This is going to end up the hottest March ever recorded in San Diego, and it's not even close.
When the final numbers for the month come in this week, the average temperature at Lindbergh Field will be right around 66°. That will make it the hottest March since records began back in 1874! The previous record is 64.3. And in this case, a degree and a half is a landslide. Consider the other four years in the top five are all separated by a degree or less.
When we say "average" temperature, we mean the average between the high and low temperature for each day, but this month also had some very high highs. The hottest day of the month came March 14th when we hit 90°, shattering the old record from 1951 before the clock even struck noon. Records fell three consecutive days between March 13th and 15th. And each of those three days all now rank in the top ten hottest days ever for March. The all time March record of 99° still stands from 1879. 7 times this month, San Diego topped 80 degrees at Lindbergh Field.
And if the heat weren't enough, it's also been an exceptionally dry month with slightly more than half the amount of rain for a normal March. And all of it came at once. The 0.93" of rain we did get all fell in the first four days of the month. Since then, we've gone close to four weeks without any measureable rainfall at Lindbergh Field.
It's a lot of numbers to take in, but to some it up, in 140 plus years, we have never seen a March like this one.
