I wonder who came up with the phrase, “March in like a lamb, out like a lion”, or “March in like a lion, out like a lamb”? Regardless of who claims credit to that, it sure gets talked about. In my 25 years of forecasting the weather, the public never fails to remind me of its importance!
So let’s take a look out how the first day of March has turned out in recent years in Wausau.
2017 High 33 degrees, 2.6″ snow
2016 High 25 degrees, trace snow in Wausau (as much as 4″ in Adams County)
2015 High 20 degrees, trace snow
2014 High 8 degrees, dry
2013 High 30 degrees, trace snow
One thing that sticks out to me is that it hasn’t been very warm on March 1st in recent memory. My goodness, look at that high on March 1st, 2014 at only 8 degrees! The average high by the way is in the low to mid 30s. It has been common to have at least a little snow on March 1st, with quite a bit falling last year. Overall though, I guess you could make a case that 3 of the last 5 years had March coming in like a lamb.
How about March 1st, 2018?
Well we could see a few spotty snow showers, but probably not much more than a dusting. Also it will be a little cooler, with highs in the 30s. So my take would be to say March is coming in like a lamb. But if a few flakes of snow scare you, I guess you could say lion. Or maybe we could compromise and say it is a lambion, or lionamb??
Well, enjoy the first part of March no matter what the weather throws our way. We after all will be in meteorological spring, which is pretty cool!
