Meteorological spring arrives, winter is over...but not really

Starving for spring? Fill up, because March 1 is the first day of meteorological spring and the Twin Cities and most of Minnesota will enjoy a nice helping of 40-degree temperatures Sunday – and that could be the norm for at least the first half of the month. 

"Today marks the start of Meteorological Spring and the end of Winter. Although the actual equinox is three weeks away, Meteorologist's use March 1st as the beginning of Spring," said the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service Sunday morning. 

"Temperatures will reflect the Spring conditions with highs 5 to 10 degrees above normal. Most of this week will be dry and near, to slightly above normal on temperatures. Looking toward the next weekend, there could be a shot of upper 50s next Sunday. Enjoy!"

Repeat: upper 50s! 

If this week does continue the dry trend, snow could be on life support in the very near future. 

"Current highs a week from today could approach 60 degrees if cloud cover is limited and snow cover becomes more patchy," reads the forecast discussion. 

That said, the weather service in La Crosse suggests that model trends are hinting at strengthening a system moving through around Thursday. They say nothing about precipitation type (snow, rain, mix), but they're certainly monitoring the situation. At this point, nothing significant is expected. 

The metro typically gets about 10 inches of snow in March, so even though this week's forecast is dry and next weekend might be hot for Minnesota standards, winter can still kick us for the next six weeks or so. 

Remember, it snowed 12-20 inches in southern Minnesota in mid-April just a couple of years ago.  

We'll update the blog accordingly with any news that comes from the NWS.