Here we are just days before “Spring” officially arrives and it still looks and feels like mid January.
Well, the latest news from the gods doesn’t look promising if you’re looking for warmth and typical Spring conditions.
Sault Ste. Marie and surrounding areas are in the bull’s eye for yet another dumping of snow – but first comes the freezing rain and rain starting Tonight and lasting through to Thursday.
Let’s get to the details from Environment Canada:
A low pressure system over the American central plains will track towards the Great Lakes later today. Snow ahead of the system will begin over areas near Lake Superior this evening and continue into Wednesday. Snow should taper off Wednesday evening with total snowfall amounts of 10 to 15 cm.
For Northeastern Ontario, snow will begin this evening and become heavy at times on Wednesday. Additionally, a band of freezing rain is possible ahead of the snow for areas along the north shore of Lake Huron. Freezing rain is expected early Wednesday morning for Sault Ste Marie and will reach North Bay Wednesday afternoon. A few hours of freezing rain are possible before changing to rain and then back to snow. Snow should taper off Thursday with total snowfall amounts near 10 cm.
Not exactly the news you were hoping for I know, but there’s more.
The cool weather pattern seems to be stuck in place over most of eastern part of the country including Ontario. Long range forecast well below temperatures right into May. Keep in mind our daytime temperatures should be in the plus 2 range – and we are not even close to that with current daytime temperatures struggling to hit the freezing mark. Normally, Sault Ste.Marie would have seen at least half of the snow cover melt by now. That’s not going to happen much over the remaining days of March.
Most years you can expect the snow completely gone by the second week of April – that doesn’t appear the case this year. With cooler weather and even more snow expected in the next few weeks – don’t expect to see grass anytime soon.
Cool and Wet
That’s the latest long range forecast for the first two months of Spring. In fact some forecast models say the entire Summer could be affected by the cooler than normal Great Lakes – For the first time in 20 years, 90 percent of the lakes were completely frozen over this year thanks to three major cold snaps in January and February. It will take some time for that ice to melt resulting in cooler lake temperatures and create a pool of colder air surrounding the Great Lakes.
