ANOTHER ROUND OF MARCH RAINS...

We started the first day of spring with some very springy and beautiful weather. Plenty of sunshine, snow free ground and warm air in place sent temperatures soaring.

It almost makes you forget about the very ugly day on Friday when snow (and thundersnow) fell in parts of Iowa and a cold rain for a lot of us in eastern Iowa into Illinois:

This was a beneficial round of rain for a drought stricken area... and we have more rain on the way. Ahead of the storm there will be another mild day on Monday:

Rain will move in Monday night into Tuesday and will linger for the entirety of the day....

And into Wednesday:

Snow will be falling to our north and west and it's possible on Wednesday into Thursday there could be some snow on the backside of the system. There's some uncertainty on how much this far out, but we can talk about how much precipitation we'll see.

The European is showing a widespread inch to inch an a half. The GFS shows slightly lower totals in the east...

But some beneficial rain nonetheless. Here's a look at the latest Drought Monitor:

Hopefully we can get the rain without the snow, but winter isn't over 'til it's over! RK