The last week of meteorological winter started off with a classic nor’easter that brought heavy snow and strong winds to much of the Northeast:
Double-digit snow fell from Philadelphia to New York to Boston. Providence, RI set a new snow storm record at 37.9″:
Take a look at the entire storm at our station in Andover, MA where over a foot of snow fell and winds gusted over 50 mph:
While meteorological winter is winding down (the last day is Feb 28th) there is still the threat for winter weather in the days to come.
March Winter Weather Threats
As meteorological spring starts on March 1, there will be the threat of winter weather across the Midwest and Northeast that emergency managers will need to monitor. Below is the probability of 3″ or more of snow from the Euro AI model ending on the afternoon of March 4th:
The Euro ensemble has a similar look to the chance for 3″ or more of snow:
The GFS wants to bring the highest odds a little farther south but all models have the signal for something next week:
The good news is that unlike last week, there’s not a strong signal for a big storm. You can see in the temperature anomalies from March 1 to March 6 that the Northeast is the lone spot in the country that will be below average while the rest of the country warms up:
Spring Warmth and Severe Weather
As mentioned above, much of the country outside of the Northeast will start to feel like spring. This warm weather could fuel spring storms and rain. You can see in the extended outlook that above average precipitation is becoming more likely across the center of the country:
It’s too early to discuss specifics for the potential of severe storms, but this is a sign of the changing seasons. Spring severe weather will continue to ramp up in the weeks to come. You can see what part of the country typically has the highest chance of severe weather below in March:
Drought and Spring Wildfire Threat
Drought has continued to worsen, especially across Florida and the Southeast. In fact, for the first time since April 2021, all of Florida is in at least moderate drought:
There have already been several wildfires across Florida and the outlook for March is for increased fire activity across the Southeast:
Read more here about the critical role that real-time weather data plays in wildfire response. While some beneficial rain will fall across Florida this weekend, it won’t be nearly enough to eradicate the drought:
