So long Siberia: Winter ending soon (technically)

The USA's crazy, topsy-turvy winter is about to come to an end. Good riddance!

Meteorologists define winter as the three coldest months, so by that measure spring starts Sunday. The more familiar start date, defined by astronomers as the spring equinox, is still more than three weeks away — March 20.

Residents in the central and eastern U.S. won't mind saying winter is over after enduring a ferocious season with record snowfalls and a return of the dreaded polar vortex. Though December was on the mild side in the East, waves of intense cold continued to pour into the eastern half of the country in January and February.

The polar vortex played a role in several key winter events including the late-January blizzard that impacted much of New England and the severe cold prevalent throughout the Northeast in February, according to AccuWeather.

Boston has been hardest hit, slogging through its second-snowiest winter on record, with more than 8 feet so far, the National Weather Service said. This winter could become its snowiest on record as early as next week, and February topped out as the city's snowiest single month ever with almost 5.5 feet.

Record cold temperatures have been set over the past few weeks in several cities, including New York City, Washington, Chicago, Charlotte, Atlanta, Detroit, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Lexington, Jacksonville and Orlando.

In the parched, balmy West, folks are mostly asking: What winter? Ski areas have closed in Oregon and California and dogsledders in Alaska had to reroute the famed Iditarod race due to a lack of snow. Snowpack in the Sierra is at its lowest levels in decades, bad news for a region that depends on winter snow for its summer water.

Several western cities will see their warmest winter on record, including Reno, Idaho Falls, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Seattle, San Francisco, and Salt Lake City, the Weather Channel reported.

The crazy winter was primarily caused by a stuck climate pattern, one that saw a persistent ridge of high pressure that brought clear skies and warmth to the West and a trough of low pressure that pummeled the East with clouds, storms and cold.

Unfortunately, winter isn't giving up the ship just yet. A slow-moving winter storm will dump snow from the Plains all the way to the Midwest and the Northeast this weekend; 5-8 inches are possible in cities such as Kansas City, Indianapolis and Cleveland.

Beyond that, the forecast is for some cooler-than-average temperatures across the central and eastern U.S. over the next couple of weeks, but not quite as chilly as it has been, the Climate Prediction Center reported.

Whatever the weather, hang in there: Another sure sign of spring — the start of Daylight Saving Time — is only a week away on March 8.

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