The statewide average precipitation for February-March was 8.69 inches, which made it the fourth-wettest February-March on record, according to Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel of the Illinois State Water Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at Illinois.
The wettest February-March was in 1898 with 8.96 inches. The statewide average precipitation for March was 4.03 inches, 1.07 inches above normal. The largest monthly precipitation total was 8.38 inches at Carlyle.
The snowfall pattern for March was largely the result of a March 24-25 storm that extended from the Quad Cities to Danville. The largest monthly snowfall total for March was 11.4 inches at Eureka. The rest of the state saw little snow in March.
The statewide average temperature was 38.7 degrees, 2.6 degrees below normal. The warmest reading for the month was 75 degrees at Kaskaskia River Navigation Dam on March 16. The coldest reading for the month was 10 degrees at Mount Carroll on March 9.
The National Weather Service’s outlook for April is more of the same: an increased chance of below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation for Illinois and the Midwest.