Weather Eye: As we warm up, dry off, folks elsewhere still talk about snow

Friday brought every kind of frozen precipitation but freezing rain to the Evergreen State. I saw ice pellets (hail), snow and snow pellets in the scattered showers that hit our area. Even though temperatures climbed to the 40s, snows fell clear to sea level with the very cold air aloft.

But that was Friday. Today’s temperatures may creep to 60 degrees and Monday’s even higher, with not really much rain — maybe just a little bit Tuesday through Thursday. That is good news. March leaves us rather quietly.

Long range charts are hinting at a nice, sunny Easter weekend — maybe 70 degrees? Perhaps the lion sleeps.

Friday’s snow was very heavy for this time of the year with upwards of 4-6 inches in Snohomish County and even 2-4 inches on Whidbey Island. But by afternoon, the sun came out to clear the roads.

Some Whidbey Island residents called it a surprise snow, though the National Weather Service’s Seattle office had forecast snow for the Puget Sound Convergence Zone which extends sometimes to Whidbey.

I chuckled about news from Ohio that an official indicted the official groundhog who predicted an early spring when he didn’t see his shadow — cold and snow continue across the region.

“Punxsutawney Phil did purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the people to believe that spring would come early,” wrote prosecutor Mike Gmoser of Ohio’s Butler County.

I didn’t think there were guarantees with any weather forecaster!

Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://weathersystems.com.