Spring is supposedly upon us. In February, temperatures reached a peak of 82 degrees, and the month ended as the third-warmest on record in Washington. It seemed inevitable that the warming trend would continue and we’d be knee-deep in tulips by mid-March, but we know how that ended.
Unfortunately, weather goes through mood swings — especially in spring.
You never know what “personality” you are going to get during spring in Washington. The changing of the seasons and all that goes along with it results in weather whiplash. Overall, spring is a mild season, but what actually occurs on any given day can be quite the opposite. One day could be below freezing, while the next week could bring record heat.
Geographically, the Washington region is at the crossroads of myriad weather patterns. It’s as though every compass direction brings something different, as winter and summer juggle for control. Somewhere in between the two extremes is what we consider spring weather.
To our west we have the cold and high elevation of the Appalachian Mountains, while to our east flows the warm Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean. As chilly air from the north descends from Canada, it can become trapped against the eastern side of the mountain range. This is called cold-air damming, or, as we like to call it, “the wedge.”
As warm, moist air from the Atlantic passes over the trapped cold air, cloud layers and precipitation often develop. This can result in freezing rain, snow and ice events in the winter, or it can turn the promise of a 70-degree day into a gloomy 50-degree spoiler.
Our region also experiences north-to-south weather variations. The polar jet stream brings cold-air masses southward, while at the same time pulling warm air north. That’s the temperature difference that helps sustain big storms such as the ones we’ve seen over the past month, and those storms themselves have extreme differences embedded within.
As the storm approaches Washington, we are typically in the warm sector, where air flows in from the south. It might be accompanied by rain or even summerlike thunderstorms. Behind the cold front, the wind pivots and a chilly invasion marches in from the north. We might even get snow.
All this can transpire over the course of just 24 hours — or as many of us call it, a “normal” weather day in Washington.
Although spring weather can be a challenge to predict, it generally brings fewer snow day and milder temperatures — along with the blooming flowers and chirping birds. Perhaps as the days get longer and the weather gets wackier during these months, we should be grateful we aren’t dealing with summer humidity.
And yet.