Winter’s revenge to continue: More cold, snow coming to northern US into late March

Enough cold air will remain for more storms to bring episodes of snow and wintry mix to the Upper Midwest and Northeast into the end of March.

Despite the calendar date, and the official arrival of spring on Monday, March 20, people should not plan on putting away snow shovels and taking off snow tires just yet.

"We expect warm air from the Plains to get cut off before reaching the Northeastern states into the fourth week of March," according to AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok.

The lingering cold air will set the stage for storms to bring at least some snow or a wintry mix from around the Great Lakes to the upper mid-Atlantic and New England.

One such storm will sweep eastward at the end of this week and into this weekend.

"The first storm will bring a period of snow, ice and rain to the North Central states through Friday then the Northeast Friday night into early Sunday," Pastelok said.

Chilly air will lunge southward behind the storm this weekend.

While that chilly air will retreat northward early next week, it will do so only to a certain point. A battle between cold air across the north and warm air to the south will develop.

While warm air will advance across the Tennessee Valley and much of the South, cold air will offer considerable resistance farther north.

"This battle zone will create a west to east pathway for as many as two storms to travel upon," Pastelok said.

It is possible that cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City and Boston receive at least some snow or a wintry mix from one or both storms before the end of the month.

The timing and southern extent of snow and a wintry mix will depend on the exact track of the storms.

At this time, it appears a relatively weak storm will streak eastward during the first part of next week.

Yet again cold air will surge southward behind the storm during the middle of next week.

The air coming in could be almost as cold as that of the first part of this week. It just will not penetrate so far into the Southern states.

A larger, much stronger storm appears likely to develop over the Central states late next week.

As that strong storm moves eastward, severe weather may occur in the South, while substantial precipitation spreads across the Midwest and Eastern states during the last weekend of March. Some of that precipitation will fall as snow or a wintry mix in part of the Northeast.

If some of the deep snow cover melts rapidly in parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and southern New England, flooding problems could develop. Details will unfold in the coming days.

"Beyond that storm into early April, we expect temperatures to trend back toward normal in the Upper Midwest and Northeast, which will make it harder, but not impossible for the atmosphere to bring substantial snow and ice events," Pastelok said.

Overall though, it appears that the spring weather that began during February will resume during April.

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