We had some nasty storms blow through Monday, but today it was bright and sunny. More rain is expected this weekend.

Steady rain has settled in here, and the snow is melting fairly rapidly. *weeps* But March can be a very white month, so I'm not despairing quite yet. Yet, official spring is only a couple of weeks away, but our snow season lasts into May, although receiving it during that month is very rare.

stargazer, I hope your area can proclaim those bragging rights this winter yet!

I am under a tornado warning right now. A tornado has been spotted in my area but where ever it is it isn't here yet and i hope it doesn't hit my house. *There goes my plans of seeing Beastly today!* rant over.

Hopefully that tornado didn't damage things in your area, Damsel. I've seen some television coverage of weekend tornadoes in the southern US.

One thing about our long winters - 4 more inches of light fluffy snow fell overnight - is that tornadoes usually don't arrive here until late March or into April. We're up to 8th place now in the all-time snowiest season list (78.7 inches/200 cm) and should move into 6th place with the next storm later this week. We need 20 inches to get to the all-time record. March is one of our snowiest months, and we can get snow well into May, so we have a decent shot at that.

Wind is starting to pick up here. We are under wind advisory warnings and anytime we get those, it usually translates to dirt storms. You in the north mid-west and New England area know about white outs and snow. We have brown outs where you can't see 10 feet in front of you because of dirt and dust in the air. That is plain nasty.

Not actual weather, but a huge eathquake just hit Japan- luckily offshore, but still caused a major tsunami. Massive damage, but only 24 dead so far.

I live on the east coast of Taiwan, directly south of Japan. We had classes cancelled and the stores were all shut, but it had petered out by the time it reached us about an hour age (5:30 Friday evening local time)- only 1 meter (3 feet) surge.

I'm glad you're safe Graymouser! The weather here is beautiful, but it is chilly and windy. Spring is right around the corner!

Glad you're OK. My brother is stationed in Hawaii but right now he is in Airborne training in Georgia (the state, not the country) so he avoided the tsunami.

Here in El Paso, summer is breaching. We are in the 80's and it's the time of year we will only get an occasional dip into the 70's or if we are lucky, the 60's. Just after Spring officially arrives, our summer arrives. Hopefully we won't see excessive triple digits temps this year.

The weather is changing every day! Its warm in the morning, cold in the afternoon, raining one moment, snowing the next, and raining again 5 minutes later! I wish spring would just come already!

Incredible images of the Japanese quake and tsunami. Glad you're all right, Graymouser.

Fencer, I've experienced driving in a few whiteouts and it's definitely a frightening experience. I imagine those brownouts due to dirt might be even worse in the sense that the grit gets into your car and your house...

More snow here overnight; just a few inches. It's hard to imagine the 80s when we still have so much snow. But it might get close to 50F/10C sometime this week.

I like winter but thought I'd share this picture that's been making the rounds here:

It's been a few days so please pardon the double post. I wanted to make a public service announcement for an astronomical sight this week:

The elusive planet Mercury has its best evening appearance of 2011 over the next week or so. Very few people have knowingly seen it, but under the right conditions, it can be fairly easy to see. This is one of those times.

Go out about 40-45 minutes after sunset and look rather low to the west. The sky will still be bright but you should be able to spot a bright 'star' assuming you have a clear view. That's actually Jupiter. Mercury will be a slightly-dimmer star-like object to its right (in the Northern Hemisphere). Read more (including sketches of what to expect) here. Note that after the next few days, Jupiter will sink into the sunset and won't be a guidepost to Mercury.

Weatherwise, it may reach 50F/10C here tomorrow, after similar temps today (the first time this year it's been so warm 2 days in a row). This warmth, along with rain in the forecast, doesn't bode well for the spring floods (Minnesota's not only the 'land of 10,000 lakes' but has many rivers, and the rapid snowmelt has prompted flood preparations across the state). I live almost within sight of the Mississippi River, but fortunately we're high enough up that flooding isn't expected here. But downstream, especially in St Paul, it may be a different story as soon as this weekend.

Stargazer, I hope that there is no flooding in your area. Thanks also for your post about Mercury. Will try to look for that tonight The weather here could not be better. Bright blue skies and very warm temperatures! Absolutely perfect weather

Today is one of those sunny March days when you know that Spring is right around the corner It's sunny, not a cloud in sight, and it's 61 degrees!! 61!! It hasn't been this warm since well early October It's one of those stroll-in-the-park days and it's definitely affecting my mood in the best of ways

It feels like summer already. Today is slated to be 85 and I don't see any changes coming.

And yes, gazer, the brown outs here are absolutely nasty. The dust around here is very fine you have to be in a completely air tight sealed room to not constantly breath it in. You can wipe the table clean in the morning, wait a dirt storm out in your home, then you can write in the dust that remains when it is over. The grit gets in your mouth, ears, eyes, and hair and it is plain nasty.

I will never forget going into El Paso with my family to go to dinner on my birthday about 9 years ago. And we had one of those dirt storms come in. Ever seen the movie Hidalgo? The scene where Frank and Hidalgo just barely escape a pure wall of dirt? Not to that scale, but the same idea. Normally, we see the storm coming head on and you know you have 20 minutes to shut down what you are doing and get to where you want to be for a few hours. But this day, we saw the storm coming in from the side. And just like in the movie, on the left it was perfectly clean air, and on the right side, it was a vertical wall of dirt about a mile or so high. Even at 40 mph on the road to get to the Applebee's, we still couldn't outrun it. But it was an incredible sight and my family and I will never forget it.

It has been very sunny lately. In fact it was making me feel really hot in the car. The weather has been all over the place lately. I hope it decides on one thing and sticks with it!