The spring weather is still overshadowed by the winter scenery – the climatologist has good knowledge for early April.

As you mentioned in previous reviews, March is a winter month in terms of atmospheric circulation and the temporary snow cover this month is normal despite the fact that for several years in a row (2019, 2020) it has hardly snowed this month.

“Spring, as a transitional season, lasts a long time in Lithuania, except in late spring, when both the temperature regime and the phenological phases of the plants change very quickly. In addition, the snow in the second half of March does not cause any harm to nature compared to the cases of heavy snowfall in late April or the first half of May. It will continue to snow today and tomorrow (in some places) and on Sunday (in most of the area).

Despite the long duration of the day, today it is 12 hours, the air temperature rises a little above 0 ° C during the day. This is due to the cold air mass that comes from the Greenland Sea region. However, it is not extremely cold and dry, as is the case with air masses moving away from the central Arctic or northern Siberia. As it travels through ice-free bodies of water (the Greenland, Norwegian and Barents seas), this air mass in its lower layers heats up slightly and becomes more humid and unstable, ”he explained.

Perhaps the best explanation for this, said the climatologist, is why this invasion of cold air in Lithuania is accompanied by the formation of foci of globular clouds and in some places of a rainy nature.

“The coldest part of this Arctic sea air mass will touch Estonia, the Curonian language of Latvia and the western part of Lithuania, so today the coldest will be in Samogitia (around 0 ° C) and the warmest in the southern and southeastern part of Lithuania (various degrees of heat). Tomorrow night the lowest temperature is expected in the western and northern part of Lithuania, at -7 – -8 ° C.

Today, snow and drizzle are caused by a cold atmospheric front moving from the north. Its most pronounced effect is on the seashore, where at night, according to data from the automatic station of the port of Klaipeda, the air temperature dropped from positive to -3 ° C in an hour and a half. The wind changed from weak to medium and gusty (in gusts of up to 14 m / s). “

This morning the front, according to G. Stankūnavičius, was in central Lithuania and moved weaker to the southeast.

“Tomorrow night, the warm atmospheric front will approach from the northwest, but the hottest part of the air mass will be rapidly pushed upward, and then the cold occlusion front sliding through it will give the impression of a wide snow zone (drizzle and rain on the seashore).

So sleet and snow are expected across the country on Sunday, and moderate southwest winds will be replaced by gusts from the northwest, which in some places can lead to light blizzards and blizzards. Starting from Monday, the weather will gradually warm up: during the day the air will warm to +3 – +5 ° C, at night it will drop slightly below 0 ° C. In case of anticyclonic weather in the second half of During the week, the maximum air temperature should rise from +7 to +11 ° C “.

Next week, he said, the circulation of the atmosphere over Europe and the Atlantic will change: the high ridge over the northeast Atlantic will weaken and the wide valley with cold air flowing over Europe will fill up.

“Cyclonic activity will resume in northern Europe and the high pressure zone will cover southern and southwestern Europe. This will allow spring to spread more quickly from the south-west to eastern Europe. However, the stronger heat you will have to wait in Europe: at night in almost the entire continent, except for the coasts and some regions of the southwest, the temperatures will drop to 0 ° C and below, and during the day the warmest to +20 ° C) will be in the southwest (Andalusia, southern Portugal) and Cyprus and the island of Crete.

According to long-term weather forecasts, the warmest weather in central Europe and the Baltic region is expected in late March, early April, and in western and southwestern Europe, in the second half of April. In Lithuania, April is expected to be slightly warmer than perennial. “

He also recalled that tomorrow’s equinox is the beginning of astronomical spring, which means that the sun will heat up the northern hemisphere more in the next six months. According to these days, the time of the future was predicted in the past.

“For example: if the south wind blows on March 20, summer will be stormy; what will be on the 21st, so will spring (understand the similar nature of the weather); if March 22 is warm, it will be warm for another 40 days, if it is cold, vice versa. Therefore, if no one accepts both official deterministic forecasts and free access ones, each one can make a forecast for several days, weeks or the whole season “, summarized G. Stankūnavičius.