By AccuWeather.com Senior Expert Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (March 03, 2010)—AccuWeather.com reports despite the anticipation of spring and changes that take place in March spawning some warm days, melting snow and rain, more winter is waiting on deck for the middle and second half of the month.
Every March
Many locations across the country will gain from one to two hours of daylight during March and that alone is enough to bring more temperature spikes during the daytime. The increase in sun angle also boosts temperatures and will melt more snow as the month progresses.
The strengthening sun and its effect on temperatures begin to pull the jet stream farther north. The jet stream is essentially the path upon which storm systems travel upon.
The warm air surging northward, combined with cold air trying to hang on creates some of the strongest non-tropical storms of the year.
This March
The weather pattern this weekend will certainly reflect the warmer scenario and thaw. However, winter is going to fight back during the middle and latter part of month in the eastern two-thirds of the nation with cold air and, you guessed it, more storms.
Storms will continue to roll in from the Pacific Ocean with rain, mountain snow concerns of mudslides. The storms will inevitably trek across the nation.
Several of these storms will attempt to push northward into the Upper Midwest bringing a return to wind, snow and some rain.
Since the core of the cold air will be rooted in the Northeast during mid- to late-March, storms in the mid-Atlantic and New England would tend to favor snow verses rain in most areas.
As long-range expert Joe Bastardi and AccuWeather.com meteorologists have been warning people about, the later in the spring heavy snow falls, the greater the risk of rapid meltdown of the snow cover and major flooding.