The End is in Sight...

Are you getting tired of this frigid air that just won't give up. There is nothing worse than Arctic air wasted. Temperatures in the single digits and teens with unlimited sunshine are quite a rarity in March in any part of the lower 48. We had that yesterday and today warmed a little but tomorrow we go back into the freezer. Highs tomorrow will struggle to reach 20, and winds will pick up at night with a few snow showers or snow squalls that could cause some limited visibility with briefly moderate to heavy snow and wind. A coating to half inch is not out of the question. That will usher in extremely cold air with lows getting below zero for Friday morning in many areas. Boston and urban areas may stay at about 5 for a low. Just outside of the city, -2 to -4 is not out of the question and in northern Worcester county, lows may dip to near -10 in the most sheltered valleys. We warm up remarkably in the afternoon with highs getting all the way to 30. In some places, a temperature rise of 40 degrees is not out of the question.

From then on, its onto spring we go. Saturday will feel great with highs approaching 50 in many locals. Sunday and Monday we warm up still with highs in the mid 50's. We may see a shower or two Sunday afternoon, but that would be just about it. We continue to warm up for Monday and there are signs now that we could be into the 60's for Monday. Many places could be seeing highs topping out into the middle 60's! We haven't seen this since early January. Warmer for Wednesday with highs budging 70 degrees from Boston to Providence and maybe lower 70's in Hartford down to New York City. Washington DC and Baltimore may be talking about temperatures nudging 80 after getting about 2-4" of snow today with a potent little clipper. Some parts of MD, received more than 10" of snow today with this clipper system. What a storm. In one week from now, we may want to start thinking about what to plant in the garden this year and seeing all the flowers popping out of the ground and possibly some trees starting to pop leaves with the warm March sun angle. Highs in the 70's in March with the sun will do much more than highs in the 70's in January for the flowers and trees.

Are we just going to forget about winter now and just fall head first into spring without looking back? I am not sure. My gut feeling is that I would be surprised if we didn't get at least one more cold shot after this initial warmup next week. Mother Nature, I am sure has lots of tricks up her sleeve for us after giving such an easy and uneventful winter. We may be digging out in April or we may be in line for one of the busiest and most scary hurricane seasons of the past decades with La Nina coming on strong!

I am not going to get so far ahead of myself I start eating my own words, so I will leave it at that and stick with the six day forecast. Just two more days of wintertime cold and then spring, warmth, baseball, no winter jackets, golf, mowing the lawn, HERE WE COME!!!