What a winter it has been. In terms of temperature, it was all over the place. In terms of snow, it was pretty average. What made it so unusual is that 90 percent of our snow fell in March.
Some of you may recall my original prediction in October of 15-20 inches of snow for the season. By the time mid-January came around, I started to get worried, but I knew we still had a chance, and I continued my prediction saying that we would see a minimum of five inches of snow. My “unofficial” calculation for the entire season is 13.3 inches. Out of the 13.3 inches, eight inches fell March 6 and approximately three inches fell March 18. The other two inches are from the several occasions where we saw an inch or less of snow.
It is very unusual that most of the snow this winter fell in March, but weather always has its twists and turns and we know that normal really doesn’t matter in the world of meteorology. Normal in meteorology is basically the center of two extremes. An interesting point to be made is that the sun at this time is at the same position as it would be at the end of September. Despite the snow we did receive, March snow doesn’t last long, which may have been a disappointment for snow lovers.
Where is spring? Well, it will be here on Wednesday morning at 7:02 a.m. (the official time of the Vernal Equinox); however, I can assure you that it will not feel like spring. We will have highs only in the upper 40s on Wednesday. I guess the good news is that it will be sunny. In fact, we have a stretch of sunshine after we get through the rain and wind on Tuesday. After Tuesday, our next chance for precipitation will not be until next Monday in the form of rain and, dare I say it, snow? We’ll see.
Don’t quote me on Monday’s snow yet as we are still monitoring the system seven days out, but be aware as anything seems to be possible this winter.
The groundhog may have said an early spring, but I beg to differ.
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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