March 2012 will go into the record books as the warmest March on record in Fort Smith. The average temperature for the month was 63.6 degrees was a full one degree warmer than the previous record set in March of 1907.
Rainfall was also above normal for March in both Fort Smith and Fayetteville. Fort Smith received over 8 inches of rain, 4 inches above normal for the month making it the 7th wettest March on record. Fayetteville recorded nearly 5 inches of rain, more than half an inch above the monthly average.
Fort Smith also did not have a freeze during the month of March. The coldest it got was 33 degrees on March 9th. The last time the temperature dipped below freezing in Fort Smith was February 25th. The record for the earliest last freeze in Fort Smith was February 23rd, 1909. Fayetteville only had 8 days where the overnight low fell to or below freezing.
-Joe
