Winter drags on for North America

Snow storms and thunderstorms are due to prolong the spell of bad weather the continent is experiencing [Reuters]

The weather remains very lively across North America. Last week we had a huge spring storm which spawned tornadoes across the deep south with widespread flooding for parts of the Mid West. This weekend’s weather serves as a reminder that winter is yet far from over.

Over the last couple of days, the northeastern quarter of the States, along with eastern Canada have been hit by a major snow storm. Thousands have been left without power after snow and freezing rain brought down power lines.

Worst affected was Prince Edward Island, where 23,000 households were reported to be without power after the storm staggered to a crawl across Eastern Canada, dumping vast amounts of snow in the process.

Quebec had 75cm of snow in only 24 hours. Further east, Stephenville, Newfoundland reported 105cm with St. Anthony, also in Newfoundland, reporting 136cm in the same period of time. Topping the lot though was Caribou, just over the border in Maine, with a staggering 152cm (around one and a half metres of snow). Little wonder that there was such disruption then.

As is often the case when we go from winter into spring, the potential for flooding has also increased, and this is due to heavy rain along with melting snow. This has been a problem for the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and was also a problem for western Connecticut on Monday. The river levels are set to remain high here. The ground is saturated and there have been forced evacuations with many roads still impassable.

The weather does look set to stay very active over the remainder of this week. We already have another storm now clearing the Mid West and it looks set to bring further flooding into Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and New England on Thursday and Friday.

The tail-end of this system could see severe thunderstorms crossing the southern states, possibly with damaging winds and tornadoes.

Further west, we have a windy storm system brewing and yes, there could be more snow. Up to a metre of snow is not out of the question, but that should be confined to the northern Rockies.