Recorded presentation1.2
March 1843: The most abnormal month ever?
John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas A&M Univ., College Station, TX; and B. McRoberts
Weather observations taken four times daily across the present-day central and eastern United States permit a detailed reconstruction of monthly climate and daily weather during March 1843. Based on normalized departures of temperatures from the historic monthly mean, March 1843 may be regarded as the most anomalous month in recorded history for the central and eastern United States. In places, the average temperature for the month was more than 25 °F below normal, and the expected return frequency for such an anomaly is thousands of years. Using the detailed observations and recent analogs, the daily weather maps for March 1843 can be reconstructed. They show a storm track displaced well to the south of its normal position, with occasional snowstorms bringing winter weather to the Deep South, the Mid-Atlantic States, and New England. The extended severe winter weather caused hardship throughout the area. Recorded presentation
Session 1, Weather and climate in early US history
Tuesday, 22 January 2008, 11:00 AM-12:00 PM, 211
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