Sheldon, Iowa — The old saying goes March comes in like a lion, and out like a lamb, but according to the weather facts ascertained daily by KIWA studios in downtown Sheldon, March 2023 came in like a lion of cold weather, and the lion’s chill stuck around throughout the month.
No records were set for temperatures in March 2023, but it did come within seven degrees of doing so on the 18th, when the low dropped to the coldest low of the month, reaching down to a mere five degrees. The average low of 19 degrees for March was not too far from the average normal low of 22. There were three days the lows dipped into the single digits above zero. The warmest low for the month came in the middle of the month when the mercury stayed at freezing, dropping to 32 degrees, just two days before the coldest low of the month. The average high was substantially lower than the average normal high, and was not very much warmer than February was. The average high temperature for March 2023 came in at 34 degrees, which was 20 percent below the average normal high of 43. The coldest high of the month came on the 18th, when the mercury only rose to 18 degrees. The warmest that Sheldon reached throughout the entire month of March happened on the 22nd, when the temperature approached, but did not exceed, 50, coming in at a balmy 48 degrees.
There were eight days of the month that had measurable precipitation fall. The most precipitation fell on the last day of the month, where Sheldon had 61 hundredths of an inch fall into the gauge. The total precipitation for March 2023 was below the normal monthly precipitation, coming in at 1.7 inches, compared to the normal monthly precipitation of 1.96 inches. This deficit, however, did not translate into much of a reduction in the year to date precipitation, as Sheldon remained 1.37 inches above normal. There was a trace of snow that fell on the 18th of the month, which accompanied six days of measurable snowfall, the most of which being on the 10th, when three inches fell. The total snowfall for the six days of measurable snow in the month of March was just under 8½ inches, which was below the normal snowfall for the month of March which is just under 8¾ inches. This ¼ inch deficit did not do much to change the course of the season to date snowfall, coming in over a foot above normal, at just under 47 inches, compared to the normal season to date snowfall of 34.8 inches.
