In fact, March usually brings the state's heaviest snowfalls, he adds. But all of Minnesota was snow-free on Sunday and balmy weather has been the norm this winter. On Wednesday, Georgia bore another outbreak of heavy winds and severe weather that left a path of devastation in Gordon County. Meteorologists spent Wednesday studying the damage to determine if a twister had passed through the Peach State, says Mike Leary, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Peachtree City office. Because no one quite understands the physics behind a tornado, Leary says he and other meteorologists are unable to tell if the severe weather in the last month is a forecast for what awaits Georgians this spring.
Meteorologists can and do review historic data and study past storm trends.
In the San Antonio and Austin areas of Texas, meteorologist Larry Eblen is hoping the winter storms weathered this year by Texans aren't a prediction of what's to come. Nine tornadoes blew through this area of the Lone Star State in January and February and five major storm systems hit south central Texas in February alone. In an entire year, the office usually issues around 250 warnings, Eblen says. Normally in the winter, we have to worry about a few ice events. In other words, he doesn't know if the bad weather is there to stay.