HOUGHTON - With the official first day of spring right around the corner, it's beginning to look a lot like spring these days.
Temperatures have loomed in the 40s, reaching into the 50s in the last few weeks without a trace of snow.
The National Weather Service Negaunee Township office has recorded a mere one-tenth of an inch of snow for the month, meteorologist Jason Alumbaugh said. The Copper Country has seen even less.
"It's been quite a warm stretch, that's for sure," he said.
The Copper Country usually sees around 20 inches of snow on average during the month of March.
However, lately, all the Copper Country has seen is rainfall. Typically, the winter season rounds out with one or two heavy snowfalls in the early spring.
"It kind of feels like it's going to come sometime," Alumbaugh said. "Usually, we have one or two bigger storms in late March into April."
Alumbaugh said there are currently indications that a late storm could be brewing one week to 10 days from now.
"It's kind of hard to tell now being so far out," he said. "There are indications that it could be happening maybe late next week."
The average high temperature has been 45 degrees while the average low is in the teens, around 18 degrees, he said. The average temperature this month is 31 degrees, which is actually 10 degrees higher than normal.
"The highest temperature we've had at our office was 56 (degrees) and that was a record high," Alumbaugh said. "It broke the old record of 52 (degrees) which was set in 1977."
A warm moist air mass has caused fog in some places and as snow gradually melts, additional moisture is put in the air.
"The main reason we are having this weather is the fact that the jetstream has stayed way to the south," Alumbaugh said. "There was cold in Florida and big storms hitting the east coast."
Stacey Kukkonen can be reached at skukkonen@ mininggazette.com.