Looking ahead at the rest of this week, I am expecting very cold temperatures with highs on Tuesday and Wednesday not even getting out of the 20s. Thursday night and Friday look interesting with the possibility of a wintry mix, which could cause some problems for our area.
For the first half of winter, much of the country saw very mild temperatures. The reason for this was because most of the cold air had been locked up into Canada, where they had been seeing brutally cold temperatures. In addition, the country also saw below average snowfall, with the exceptions of our far northern regions as well as the Great Lakes region where the lake effect snow machine continues. The west has also seen several snowstorms this winter, and many ski resorts out west are doing very well. Recently, some of this cold air has made it into the United States, but the core of the cold air still remains in Canada.
What can we expect for the month of February and the rest of winter here in Bristow? Right now, we still have the potential to see 5-10 inches of snow this winter. The reason I say that is because we are now entering a colder and more active weather pattern. Another reason I say that is because we typically see most of our snow here in Bristow during the month of February, statistically speaking. I am expecting cooler weather through at least Feb. 15th, when we will begin to warm back up slightly as we get into March. I am not expecting it to stay frigidly cold during the month of Feb., but it will be colder than what we have been seeing.
For March, I am expecting much warmer and milder temperatures with very little snowfall, although, snow can never be ruled out even in March. Typically, significant snow ends by the second week of March.
Note that it is very difficult to forecast long range. We could get into mid-Feb. and all of this changes, but being prepared for whatever old man winter brings us is what we have to do. There have been winters in the past that started off slow, but became very active during Feb. Regions to our south went from no snow to half a foot of snow just last week, which goes to show you that it does not take much for winter to get going.
John Biggs has been a resident of Bristow since 2001 and has seen a lot of changes to the area over the years. Graduated from Stonewall Jackson High School in 2006, he continued his education at Northern Virginia Community College where he majored in Business Management. He is now working on finishing his Bachelor’s of Business Administration degree at Strayer University.
“My favorite thing to do is study the weather. It is truly fascinating. Nothing beats a good thunderstorm. I became very interested in weather when I lived in Okinawa, Japan for four years and was actually inside a super typhoon.”
For daily, local weather forecasts, check out his Facebook page.
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