NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information
The two images above show the daily snow cover across the Northern Hemisphere (left map) and North America (right map) throughout March 2005. The maps show snow cover on March 31st, illustrating the retreat of snowpack compared to end of February. The snowy winter in Europe continued into early March and was followed by gradual melting and snow cover retreat through the latter half of the month. Most of Siberia, northern Scandinavia, Canada and Alaska remained snow covered at the end of March. A late season storm brought rain and snow to the northeastern US at the beginning of April (2nd-4th) and led to flooding in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Over 20 inches of snow fell across northwestern PA and southwestern NY producing flood stages that rivaled levels recorded during Hurricane Ivan in September 2004.
More information on significant winter weather and other hazards can be found on NCDC's Hazards page.
The map to the left depicts the percent of average seasonal snowpack across the western U.S. as of April 1st. Despite some much needed rain and snow for the Pacific Northwest during March, snowpack was still much below average for the season, with areas of Washington and Oregon having less than 50% of their normal snow. The Southwest maintained an above average snowpack during March with many areas over 150% of normal. This was mostly due to a series of Pacific storms impacting the region through the winter. Interior Alaska also had above average snowpack, while the northern and southern coasts of the state received less than average snow for the 2004-2005 winter season.
Parts of Europe and Asia had colder-than-average conditions and large snow accumulations during the winter and spring, including more than 6 feet (2 meters) of snow in March in Serbia and Montenegro, and along the northern shores of the Mediterranean in February.