Warm-up to follow March's cold, snowy start

March is the month when Chicago begins its transition from winter to spring in earnest,
with normal temperatures on a steady rise (from a high of 41 degrees on March 1 to 52 on
the 31st). March 2009's opening week will mirror this pattern, starting out cold and
blustery with periods of lake-effect snow Sunday, but quickly morphing into a mild, rainy
pattern with highs well into the 50s by next weekend. Before the warm-up, strong north-
northeast winds blowing cold air down the full length of Lake Michigan will set up a
potential for some accumulating lake-effect snow in lakeside counties.
TWISTERS HIT ALABAMA; MAJOR SNOW TARGETS SOUTH AND EAST
A developing storm system brought at least three twisters to east-central Alabama
Saturday. This same storm is expected to bring heavy snowfall to much of the South and East
Sunday and Monday blanketing areas from Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee to New England
including the major cities of the Northeast.
On Saturday, this storm produced more than 9 inches of snow at Salem, Mo., located
southwest of St. Louis. Snow and sleet also fell from Arkansas across western Tennessee and
northern Mississippi.
--By Steve Kahn, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist