Spring Forecast: What You Can Expect In The Months Ahead
BOSTON (CBS) - Here's one thing to look forward to: there are just 20 days left until the official start of spring.
But after the wild weather of the past month, many people are wondering when spring will finally emerge.
There are dreams of tulips in the Public Garden, buds on the cherry trees, and sail boats on the Charles River, but how long will it be before they are a reality?
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Dan Leonard of WSI in Andover has been looking into the long range forecast. The news isn't great in the short term, but it does improve.
"This incredibly stormy pattern that we've had in February will probably continue for a few weeks, probably until early March, but we think that longer term, mid to late March, we will get into a much warmer, drier pattern overall," said Leonard.
Meteorologist Joe D'Aleo is nationally known for his long term forecasts. He also thinks we have a couple of stormy weeks ahead, and agrees that beyond that period is promising.
"It's hard to have any long term period that stays below normal as long as the Atlantic is in its warm mode, and that typically means the Northern Hemisphere averages above normal temperature wise," added D'Aleo.
Although we have had our share of catastrophic floods in the spring, the threat appears lower this year.
"What we think this year is that so far we've had a very gradual snow melt," said Leonard. "So probably not so much concern about flooding, at least in Southern New England going forward."
Some states in the farm belt would love to see some of our moisture as they continue to experience an historic drought.
That prolonged lack of rain is going to affect grocery prices here in New England.
"These are commodities that are used to feed livestock, so cattle eat these things too," said Leonard. "Not only are you going to have a rise in the prices at the supermarket in the vegetable section, but you are going to see a rise in meats, so it has a ripple effect across the entire food industry."
