If you haven't been paying attention (which is acceptable given how nice the weather was this past weekend), Spring officially arrived as of around 7:30pm Sunday evening. If you looked outside, you wouldn't know it. This Monday morning was marked by the presence of moderate snow and sleet as well as rain mixed in across the area. Portions of Northern New Jersey have reported as much as 2-3 inches of snow accumulation as of 9:30am. This storm system will shift east and we will warm up through the afternoon, but winter's presence is definitely being felt in the first few days of Spring. The forecast for the middle of the week doesn't look any better. The potential for rain and snow arrives again Wednesday into Thursday with more minor accumulations possible. Either way, it will be ugly. If you're looking for spring, you have to look into the distant future..past next week. Featured image: Live camera image from New York City

Why? The return of high latitude blocking. What is this, you ask? High latitude blocking is basically a "blocking" ridge over Greenland which extends west over Central Canada. This forces the cold air over Canada to be displaced south towards New England. This is the same upper air pattern we saw take hold of our pattern in December and January. Will the results be as cold, snowy, and harsh? Most likely not. But it certainty won't feel like spring until this feature dissipates.

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Article by John Homenuk. Written March 21st, 2011 at 10:00am. Looking for a forecast? See New York Metro Weather's Long Range Forecast for the work week, or view our Technical Forecast Discussion for the more serious weather enthusiasts. Also, check out our new Forecast Overview tab. For up to the minute details on forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts, follow us on Twitter and Facebook.