Rainy start to April expected
Borderland residents may want to trade in their winter boots for galoshes this week as March leaves like a lamb, but makes way for April showers.
This month should prove to be the warmest March on record, predicted Steve Gohde, observing program leader for the National Weather Service, Duluth.
Although March is not yet done, predicted temperatures for the final days of the month would tip the scales over the warmest record average of 32.8 degrees Fahrenheit set in 1918. A similar 32.7 degrees record-warm average for March was set in 1973.
This year, the first 28 days of March averaged 32.7, and temperatures for Tuesday and today are expected to tip the scales.
The typical monthly average for March is 22.9 degrees, meaning this month is about 10 degrees warmer than usual.
Record-warm averages haven’t allowed for much snow, either. This March will be among the least snowy, with only March 1918 — with no snow — topping the list. Only 0.2 inches of snow were recorded in International Falls this month. Normal monthly snowfall for March is 8.4 inches.
Snow depth reached zero in the area by mid-month, which Gohde said was a few weeks early. Typically, colder temperatures and March snow storms help the ground cover last through the month, he said.
Snowfall since July 1, 2009, is 46.4 inches, 13.6 inches below the normal 60 inches. In comparison, last year Borderland received 115.7 inches.
The winter weather has an impact on area lake levels as well.
Bob Anderson of Boise Inc., which operates water-flow dams on Rainy River and Namakan Lake, said the time is nearing when the companies start bringing water levels up on Rainy Lake in April.
Boise and Canadian paper mill AbitibiBowater adjust the lake water levels according to the International Joint Commission rule curve, which dictates minimum and maximum water levels. (See advertisement on Page 2B of today’s edition.)
The mills had previously been drawing water levels down in preparation for spring snow melt and rain. Anderson said that the runoff from melting snow appears to be mostly completed for the year.
Anderson explained that snow melt alone does not entirely contribute to the water added to area waterways in the spring.
Typically only one-third of the spring runoff is from snow melt, while two-thirds is directly from the amount of rainfall during April, May and June.
It is too early to predict how lake levels will be affected until after the spring rain season, he said.
Spring rain is expected to start this week, Gohde said, with above-average rainfall anticipated. Temperatures are expected to be above-average as well, settling in the mid-50s after a few days this week in the 60s.
“We’re getting out of the dry pattern we’re seeing,” Gohde predicted.
A rainy weather system was expected to park itself over the Borderland region for the Easter weekend, he said.
Perhaps, if all the old rhymes are true, Borderland can look forward to plenty of May flowers.
