in our region.

Except for another Friday storm, we can look forward to a welcome change to milder and drier weather during the upcoming week. On Friday, a major storm system will move eastward from the Ohio Valley, while another low develops off the mid-Atlantic coast. It looks like another rainy day in our area, with highs only in the mid- 40s.

The storm will move rapidly northeastward to northern New England on Saturday, and showers will end in the morning, followed by a westerly flow of drier air, bringing partly sunny skies and highs from 52 to 57 degrees in the afternoon.

The weather will be even better on Sunday, with mostly sunny skies and highs in the mid-50s. As a trough of low pressure approaches from the Midwest, southwesterly winds will bring mild air, with partly sunny skies and highs from 55 to 60 degrees.