HAS SPRING FULLY SPRUNG?

Rebecca here! Terry had to take a last minute trip so I'll be handling the blogs the next few days!

HAS SPRING FULLY SPRUNG?

While it's not been the warmest day, Monday was certainly feeling a lot better than Sunday. Temperatures will continue to run above normal this week with a few chances for rain. Meteorological and astronomical spring have begun but does it mean that spring has fully sprung?

Snowfall has been below normal this winter... 25% of normal for what we typically have for the season:

The average date for the last measurable snow in my local area is around March 28-29... Here's the dates for last measurable snow (0.1" or more) for the last 20 years in the Quad Cities:

About a quarter of years have seen snow into late March and April. Last year the last snow was April 3rd. The latest on record was May 3, 1935.

The numbers are fairly similar in Cedar Rapids over the last 10 years:

But it's closer to half of the years with late March and April snows. in fact, it's not out of the question for us to have an 80 and snow to follow (it happened in the QC & CR last year!).

While snow isn't in the near future (over the next seven days), there are some signs of it on the models. The European model shows a storm system early next week (March 31-April 1... April fools?!) with snow in the region:

The GFS has a weaker storm further south around the same time:

This is a fairly new trend so we'll have to watch how it shakes out in the coming days. In the meantime enjoy some warmth and spring showers!

Meteorologist Rebecca Kopelman