5 Ways March Weather Can Be Frustrating, From Snowstorms To Tornadoes And Flooding

What Weather Changes To Expect In March

March weather in the U.S. can be the most temperamental and frustrating of any month, swinging wildly from spring teases of record warmth to snowstorms with biting cold winds.

As a meteorologist, I've always loved March the most. Storm systems with everything but the kitchen sink — heavy snow, wind, flooding rain, severe thunderstorms, blowing dust — are legendary and a weather geek's dream in March.

But as a resident of the upper Midwest, I hate March weather the most. While others in the country are basking in warmth, winter's cold is more of the rule, not the exception, in March where I live.

Given that, here are five ways this first month of spring can still drive you nuts.

Snowstorms

I can't wait to store away the snowblower for the season, but March is too soon to do that for most of the country.

As the dot map shows below, at least measurable snow usually falls each March from the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast into the Midwest, Plains and Mountain West.

Both Chicago and New York City typically pick up another 5 inches of snow each March. In Denver, that March average is close to 9 inches. In fact, March is the snowiest month of the year, on average, along the Front Range and High Plains from southeast Wyoming to northern New Mexico, according to Alaska-based climatologist Brian Brettschneider.

And, as alluded to earlier, some of the most notorious winter storms have occurred in March, including:

- The March 1993 "Superstorm"

- Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh Snowstorm (March 1983)

- Front Range Snowstorm (March 2003); Denver's second heaviest snowstorm (31.8 inches)

- New York City's Blizzard of 1888

Mud And Flood Season

If you're stuck with snow on the ground, you have to go through the muddy mess when it warms up and melts.

For those who have never lived in northern climates, old melting snow piles from the winter take on a brown look, as road debris scraped by snowplows and snowblowers is revealed. I've heard this referred to as "snirt" (snow and dirt).

Once the snow melts completely, you may be left with puddles or mud near the street, curb or sidewalk. Now, you don't have to wash your car to remove road salt, but have to do so to remove mud and dirt from driving through puddles.

These are just minor headaches, though.

If a sharp warm spell moves in with deep snow on the ground, water from rapidly melting snow can push rivers over their banks, flooding city streets, even homes.

Some of the most serious flooding occurs when heavy rain falls in the spring as the ground is still soaked from absorbing spring meltwater.

This is often a problem in parts of the Ohio Valley, Mississippi Valley, Red River Valley (North Dakota and Minnesota) and parts of New England.

Warm Teases

Rolling your car windows down, opening a window in your house to air out and leaving the jacket in the closet are all things I look forward to in spring.

In March, though, any warmth in the northern half of the country tends to be a tease. One, maybe two days at most, if you're lucky.

We mentioned earlier the strong low-pressure systems that are notorious in March. Temperatures ahead of the cold front in these situations can spike into the 60s and 70s in parts of the Midwest and Northeast.

The warm spell may not always be a sunny one. When warm air advances over snowpack-chilled air, areas of advection fog and low clouds can develop. A band of soaking rain may immediately precede the frontal system, as well.

One exception to this was the incredible, record-shattering warmth in March 2012. One location in Lower Michigan almost hit 90 — yes, ninety — degrees.

(MORE: When Spring Temperatures Typically Warm Up)

Severe Weather Ramps Up

March is when we typically see arctic fronts become less potent enough to allow warm, humid air to surge north more often in their wake ahead of vigorous jet-stream disturbances swinging out of the West.

That means an increased risk of severe thunderstorms.

The tornado threat in March tends to be highest in a corridor from the lower Mississippi Valley into the Tennessee Valley and Deep South. Texas (12) and Alabama (6) have averaged the most March tornadoes each year, according to NOAA.

But severe weather can occur any time of year and anywhere the ingredients align. And as the map below shows, March severe thunderstorms and tornadoes can hammer areas farther north that still may have a winter storm mindset that early in spring.

Of the estimated 300 tornadoes last March, 13 touched down in Michigan, and another eight twisters occurred in Pennsylvania.

Recent Marches have been awful for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.

At least 200 tornadoes — more than twice the average — have occurred in the U.S. in three of last four Marches from 2022 through 2025 according to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.

Windy

Try enjoying one of those fleeting warm early spring days while blasted by strong winds. Then there's the cold, raw winds behind a spring cold front.

It turns out that wind is a staple of early spring.

According to Alaska-based climatologist Brian Brettschneider, March is the windiest month over much of the East from Florida and the Deep South to the Northeast. It's the second windiest month in much of the Plains and Mississippi Valley.

Last March was extreme, even by March standards. The National Weather Service issued 164 high wind warnings in March 2025, the most of any single month since 2005. There were also over 2,000 reports of severe thunderstorm winds and wind damage received by the National Weather Service, a record for any March since 1950.

Why is it so windy?

We mentioned earlier you can still have arctic cold fronts, one source of March winds, but they tend to give way quicker in March than, say, January.

That energetic jet stream we talked about earlier spinning up strong low-pressure systems tends to produce strong winds in the storm's warm and cold sectors by March. Thus, you could expect two rounds of strong winds in one storm.

Even a day without a storm, per se, can be windy in the Southwest and Plains states, when the upper-level storm is still centered over the West. Sometimes, March southwest winds can gust over 50 mph in these areas.

(MORE: Why Is It So Windy In Spring?)

It's also about what winds can carry.

It could be dust, as happened early last March in Dallas-Ft. Worth. It could rapidly spread wildfires. Or, it could simply spread pollen, worsening your allergies.

I do look forward to spring like many of you.

But as a resident and native of the north, I always have to pump the brakes on my excitement for warmer, sunnier weather, given what March usually delivers.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.