Is winter over?

I keep getting the same question from friends and family, is winter over? Any other year I would say no, because as we well know, March is a nasty month in Montreal with historically the biggest and wildest storms (1971, 1993 and others). This year however, I am inclined to say yes. There is just no serious winter weather anywhere in Canada, with perhaps the exception of a small area of Atlantic Canada in the last week or so. Montreal remains stuck at about 7cm of snow for the month, not even 3 inches!. Yes I know a southern storm over the weekend dumped up to 10 inches of wet snow in Tennessee and Kentucky as well as western parts of the Carolina's and Virginia, but these are fluke events. It will warm into the 60's (above 16C) early this week in those same regions, that is not winter. The same holds true for our region, I feel any snowstorm that may occur over the next month will be a fluke, a system coming up the east coast catching us on the backside or perhaps a wet snow event as temperatures cool overnight. There is no cold air forecast this week with sunny skies today and Tuesday and highs at or above freezing. A frontal system will bring rain by late in the week before a strong cold front moves across the region late Friday. That cold air may produce a little snow, but more mild air is forecast by early next week.

Heavy snow and fog along I-75 in Tennessee on Sunday produced numerous accidents including this multiple vehicle incident that injured 60 motorists, 5 seriously.

The storm in the deep south yesterday is moving out to sea this morning well south of New England and Quebec. It produced a swath of snow that created dangerous driving and many accidents. The storm also cut power to thousands. Winds along the coast created coastal flooding in in portions of the middle Atlantic and North Carolina.