When encountering anyone here in Minnesota lately, the generic weather conversation always steers towards how snowless the winter has been. There is also always the circumspect admonishment that we are probably really going to get hammered in March and April, but the most recent look ahead from the Climate Prediction Center suggests that time is running out for a real shot at snow.

For the end of February, and then to start March, it’s going to be well above normal in the Great Lakes. This, as we head further away from the coldest part of the year means that the time for snow is likely running out, with barely a foot having fallen over the course of the year.

While temperatures have indeed been quite warm all winter, the cold that settled in persistently did so without any moisture: there was no snow during the cold snaps. Snow on the ground would have helped temperatures remain a bit lower going forward, but that was one of the many compounding factors that worked against a normal winter around here.

We’ve been trending towards this being the warmest recorded winter in many places in the western Great Lakes, and a scorching start to March will pretty much lock that in.