Weather and St. Patrick's day

Mar 16, 07:12 PM

St Patrick’s day in the Quad Cities is one of those special events that can be bright and beautiful, cold and snowy, or somewhere in between. Usually, the between is where we end up with the typical high on St. Paddy’s at 46.2 after a low of 27.3 degrees.

St Patrick’s parade in downtown Davenport

Without a doubt, the coldest St Patrick’s day in the QCA was was back in 1902 when the high climbed to just 14 following a low which bottomed out at zero.
And while it only happens 24% of the time, snow has been observed on March 17th. Back in 1984, 4.3 inches of powder piled up. 1960 was especially white when Irish eyes were treated to a snowcover that measured 15 inches. No luck that year!

Rain falls on the Irish’s parade about every other year (54% of the time it’s dry). The skies really opened up in 1998 when downpours produced 1.25” of rain, swamping many a Leprechaun.

This year, everything is coming together to make this March 17th something special. Sunshine and southerly winds should send the mercury well into the 70s. If everything comes together just right, we may even approach the record of 78 set 115 years ago. Just for the record, that’s no blarney.
Ride the wind and hug your shamrock for me.
T. Swails

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