Crabapple trees greening-up in Downtown March 18th 2012

Our March heat wave continues! Hearing of broken records is starting to sound like a broken record becuase we have broke records nearly every day this week, and today was no exception. After record warm lows in the low to mid 60s last night, clouds cleared away to allow for Another warm summer-like day in the upper 70s and lower 80s in a string of 80s that has been going for the 3rd strait day in a row here at my station Rochester! Last nights low was 64.F and today’s high was a windy, very warm and humid 83.F. Air conditioning was actually necessary, How rare is this? Extremely! With all the warmth around it is hard to believe our average high is in the mid 40s this time of year, and lows still fall into the 20s normally. Our local NWS in La Crosse is calling the March heat unprecedented, and they said were came shy just 1 degree of tying the all time record high for March, and were on course to possible making this the warmest March on average ever recorded!

Green grass and shrubs March 18th 2012

The warmth is showing up in landscaping, gardens, trees and shrubs across the area, and are progressing extremely fast and the earliest I’ve ever seen, Early trees and shrubs like Crab apples Poplar and lilacs, are already leafing out, Daffodils are full bloom, and tulips are on they way to getting flower buds. A Spring Growth Update with photos will be posted in the coming days.

 Highs reported.

Today the heat wave peaked, and most locations say there warmest lows and warmest highs. The warmest lows were in warm valleys near the Mississippi River like Red Wing and in inner city Rochester. The warmest official high was at Red Wing with a high of 82.F, Un officially inner city Rochester has the highest.