Cold weather to quickly give way to an early round of Spring

Cold weather returned to the mountain today but that is about as much positive news I have if your still hoping for snow. As far as winter weather is concerned, the pattern going forward is just putrid. Anchored mostly by a very positive AO and another tightening of the jet in the Pacific, the weather will turn spring-like on the mountain. Over the next 2 weeks we can expect 4-5 days where temperatures exceed 50 and probably one day where readings reach the 60 degree mark. It will be a very embarrassing way for the month to conduct itself since over the years we have been accustomed to some of our best powder days in March.

A clipper system rotating through the eastern North American trough was the one real chance for snow in the near term. This system however will travel well south of New England and spread some unusual snow to southern Virginia. The system will help maintain the generally below freezing temperatures through Wednesday morning but with the help of sunshine and strengthening southwesterly winds, temperatures Wednesday afternoon could approach 50 in valley locations. Thursday will also be very spring-like with readings surging well into the 50's at the base and into the 40's at the summits.

The first round of mild weather will be interrupted by the arrival of a cold front Thursday evening. This weather feature will bring a period of rain to the mountain followed by more seasonable temperatures for Friday. The mild weather will make a quick return however with 40 degree temperatures again possible by as early as Saturday afternoon and the latest Sunday. More 50-degree temperatures are then possible throughout next week. By that point, the unsettled weather will become focused on the west coast allowing a very large ridge to develop across the center of the country. Mild weather will thus dominate not only the east coast but a large section of the eastern two-thirds of the United States. If the ridge does shift to the central U.S. it could open the door for cooler temperatures to thwart the warm-up in northern New England for a few days next week. That however is about the only thing that could save us from a record-breaking March blow torch, one certainly capable of making a very pathetic 2011-2012 winter, a memory.