The Nations Weather

NATIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY:

In the eastern third of the nation, widespread showers were found from the Ohio valley southward through the northern Gulf Coast along a weakening cool front. Strong late morning thunderstorms across Mississippi spawned an EF-1 tornado south of the town of Meridian. By the evening hours another round of thunderstorms moved into portions of Mississippi and western Tennessee bringing occasional heavy rains, with some locations across western Mississippi picking up over 3 inches of rainfall for the day.

Across the central portion of the country, quiet weather was found in many locations across the north, with the exception being over North Dakota and northern Minnesota where some accumulating snows were found. Several inches of new snow, along with occasional whiteout conditions only added insult to injury across the flooding ravaged Red River Valley region of North Dakota and Minnesota. Across the south, severe thunderstorms broke out in Texas during the late afternoon and proceeded to march into the Southern Mississippi Valley through the evening hours. Several reports of hail between 1 and 2 inches were found across central Texas with some reports of thunderstorm wind damage across Louisiana as the storm system moved eastward.

Out West, an upper level low pressure system brought snow to the Pacific Northwest that spread southward through the eastern Great Basin and the Central Rockies during the afternoon and evening. Across the higher elevations of Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and Western Colorado several inches of snow managed to accumulate. Mainly dry conditions were found across the southwest with high pressure firmly in place.

WEATHER EXTREMES SO FAR TODAY:

HIGHEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F).............92 Laredo, TX

HIGHEST HEAT INDEX (DEGREES F)..............94 Laredo, TX

LOWEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)...............7 Baker, MT

LOWEST WIND CHILL (DEGREES F)..............-19 Cut Bank, MT

HIGHEST WIND GUST (MPH).....................57 Liberal, KS

HIGHEST PRECIPITATION (INCHES)............3.43 Vicksburg, MS

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY:

In 1884, two steamers were crushed by ice as an ice jam broke up in Bismarck, ND.

In 1934, Dumont, SD set the state record for the most snow in 24 hours, coming in with 38 inches.

In 1954, Allakaket, AK fell to 69 degrees below zero, the lowest temperature ever during March in the United States. DTN-Meteorlogix/B Gjerdingen

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.