Wait, was that snow? Flurries fall across the Triangle for the first time this year.
Just when it seemed we might exit the season without having seen any snow, a few flurries fell Sunday morning across the Triangle.
About 9:30 a.m., the snow gave way to rain as temperatures in the upper atmosphere exceeded freezing point.
Raleigh isn’t know for heavy snowfall, but the area averages about six inches per year. Most of that usually comes in January, according to the National Weather Service.
Sunday’s flurries come days after the city basked in 70-degree winter weather. This meteorological winter is the third warmest ever recorded in the Raleigh area, with record-breaking temperatures in the mid-80s.
But last week, temperatures dropped again as a cold front moved in.
March snowfall is not uncommon in the Triangle. Since 2000, it has snowed 22 times in March, according to data from the NWS.
In fact, March snowfall in Raleigh has been eerily consistent. The NWS reported snow on March 12 for four of the last seven years, making it the most common March date for snow in the last decade.
March 12 was even the starting data of the Triangle’s 1993 “snowstorm of the century,” which brought more than four feet of snow to some parts of Western North Carolina.
Overall, the amount of snowfall in Raleigh has been decreasing since the 1980s.
“That trend of less snow observed and fewer winter storms is something that’s been observed quite a few decades now,” meteorologist Jonathan Blaes previously told McClatchy News, adding that climate change and a natural evolution in weather or climate patterns could be playing a role.
This story was originally published March 12, 2023 at 12:04 PM.
