You WILL NOT Believe What Happens Next Weekend

It always happens about the same time and we're always expecting it. It's typically preceded by definite signs of spring. It's usually a little warmer, the snow is starting to melt. It's exciting. This year, I feel like we're all being caught off guard by it. Next Sunday, March 10 is the morning we "spring forward" and move our clocks ahead one hour as we launch into Daylight Saving Time. By that time, we're 10 days from spring so it will be warmer, right? Yeah, right.

CBS 2 Chief Meteorologist Terry Swails has a splendid 10-day temperature outlook for us, which takes us right into the weekend of March 8-10. That sentence is dripping with sarcasm. Or maybe I should say it's an icicle of sarcasm. As you can see from the graph on the right of the image at the bottom of the page, purple is bad. Bad to the tune of more than 10 degrees below normal. Seriously? ENOUGH IS ENOUGH MOTHER NATURE! Sorry, but somebody has to yell at her. Our patience has been tested to the nth degree at this point.

We can't say that we weren't warned about what's happened to us, though. Six weeks ago yesterday, I wrote a blog that cautioned about what was ahead. It was titled 'Remainder of Iowa Winter Looks Terrible,' and man was it right. At that time, January 15, Swails was warning that his models showed below normal temperatures for six-plus weeks. That 46-day model put us at the beginning of March and left me wondering if March would come in like a lion. Unfortunately, it appears we now know the answer.

Terry is currently forecasting the low temperature in Cedar Rapids Monday, March 4 to be -13, that would be a new record low for that day. He's hoping the mercury will rise to 3 degrees above zero, one degree warmer than the coldest March high temperature in Cedar Rapids history. That was set just five years ago. What is happening?! Oh, the average high temperature for Cedar Rapids on March 4 is 42 degrees.

Cold weather lovers... if there are any of you... you must be in heaven these days. Me? I'm D-O-N-E. And why, now, are these weather forecasters seemingly always right?