MARCH CAME IN LIKE A LIAR and went out like a loveable little dog that had just bitten your ankles for 30 days straight. Wet, wet, wet, nasty, windy March was supposed to be a respite from wet, wet, wet, windy, snowy February. March must not have gotten the memo.
Between the two of them, February-March 2010 set all kinds of records for precipitation, both of the hexagonal flakey variety and the moist teardrop-shaped variety. This was Philadelphia's wettest late winter/early spring since official weather records started being kept by the city in 1873. It was also one of the warmest months of March on record.
Every time we felt spring whispering "yes, yes, yes" March would counter with "nine! nine! nine!" inches of rain (OK, it was only 7.23 inches, but it's still the third wettest March in recorded history. February had pruney fingers too by the end of the month. When all that snowfall melted, it added up to 5.76 inches (a foot of snow equals one inch of rain).
The final day of March saw people come creeping out of shelters like cavemen blinking at the brightness outside. This pooch and his iPod listening master were among the late afternoon arivals at Clark Park in West Philadelphia to enjoy the sunshine that emerged around midday and is supposed to hang around all weekend.
Sing hallelujah, come on, get April.
