With many parts of the Hudson Valley still digging out after the recent ice storm, the word cold is probably the last thing you want to hear about. However, some weather experts are already looking ahead to spring, and some of their long-term predictions are indicating that the cold weather may stick around. Could the area even see snowstorms well into March and April? AccuWeather has just released its spring forecast for the Hudson Valley and northeast.

While it took a while for the winter chill to finally settle in across the Hudson Valley, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Paul Pastelok says that colder than normal weather may linger well into the spring months. And while it won't be anything like what we're experiencing now, Pastelok says that the potential is there for frost and freezes weeks later than normal, which could affect crops. The prediction calls for a longer spell of colder than normal air, which could bring with it "plowable snow" to the northeast into March, and possibly April.

Once the colder air finally breaks, AccuWeather says the potential is also there for severe thunderstorms to build later in the spring across the south and midwest. Some of these cold fronts could bring strong thunderstorms to the Hudson Valley and northeast as they push through. Precipitation amounts are expected to be around normal this spring, which is at least good news if you're worried about a drought.

Of course, the question here is; how can they predict the weather three months out when they can't even get the forecast right for the next day? Some extended forecasts may differ from others. Last year, AccuWeather predicted pretty much the same forecast, with snowstorms well into March in the Hudson Valley, and we ended up getting no snow after February. Could that happen again this year? We'll just have to wait and see.

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