You might have noticed your car was quite warm inside if you parked in the sun this weekend. The sun drives the weather and the sun is getting stronger this time of the year, really fast. Since the beginning on the month the sun has risen about 10 degrees higher at noon. To put that in context, the sun is now a full 25 degrees higher around lunch than it was back in December. If you don’t remember your geometry, a sun directly overhead at noon would be at 90 degrees, today the sun will reach 50 degrees above the horizon. (Due to daylight saving time it’s actually 1 PM). Besides the fact this is why it is getting warmer, it’s also why any snow that falls during the day this time of year is almost impossible to stick.I'll be updating my weather forecast with any changes to the coastal storm on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

Depending on exactly where you are this evening dictates just how much snow you are seeing. Some areas on the south shore are getting heavy snow, while other areas just a few miles away have lighter now. Most of the snow will be over by 2 AM, but there can be snow showers until sunrise. The final totals will be heaviest 30 miles or so side of Plymouth.I'll be updating my weather forecast on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

Our storm is now moving into Maine after leaving up to a foot of snow across parts of southern New England. You can see the totals below as they were reported today for much of Southern New England. A few leftover snow showers will push through the are until about midnight. Some areas could see a dusting to an inch. As temperatures fall below freezing any slush will freeze and roads can become quite slippery. Tomorrow looks to be a very nice sunny day though it will be blustery. Temperatures will reach the lower 40s in the afternoon. There will be a storm to our east in the ocean Thursday and Friday and this could bring a few snow showers to the coast Thursday night.

Although the ocean storm will be quite large, it does look to stay far enough off the coast to keep us from getting another major storm. Of course we will have to keep watching the models tomorrow to see if things change, but as of now I am not concerned.

The weekend is looking nice and dry with temperatures in the mid-40s. That is still chilly for the end of March, but there will be some melting from the strong March sun. Right now the pattern is not looking to change to a mild one, and I am not convinced we are done with the snow. I'll be updating my weather forecast for the rest of this week on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

Spring arrives tomorrow morning at 7:02 AM. Is that a collective groan I hear or two other colorful words? Our storm has left its mark on the area with up to 9 inches of snow on the ground. Logan Airport has officially seen just over 6 inches of snow. We find the area of snow moving north at the same time warmer air has changed the snow to sleet or rain south of the Massachusetts Turnpike. As milder air moves north areas further north can see some sleet mix with the snow. Temperatures are not above freezing in Boston so any mix of snow and rain will not accumulate.I'll be updating new details on the storm throughout the day on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

Snow will continue to move north into New Hampshire and Maine the rest of the night. At times snow will come down at 1 to perhaps 2 inches per hour especially in the wee hours of the morning. Several inches of snow will be on the ground by 5 AM with a few more inches thereafter. A winter storm warning is now posted for much of New England with the south coast under a winter weather advisory. I'll be updating all the latest information about the storm here and on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

It's probably not what most of you want to hear, but winter storm warnings have been posted for potential snow of over 6 inches. Another snowstorm is headed for the area. The vernal equinox arrives just after sunrise Wednesday morning, but with snow on the ground in many places it will look like the depths of winter. The interesting thing is that total snowfall for the year in Boston while certainly above average isn't all that high standing at about 56 inches or roughly a foot and a half above normal. Worcester on the other hand has had over 100 inches of snow and is nearly 4 feet above their normal snowfall. There is a huge difference in the type of winter this has been depending on where you have spent the past 3 months..I'll be updating my weather forecast for this next storm on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there. Feel free to comment or ask questions too.

Now that the big storm is over, I am looking at why this was such a poor forecast. The basic reason was a bit more cold air than expected, more moisture and it lasted longer. No one expected so much snow to fall from 4 AM this morning until mid-afternoon. Storms usually need to be at roughly 40 degrees latitude and 70 degrees west longitude to give us a major snow event. Meteorologists around here call this the benchmark. If a storm passes near the benchmark, and it's cold enough, we are often in for a good snowstorm. This storm passed hundreds of miles further east than that typical spot for a major snowstorm. One of the reasons I was confident in not seeing this size snowstorm, was the predicted distance of the storm from our area. That prediction by the models turned out to be pretty good. Temperatures were also forecast to be about 4 degrees milder. As it turn out, it’s sort of a good thing it ended up being colder because heavy wet snow of these amounts would have been catastrophic to the power situation.I'll be updating my weather forecasts on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there.

The snow is over, finally. Remember, these are spotter reports and amounts may vary from what you have in your back yard. Certainly this was an under forecast storm for snow, especially east of Route 95, and the southern part of Route 495. There are several 24 inch amounts that show up as a result of this large ocean storm. Blue Hill in Milton got nearly 30" and that is the most reported. I'll be updating my weather forecasts on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there.

Calmer weather is on tap for the weekend with abundant sunshine and milder temperatures. The deep snow cover may help hold back high temperatures a bit, but highs should reach the upper 30s and lower 40s in the afternoon both Saturday and Sunday. Look for some icy areas tomorrow as temperatures fall back below freezing in most area overnight.I'll be updating my weather forecasts on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there.

The beginning of next week looks quite mild with highs reaching the lower 50s. There will be a front passing through the area Tuesday and with it a period of rain. I am not expecting enough rain for major flooding. However, the ground is somewhat saturated and I recommend, if you have them, checking your sump pumps. The reason for this is for some of us, those pumps have not run in over a year. Last spring was so dry my pump never ran. This year, it has already been going for a couple of weeks.

Snow bands continue to rotate inland from the ocean. Our storm is very far to the south and east but the storm is so large that it is transporting moisture, as heavy snow into southern New England. This is going to end up being a large storm for all of us. Snowfall totals have exceeded 18 inches around Mansfield, Foxboro, and back up to Worcester. Much less snow has fallen south of Plymouth and on the Cape where the heaviest part of the storm was rain. The radar image above shows the way the snow has been coming in off the ocean. The darker green areas are snow at rates up to 1 inch per hour. I'll be updating my weather forecasts on Twitter at @growingwisdom please follow me there.