Day 59: End of Meteorological Winter
Today marks the end of what is often referred to as “meteorological winter”. Typically seasons begin and end on the solstices and equinoxes, but meteorologists tend to break our seasons based on calendar months. Below are the months contained in each “meteorological season”.
- Winter: December, January, and February
- Spring: March, April, and May
- Summer: June, July, and August
- Autumn: September, October, and November
The United States will end a very active meteorological winter that saw numerous blizzards, at least one ice storm (in Oklahoma), and snow in all 50 states. Two mid-level lows (shortwave troughs) are moving through the southern plains (yellow x’s) as well as a strong mid-to-upper-level jet stream (cyan color to the southwest of the southernmost x). Also, the strong nor’easter that has affected New England for the past few days is slowly moving east, out to sea.
These mid-level lows are aiding in the development of precipitation in the central plains and western Texas as indicated by the radar images below. There is a chance that portions of western and central Oklahoma will see some snow mix in with the rain, but little-to-no accumulation is expected.
