Extreme Cold This Year, Extreme Warmth Last Year. What's Going On?

 Here is a graphic for you.








2012 vs 2013 Week of March 18-22 High Temperatures.
Red denotes 2012, blue 2013.

Talk about a huge difference!

This week in 2012 was a very warm one, as was the whole spring.  A few days this week temperatures topped 80° in many locations across the county. 

As for 2013, the exact opposite!  Temperatures have been very cold and have been unable to reach 40°. 

Why the difference?  A blocking pattern was relevant in both years around this time. However, the blocking pattern in 2012 was off the east coast, allowing for warm air to funnel from the south and storm systems to move well to our north.

This year, the blocking pattern is farther north into Greenland and extreme northern Canada.  This tends to stall storm systems out in the northeastern US and eastern Canada and pulls cold air down into the eastern US. 

As soon as the blocking pattern this year breaks down, we'll be on our way to spring.  However, this doesn't appear to happen until a week or so into April.