Winter has technically ended. But more snow and ice are coming.
Sunday marked the first day of spring – at least according to meteorologists.
In their calendar, winter lasts from December to February and spring goes from March to May, combining months with similar temperatures. And although astronomical spring – when the sun is directly over the equator – doesn’t arrive until March 20, some people living along the East Coast may be happy to declare winter over.
But it won’t go quietly: There’s more snow and ice on the horizon, even during the transition to spring.
Data shows that it has been the coldest winter in more than a decade for much of the East. The West, on the other hand, experienced widespread record warmth, considering average temperatures since December – including an extreme reading of 101 degrees south of Palm Springs, California, on Friday.
Because of all that Western warmth, this past meteorological winter preliminarily ranks as the second-warmest winter on record for the contiguous United States, considering data since 1981.
Winter snowfall tells a similar story. Swaths of the East had their snowiest season in five to 15 or more years, while a snow drought intensified across the Intermountain West.
And now there’s more to come.
More snow and ice
Yet another Arctic front will cross the Northeast on Sunday, bringing a period of morning snow from New York to Boston, with frigid air spilling southward into the mid-Atlantic by Monday morning.
Then, from Monday night through Tuesday, a storm will move into the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with its moisture riding in above cold, dense air that will have settled into the region.
That’s a recipe for ice and snow.
Places from Virginia to Maine, including the stretch from D.C. to Boston, could contend with freezing rain, sleet and some snow, with the worst conditions expected across inland areas, away from the coast.
Amounts don’t look particularly heavy – with a glaze of ice possible in many places – but even small amounts of freezing rain can cause big problems on the roads.
In addition to slippery roads, the storm will bring the potential for flight delays and cancellations as well as school disruptions.
Some relief is coming. A much warmer weather pattern will develop later in the first week of meteorological spring, as temperatures jump into the 60s, 70s and 80s near the East Coast.
Winter weather recap
Around 105 million people, mostly in the Midwest, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, experienced below-average winter temperatures. About 114 million people experienced warmer-than-average conditions.
Here are some key, preliminary winter climate rankings for the contiguous United States:
- Average temperature
- : 35.7 degrees, second-highest on record
- Average high temperature
- : 46.5 degrees, highest on record
- Average low temperature
- : 25 degrees, fifth-highest on record
- Average precipitation
- : 5.3 inches, lowest on record
Dryness is being felt most severely across the South and West. In Florida, a state of emergency was recently declared due to the impact of winter weather, droughts and wildfire risks.
Despite frequent intrusions of Arctic air in the East, stemming from an unusual, early season polar vortex disruption, the tailwind of climate change probably prevented conditions from being even colder – and contributed to unusual winter heat in the West.
In the densely populated corridor from Boston to Philadelphia, it was the snowiest winter in at least a decade.
It was also the snowiest winter in 10 to 15 or more years for parts of Central New York, including Syracuse, as well as the Carolinas, Georgia and swaths of the Midwest.
At the same time, snow droughts across the Intermountain West reached record territory in some states, especially Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon.