OLD MAN WINTER FIGHTS ON...

Old man winter still has a little spunk left in the tank as evidenced by the snowflakes that will fly around the area today. This will be one of those sloppy wet snows that are common this time of year. Good for packing!

For those of you who are veterans of Midwestern springs, you know it's tough to keep the snow around for any length of time in mid-March and this time will be no exception. By Sunday the sun should be back and highs will bounce into the 40s. The GFS shows this. Those snowmen won't be long for the world.

It does stay cool for a few days with the Cedar Rapids meteogram showing these temperatures the next 4 days. I do think that 42 Saturday is 4-6 degrees too warm. The rest is okay Sunday-Tuesday

The next storm on the horizon is not due until Thursday of next week. That one does look like one of those classic March storms that has a snowy side and severe weather potential in the warm sector. It should be well endowed when it comes to moisture and brings the threat of heavy precipitation. The available water vapor looks like this next Thursday night

Those levels are 250-400 percent above normal.

That means many places have the potential to see and inch or more of rain. Where thunderstorms are most concentrated substantially more than that is possible.

The surface map certainly shows a wide and varied precipitation shield Thursday night.

Anyway, that will be the next big weather maker and along with a brief warm-up it will bring the potential for active thunderstorms and a severe weather outbreak to parts of the Plains. It's that time of year folks! Roll weather...TS