4 remarkable facts about NJ’s wild weather this March

March 2025 came in like a lion, with gusty winds and wild temperature swings to start the month. And it went out like ... a lion ... with nasty thunderstorms.

If you asked me to name New Jersey's most volatile weather month of the year, I would immediately and without hesitation answer March. The transition from winter to spring is hardly ever clean and easy, often featuring a wild combination of snow, ice, rain, wind, cold, and heat.

March 2025 was no different, with a huge range of weather conditions throughout the month.

You may know I compile an annual list of the top weather and climate stories affecting New Jersey.

Well, consider this a top 4 list for March alone.

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Snow? What Snow?

My general feeling of the winter of 2024-2025 was that it was active and busy, but most of New Jersey had very little snow to show for it. There was no blockbuster storm that dumped plowable snow on the entire state. We had bursts of winter, but most storms affected just one corner of the state.

Then March came around. And snow chances completely disappeared.

Not a single weather station in New Jersey reported measurable snow in March 2025. About two dozen spots in North Jersey recorded a trace of snowfall (less than a tenth of an inch) at some point during the month.

Is it unusual for New Jersey to not get snow in March? Yes. Is it unheard of? Absolutely not.

Blowin' in the Wind

Did it feel like an unusually windy month? You're not alone in thinking so. And you're not wrong.

Yes, from big blustery cooldowns to gusty thunderstorms, the wind has been a prominent story several times recently.

According to our friends at the Rutgers NJ Weather Network, of the 31 days in March 2025, 26 days had at least one measured wind gusts over 30 mph somewhere in New Jersey. 14 days — almost half — hit 40+ mph, which is generally "advisory-criteria". And 3 consecutive days — the 5th, 6th, and 7th — gusted above 50 mph.

Drought Improvement

Now for some good news.

I am sure you have heard of the dire drought and wildfire situation New Jersey spiraled into last fall, thanks to very little rainfall over an extended period of time.

March marked a noted turnaround, as we saw several bouts of healthy, much-needed rainfall. The numbers are not crunched yet, but it will probably be our first month of above-normal precipitation since last August.

When March began, about half of New Jersey was classified in "D2 - Severe Drought" on the U.S. Drought Monitor. 23 percent of the state was in "D3 - Extreme Drought". (And those numbers had come down from their peak in early December.

As we close out the month, the latest Drought Monitor report puts 31 percent of the state in "D2 - Severe Drought" and 7 percent in "D3 - Extreme Drought". Better.

We can also look at a quantity called the Drought Severity and Coverage Index. That calculation combines those Drought Monitor classifications into a single number, making it useful for comparisons over time.

The downward trend since December is a good thing. Although we clearly have a long way to go before drought and wildfire concerns go away — we definitely do not want these numbers to start creeping up again.. Keep fingers crossed for more rain throughout the spring.

Possible Tornado

Finally, the grand finale of March 2025 was a round of noisy thunderstorms Monday. There were pockets of heavy rain and some strong wind gusts. But the evening timing of the storms somewhat mitigated the severity of the storms.

With one exception. Cell phones across portions of Middlesex and Monmouth counties sounded the alarm for a possible tornado just before 9:30 p.m. An area of tight rotation was briefly visible on radar in the area around Monroe Township, Englishtown, and Manalapan at that time.

The suspected tornado is represented by the brightly colored pixels in the middle of this radar image, over a largely wooded area just north of Route 33.

The National Weather Service said no damage has been reported, and they are not expected to complete an official storm survey to determine if a tornado touched down.

March is not a particularly active tornado month for New Jersey. In fact, since detailed record-keeping began in 1950, it has been the state's fourth least tornadic month (behind December, January, and February). According to the NJ State Climatologist, just 5 tornadoes have been confirmed here in March since 1950: one on 3/10/1964, one later that same month on 3/26/1964, and three separate spin-ups on 3/18/1989.

Dan Zarrow is Chief Meteorologist for Townsquare Media New Jersey. Check out Dan's weather blog or follow him on Facebook for your latest weather forecast updates.