Winter's Last Gasp Drags On Into Spring for Northeastern U.S.

The U.S. spring is kicking off with a reminder of what late winter can do, as snow is set to fall from eastern New Jersey and parts of New York’s Long Island north into Boston late Sunday into Monday, with Canada’s Maritime provinces also feeling the chill.

The heaviest snow, as much as 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 centimeters), is forecast from eastern Long Island to southeastern Massachusetts, including Boston, according to the National Weather Service. Coastal areas of New Jersey may get 3 inches and New York could get about an inch.

“It’s not a major system, just a nice little wake-up call that spring isn’t in full effect yet,” said Rich Otto, a meteorologist with the U.S. Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. The heaviest snow will fall on Monday near Boston, he said.

The astronomical spring may have begun on the East Coast Sunday, yet winter storm warnings, watches, and advisories stretched from New Jersey to Maine. In Canada, snowfall warnings have been posted across parts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, according to Environment Canada.

The winter-type weather wasn’t confined to the Atlantic Coast, though, as a freeze warning was posted from northern Texas to western North Carolina. The unseasonal blast of sub-freezing air, which could kill or damage sensitive crops and plants, swept through Oklahoma and parts of Texas overnight and will spread east on Sunday, the weather service said.

Temperatures in Little Rock, Arkansas, could drop to 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 Celsius) later on Sunday and as low as 28 degrees in Asheville, in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, the weather service said.

Along the East Coast, the snow-toting storm is developing off the mid-Atlantic states and snow will spread into New Jersey and Long Island Sunday night before reaching Massachusetts by Monday morning, Otto said.

In Boston, temperatures will fall below freezing overnight and then rise in the morning, which could keep snow accumulations down, he said. The deepest snow will probably hit Boston’s southeastern suburbs. “Tomorrow afternoon it will be departing from south to north rather quickly,” Otto said.

East Coast temperatures are forecast to rebound rapidly once the storm moves through. The Climate Prediction Center calls for a high chance of warmer-than-normal temperatures from Maine to Florida by the end of the week. Colder readings are likely through the center of the U.S., from the Great Lakes to Texas, in the same time frame.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Edward Dufner

By: Brian K. Sullivan

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