Easterwood Field						College Station, Texas
Monthly Summary for March 2006
	TEMPERATURE			PRECIP.		TEMPERATURE
Day	Maximum	Minimum	*Depart.	Total		MEANS			ACTUAL	DEPART.
1	83	58	12.5			Maximum			74.5	1.9
2	81	56	10.5			Minimum			55.2	4.7
3	77	60	9.5			Monthly			64.9	3.3
4	74	52	4			EXTREMES				DATE
5	77	60	9.5			Highest			86	11th,12th
6	83	64	14.5			Lowest			31	24th
7	80	63	11.5
8	82	67	14.5			DEGREE DAYS			TOTAL	DEPART.
9	79	57	8	0.09		Heating			101	-48
10	85	50	7.5			Cooling			106	64
11	86	70	17
12	86	71	17.5			PRECIPITATION			AMOUNT	DEPART.
13	74	55	3.5	T		Total Monthly			4.80	1.96
14	72	48	-1			Total for 2006			11.13	2.59
15	69	47	-3			Precipitation Days			5	-2
16	77	63	8	T		EXTREMES			AMOUNT	DATE
17	72	59	3.5	T		24-hour Maximum			2.87	28th
18	69	58	1.5	T
19	76	63	7.5	0.13		Maximum Wind Gust			38	8th
20	76	51	0.5	1.65
21	65	44	-8.5			NUMBER OF DAYS			AMOUNT	DEPART.
22	58	42	-13			TEMPERATURE
23	51	40	-17.5	0.01		Maximum 90 or higher			0	0
24	61	31	-17			Maximum 32 or lower			0	0
25	69	34	-12.5			Minimum 32 or lower			1	-1
26	74	42	-6
27	72	60	2	T		RECORD BOOK FOR MARCH**
28	67	58	-1.5	2.87		Highest Temperature			94°F	1971
29	73	57	1	0.05		Lowest Temperature			17°F	2002
30	81	63	7			Lowest Maximum			32°F	1989
31	82	67	9.5	T		Highest Minimum			72°F	1985
						Wettest Month			6.19"	2001
	Temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit					Driest Month			0.29"	1971
	Precipitation in inches					Wettest 24 hours			4.20"	1980
	"T" denotes less than or equal to 0.005"					** Based on records (1952-present)
	BOLDFACE indicates extreme values for the month					* Departure of the daily mean temperature,
	ITALICS indicate a record was set or tied					as calculated from the average of the
						maximum and minimum temperatures, from
						the 1971-2000 normals.
New Records Set*
DAY	PARAMETER					VALUE		OLD RECORD		YEAR
1st	Tied Highest Maximum Temperature					83		83		2000
11th	Tied Highest Minimum Temperature					70		70		1974
12th	Highest Minimum Temperature					71		69		1982
23rd	Lowest Maximum Temperature					51		52		1952
24th	Tied Lowest Minimum Temperature					31		31		1952
Near Records*
DAY	PARAMETER					VALUE		RECORD		YEAR
6th	3rd Highest Maximum Temperature					83		89		1991
8th	2nd Highest Maximum Temperature					82		86		1974
8th	2nd Highest Minimum Temperature					67		68		1964
10th	3rd Highest Maximum Temperature					85		88		1954,80
11th	3rd Highest Maximum Temperature					86		89		1955
12th	2nd Highest Maximum Temperature					86		87		1967
25th	2nd Lowest Minimum Temperature					34		33		1955
31st	3rd Highest Minimum Temperature					67		71		1982
*NOTE:  All records are based on observations taken at Easterwood Field (1952-present)
Monthly Review
March 2006 started off warm for the Bryan/College Station area.  The first 13 days of the month saw temperatures
an average of 10.8° above average. Light rain and cloudy conditions during the next couple of days cooler the
temperatures slightly but they were still above average.  In fact, until a cold front moved into the area on the 20th,
only two days (14th and 15th) reported below average temperatures.  However, the second half of the month was
significantly cooler.  After the 20th, only 4 days reported above average temperatures.  The average departure from
normal from the 20th to the 29th was 8.1° below normal.  This month also represented the second month in-a-row
that the area received above average rainfall.  The first half of the month was dry with only 0.09" reported during
the 18 days.  However, a cold front moved through the area on the 20th and brought some storms along with it.
Easterwood Field reported 1.65" on the 20th, which was a daily maximum rainfall total for the day.  Winds from the
north persisted the next couple of days and kept temperatures down.  Then, on the 28th, a slow moving cold front
pushed across the state and stalled west of the Brazos Valley near Waco.  This put the all of Bryan/College Station
under heavy rains for most of the day.  The rainfall total for the day was 2.87", which also set a daily maximum
rainfall total.  Of the 2.87", 2.65" fell within 6 hours between 6 am and noon.  This lead to some flooding conditions
in the area but did help to ease the current drought conditions.  Hopefully, this cool, moist pattern will continue into
April.
April Normals for College Station
Temperature
Beginning of the month			77 / 55			Monthly precipitation:			3.20"
Middle of the month			79 / 57			Precipitation days:			7
End of the month			81 / 59			90° days			1
State Climatologist:			Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon
Prepared by:			Matt Mosier (Undergraduate Assistant)
Email:  osc@ariel.met.tamu.edu
Web address:  http://www.met.tamu.edu/osc/
OFFICE OF THE TEXAS STATE CLIMATOLOGIST
DEPARTMENT OF ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE STATION, TX 77843-3150