March Weather in Fargo North Dakota, United StatesDaily high temperatures increase by 17°F, from 30°F to 47°F, rarely falling below 12°F or exceeding 61°F. Daily low temperatures increase by 15°F, from 14°F to 29°F, rarely falling below -6°F or exceeding 41°F. For reference, on July 23, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Fargo typically range from 61°F to 83°F, while on January 15, the coldest day of the year, they range from 2°F to 19°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on March. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day. Samara, Russia (5,260 miles away) and Jilin, China (5,640 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Fargo (view comparison). CloudsThe month of March in Fargo experiences gradually decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 60% to 54%. The clearest day of the month is March 31, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 46% of the time. For reference, on February 3, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 63%, while on July 26, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 74%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Fargo, the chance of a wet day over the course of March is gradually increasing, starting the month at 9% and ending it at 13%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 39% on June 13, and its lowest chance is 5% on January 28. Over the course of March in Fargo, the chance of a day with only rain increases from 3% to 9%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 2% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow decreases from 5% to 1%. RainfallTo show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day. The average sliding 31-day rainfall during March in Fargo is increasing, starting the month at 0.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 0.8 inches, and ending the month at 0.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 2.0 inches or falls below 0.1 inches. SnowfallAs with rainfall, we consider the snowfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day. The average sliding 31-day snowfall during March in Fargo is gradually decreasing, starting the month at 2.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 6.8 inches or falls below 0.2 inches, and ending the month at 2.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.6 inches or falls below -0.0 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 2.9 inches on March 8. SunOver the course of March in Fargo, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 41 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 3 minutes, 22 seconds, and weekly increase of 23 minutes, 32 seconds. The shortest day of the month is March 1, with 11 hours, 8 minutes of daylight and the longest day is March 31, with 12 hours, 49 minutes of daylight. The earliest sunrise of the month in Fargo is 6:50 AM on March 9 and the latest sunrise is 58 minutes later at 7:48 AM on March 10. The earliest sunset is 6:13 PM on March 1 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 42 minutes later at 7:55 PM on March 31. Daylight saving time (DST) starts at 3:00 AM on March 10, 2024, shifting sunrise and sunset to be an hour later. For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:32 AM and sets 15 hours, 53 minutes later, at 9:25 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 8:09 AM and sets 8 hours, 31 minutes later, at 4:41 PM. The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation. MoonThe figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for March 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.
HumidityWe base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night. The chance that a given day will be muggy in Fargo is essentially constant during March, remaining around 0% throughout. For reference, on July 18, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 25% of the time, while on October 26, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time. WindThis section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages. The average hourly wind speed in Fargo is gradually increasing during March, increasing from 12.0 miles per hour to 12.6 miles per hour over the course of the month. For reference, on March 31, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 12.6 miles per hour, while on July 26, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.1 miles per hour. The highest daily average wind speed during March is 12.6 miles per hour on March 31. The hourly average wind direction in Fargo throughout March is predominantly from the north, with a peak proportion of 38% on March 5. Growing SeasonDefinitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere). The growing season in Fargo typically lasts for 5.0 months (152 days), from around May 4 to around October 3, rarely starting before April 15 or after May 22, and rarely ending before September 14 or after October 23. The month of March in Fargo is reliably fully outside of the growing season. Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F. The average accumulated growing degree days in Fargo are essentially constant during March, remaining within 6°F of 6°F throughout. Solar EnergyThis section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation. The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Fargo is increasing during March, rising by 1.4 kWh, from 3.2 kWh to 4.6 kWh, over the course of the month. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Fargo are 46.877 deg latitude, -96.790 deg longitude, and 902 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Fargo is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 43 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 898 feet. Within 10 miles is also essentially flat (75 feet). Within 50 miles is essentially flat (846 feet). The area within 2 miles of Fargo is covered by artificial surfaces (99%), within 10 miles by cropland (83%) and artificial surfaces (16%), and within 50 miles by cropland (91%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Fargo, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Temperature and Dew PointThere are 3 weather stations near enough to contribute to our estimation of the temperature and dew point in Fargo. For each station, the records are corrected for the elevation difference between that station and Fargo according to the International Standard Atmosphere , and by the relative change present in the MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis between the two locations. The estimated value at Fargo is computed as the weighted average of the individual contributions from each station, with weights proportional to the inverse of the distance between Fargo and a given station. The stations contributing to this reconstruction are:
To get a sense of how much these sources agree with each other, you can view a comparison of Fargo and the stations that contribute to our estimates of its temperature history and climate. Please note that each source's contribution is adjusted for elevation and the relative change present in the MERRA-2 data. Other DataAll data relating to the Sun's position (e.g., sunrise and sunset) are computed using astronomical formulas from the book, Astronomical Algorithms 2nd Edition , by Jean Meeus. All other weather data, including cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar flux, come from NASA's MERRA-2 Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis . This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid. Land Use data comes from the Global Land Cover SHARE database , published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Elevation data comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) , published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Names, locations, and time zones of places and some airports come from the GeoNames Geographical Database . Time zones for airports and weather stations are provided by AskGeo.com . Maps are © OpenStreetMap contributors. DisclaimerThe information on this site is provided as is, without any assurances as to its accuracy or suitability for any purpose. Weather data is prone to errors, outages, and other defects. We assume no responsibility for any decisions made on the basis of the content presented on this site. We draw particular cautious attention to our reliance on the MERRA-2 model-based reconstructions for a number of important data series. While having the tremendous advantages of temporal and spatial completeness, these reconstructions: (1) are based on computer models that may have model-based errors, (2) are coarsely sampled on a 50 km grid and are therefore unable to reconstruct the local variations of many microclimates, and (3) have particular difficulty with the weather in some coastal areas, especially small islands. We further caution that our travel scores are only as good as the data that underpin them, that weather conditions at any given location and time are unpredictable and variable, and that the definition of the scores reflects a particular set of preferences that may not agree with those of any particular reader. Please review our full terms contained on our Terms of Service page. |