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March 2012 Climate Report for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

 

March 2012 Highlights

New Records for March 2012

   San Juan 

Date	New Record	Old Record
March 25th	A daily maximum rainfall of 3.09".	This broke the old record of 1.75" set back in 1956.
March 2012	Second wettest March on record with 9.27".	March 1927 ended as the wettest March on record with 9.38".

   Saint Thomas

Date	New Record	Old Record
March 19th	A daily maximum rainfall of 0.43".	This broke the old of 0.39'' set back in 1961.
March 22nd	A daily maximum rainfall of 0.67".	This broke the old record of 0.22" set back in 2001.
March 24th	A daily maximum rainfall of 0.27".	This broke the old record of 0.15" set back in 1999.
March 28th	A daily maximum rainfall of 0.70".	This broke the old record of 0.43" set back in 1954.
March 2012	Second wettest March on record with 3.95".	March 1961 ended as the wettest March on record with 4.37".

   Saint Croix 

Date	New Record	Old Record
March 21st	A daily maximum rainfall of 0.42".	This broke the old of 0.25'' set back in 2001.
March 24th	A daily maximum rainfall of 0.92".	This broke the old record of 0.42" set back in 1999.
March 2012	Second wettest March on record with 3.79".	March 1985 ended as the wettest March on record with 4.15".

 

Other notable temperatures and precipitation amounts

Notable March 2012 High's	Notable March 2012 Low's
92°F Gurabo AES March 28th	45°F Adjuntas AES March 14th
90°F Gurabo AES March 5th	48°F Adjuntas AES March 27th

	Puerto Rico	Virgin Islands
Highest 24 hr Precip Total	6.50" Arecibo Observatory March 29th	1.36" Redhook  March 21st
Highest Weekly Rainfall Accum.	12.83" Paraiso March 24th-29th	2.80" Beth Upper March 24th-29th

March 2012 Statistics

 Average March Temperatures/Precipitation (NCDC 1981-2010 averages):

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	84.9°F	85.9°F	84.6°F
Low	72.9°F	72.8°F	72.5°F
Avg. T	78.9°F	79.4°F	78.6°F
Pcpn.	1.95’’	1.42’’	1.56’’

  March 2012 Observations:

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	84.3°F(-0.6°F)	83.4°F(-2.5°F)	83.9°F(-0.7°F)
Low	72.8°F(-0.1°F)	72.7°F(-0.1°F)	71.2°F(-1.3°F)
Avg. T	78.5°F(-0.4°F)	78.0°F(-1.4°F)	77.5°F(-1.1°F)
Pcpn.	9.27"(+7.32")	3.95"(+2.53")	3.79"(+2.23")

 March 2012 extremes:

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	87°F March 16th, 5th and 4th	86°F March 6th and 1st	86°F March 15th and 14th
Low	71°F March 2nd	69°F March 19th	68°F March 20th and 11th

Monthly Summary 

     A generally fair and mainly dry weather pattern prevailed during the first period of the month with just isolated morning showers across the windward side of the local islands and limited afternoon convection across Puerto Rico. By midmonth, a transition to a more convective/wet pattern was noticed.  A mid to upper level trough meandered between the Caribbean basin and the tropical Atlantic, generating favorable conditions for shower and thunderstorm enhancement. This feature interacted with diurnal heating and local effects to generate convective activity along the Cordillera Central and the coastal sections. Due to the northeast prevailing winds, afternoon showers and thunderstorms were concentrated along the interior and southwest portions of Puerto Rico. In addition, during the evening and early morning hours, showers and thunderstorms continued to re-develop over the eastern third of Puerto Rico as mid to upper level disturbances generated favorable conditions across the area. 

Rainfall Accumulations Year to Date (YTD)    

 

  Figure A – Graphical Display of March 2012 precipitation across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands derived from a combination of rain gage and radar data.

 

Figure B – Graphical Display of YTD precipitation across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands derived from a combination of rain gage and radar data  

      

 

Sector	Rain YTD	Normal YTD	PON YTD
X North Coast	17.16	9.82	175%
X South Coast	8.29	2.42	333%
X North Slopes	13.07	8.51	154%
X South Slopes	10.06	5.96	169%
X East Interior	19.16	11.38	168%
X West Interior	18.07	9.49	190%
Puerto Rico Average	14.30	7.94	180%
X U.S. Virgin Islands	7.36	5.57	132%

PON= Percent of Normal YTD= Year to Date   

  Figure C – Display of YTD precipitation by climate sectors derived from rain gage data.

March Historical Statistics              

Highest March Temperatures on record:

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
96°F March 19th, 1983	94°F March 27th, 1994	92°F March 5th, 1996
95°F March 30th, 1984	94°F March 26th, 1994	91°F March 24th, 1973
94°F March 21st, 1983	94°F March 21st, 1994	91°F March 21st, 1973

Lowest  March Temperatures on record:

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
60°F March 3rd, 1957	60°F March 30th, 1972	60°F March 29th, 1977
61°F March 6th, 1970	60°F March 1st, 1972	62°F March 20th, 1982
61°F March 23rd, 1962	61°F March 29th, 1972	62°F March 8th, 1979

 Wettest Marchs

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
9.38"  1927	4.37"  1961	4.15"  1985
9.27"  2012	3.95"  2012	3.79"  2012
7.18"  1913	3.95"  1975	3.41"  1972

     Driest Marchs

San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
0.00" 2005	0.01" 2008	0.17" 1951
0.45" 1951	0.36" 1959	0.29" 2003
0.46" 1924	0.44" 1984	0.39" 2005

Decadal March Observations for San Juan, Puerto Rico

	2010-2012	2000’s	1990’s	1980’s	1970’s	1960’s
High	84.9°F	84.8°F	84.8°F	85.4°F	84.3°F	83.8°F
Low	73.0°F	72.4°F	71.4°F	71.9°F	72.4°F	70.2°F
Avg. T	79.0°F	78.6°F	78.1°F	78.6°F	78.4°F	77.0°F
Pcpn.	4.54"	1.57’’	1.82’’	2.29’’	2.32’’	2.36’’

Looking ahead toward the month of April

Average April Temperatures/Precipitation (NCDC 1981-2010 averages):

 

	San Juan	Saint Thomas	Saint Croix
High	86.2°F	87.0°F	85.7°F
Low	74.4°F	74.3°F	74.2°F
Avg. T	80.3°F	80.6°F	80.0°F
Pcpn.	4.68’’	2.74’’	2.13’’

 

Moon/Sun/Tide Data for the Month of April 2012   

Sunrise/sunset data, phase of the moon, as well as tide data can all be found by going to the climate portion of the National Weather Service San Juan Climate homepage and then clicking on the astronomical tab. 

Click here to return to NWS San Juan Local Climate Web Page