Spring may have officially arrived last week, but Mother Nature still has some wintry tricks left in the tank for the Midwest and Northeast.
Chilly weather with the chance for some snow will stick around through at least the end of March in these areas.
"We're looking at a series of cold fronts and storms sweeping from the Mississippi Valley to the mid-Atlantic through late this week," AccuWeather lead long-range expert Paul Pastelok said.
"This will keep temperatures down and cut short any warmups ahead of the storms. Overall, we're expecting temperatures to be 5-10 degrees below the historical average as a whole for the end of March," he said.
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AccuWeather's long-range experts have been warning for weeks that a weakening polar vortex in late March would usher in a stretch of unseasonably cool conditions with more frequent clouds and chances for rain and snow across the Midwest and Northeast.
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After a cold front brought blustery showers to the Northeast on Saturday, the weekend is expected to end on a mostly dry note, with clouds building ahead of the next storm moving in from the west.
"This next storm will bring late March snow across the Upper Midwest, upper Great Lakes and southern Canada, which is not uncommon," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said. "Duluth, Minnesota, for example, holds a historical average of around 13 inches of snow for the month of March."
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Duluth could wind up with 4-8 inches of snow by the time the storm winds down Monday morning, bumping the city much closer to what the typical March is like in terms of monthly snowfall.
"It has been a relatively snowless March so far with only 3.2 inches recorded for the month," Pydynowski said.
Cold winds in the wake of the storm, with AccuWeather RealFeel Temperatures in the 10s and 20s F, will serve as a reminder that winter is far from over in northern Minnesota and the rest of the Upper Midwest, Pydynowski explained.
As the storm continues eastward, accumulating snow is likely across upstate New York and central and northern New England. A slushy accumulation could extend all the way to the coast of Maine, potentially making for a slow and slippery commute around Portland and Bangor, Maine, on Monday morning.
Rain is expected along the Interstate 95 corridor from late Sunday night through Monday.
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More rounds of rain and snow showers are in the forecast this week, including a storm from late Tuesday into Wednesday that could bring accumulating snow to parts of the Appalachians.
"The pattern heading into April favors wetness and cooldowns across the East," Pastelok said. "A couple of air masses can be quite cold for April standards, with perhaps even some snow for the Northeast, Great Lakes and Midwest. The pattern may warm in the Ohio Valley, Great Lakes and possibly Northeast late in the month."
