(WHTM) — Our meteorological winter (December, January, February) ranks as the third warmest on record.

December was chilly, so it was January and February that brought the unusually warm conditions into the Mid-Atlantic. The warm pattern also prevented us from achieving any substantial snow, with total snow at 5.9”, our sixth least snowy winter on record.

Our average snowfall is near 30 inches.

Although we are starting off March mild, our weather team expects a pattern change moving into next week. The ridge of high pressure off the southeast coast of the United States pushes farther south, allowing the cold air trapped over the Northern Plains to drop into the Ohio Valley and New England.

We do not expect an extremely cold March, just a tad on the cool side of average.

Precipitation will be near average with weekly chances for a rain or mix to rain. There is still a chance for snow, however, it will take everything to line up in such a way to produce any significant snow as we move into the latter half of the month.