Remembering the March Blizzard of 2013 that Buried Missouri

I always look forward to March because that's the month when the weather in Missouri normally starts to warm up. During the winter of 2013, we learned the hard way that isn't always true as parts of the state were buried by a late season blizzard.

The National Weather Service in St. Louis has many details of what transpired during what has been referred to as the Palm Sunday Blizzard of 2013. The worst of the storm impacted Missouri on March 24, 2013. It was a very heavy, wet snow and there were many reports of thundersnow across Missouri. St. Louis broke their all-time record during that storm with a staggering 12.4 inches of snow blanketing the metro area. Here are the places in Missouri that broke double-digits for snow totals that day:

• HILLSBORO - 16.7
• MOUNT OLIVE -  16.2
• BUNKER HILL - 16.0
• NOKOMIS - 15.6
• GRAFTON - 15.5
• HARVESTER - 15.1
• ALTON - 15.0
• HAMBURG - 14.5
• HARVESTER - 14.5
• MEDORA - 14.3
• O'FALLON MO -14.1
• LOUISIANA - 14.0
• O FALLON - 14.0
• DARDENNE PRAIRIE - 13.8
• NOKOMIS - 13.5
• HILLSBORO - 13.0
• HARVESTER II - 13.0
• CLARKSVILLE LD24 - 13.0
• NWS WELDON SPRING - 12.8
• ST. LOUIS - LAMBERT FIELD - 12.7
• VERSAILLES - 12.6
• FLORISSANT - 12.5
• EDWARDSVILLE - 12.0
• ST. CHARLES - 12.0
• CHESTERFIELD - 12.0
• WHITE HALL - 12.0
• ELLISVILLE - 11.8
• ST. PETERS - 11.5
• EDWARDSVILLE - 11.5
• FLORISSANT - 11.1
• COLLINSVILLE - 11.0
• LOUISIANA - 11.0
• FLORISSANT - 10.6
• COLUMBIA - 10.5
• CUIVRE RIVER SP 10.5
• HARRISBURG - 10.0

The other major Missouri snow event in March included the 1912 blizzard that buried the Kansas City area with over 20 inches of snow on March 23 that year. The State Historical Society of Missouri has pictures of that event. Both of these storms prove that you can never really let your guard down once you reach March in Missouri. There is always the possibility that a sudden storm can transport your hopes of Spring back to a stark winter reality like it did in 2013 and 1912.