The Start of Spring, Climatogocially Speaking

The first weekend of climatological spring turned out nicer than originally advertised. Temperatures rose into the middle 40’s on Saturday before crashing later in the day. Snow fell early Sunday morning but amounts ended up in the 2-4 inch range for the area. This was due to the system moving much further south and not being as dynamic. Today the sky is clear but the temperatures are very cold in spite of the bright sunshine. Unfortunately another bitterly cold night is forecast tonight with record lows possible as the temperature appear destined to fall below zero.  The rest of the week is looking very quiet with the temperatures slowly moderating every day with high temperatures reaching the 40’s by Friday. A cool down looks likely by the weekend, but high temperatures should remain above freezing. 

A system is currently moving along a stalled front through the Mid-Atlantic States.  The heaviest snowfall is near and south of the Washington D.C. area. Earlier predictions of this system spreading snow into Northern Ohio proved false. The area instead experienced a sunny albeit cold day. 

Starting on Tuesday, the weather pattern will become calm and dry. No major systems are expected to impact the area as temperatures slowly moderating each day through Friday. 

On Friday a cold front will be approaching the region from the west.  Southerly flow ahead of the system will allow high temperatures to rise into the low 40's. There will be precipitation chances with the front but at this time it is difficult to give amounts.

Looking ahead, the ridge-trough pattern will hold for the USA and continue to allow colder than average temperatures to affect the eastern part of the country. At this time bitter arctic air does not appear to come very far south of the border but it will have to be monitored.